The entire book is full of truth about how fat people are treated and then an honest look at moving beyond that into fighting back.Ī middle-grade novel that shows how self worth is created despite what others may think. Her internalization of all of the negative messages is deftly shown by the author and then transformed into a platform for advocacy and self respect.
Her own family experience is one of drastic differences with her mother and older brother unable to even look at Ellie while her father adores her and supports her exactly the way she is.Įllie is a great character, full doubts about herself and in need of real help to negotiate her family and society. Ellie’s family is beautifully contrasted with that of her new best friend, where no one tells Ellie to stop eating or to be ashamed. Yet Fipps also shows beyond the bullies to the pain they are hiding too. She writes the bullying words from classmates, showing how each one takes aim and tries to hurt. In her verse novel, Fipps achingly captures the experience of being a fat person in today’s society, and even harder, a fat middle-school girl.
She may not be able to fix everything all at once, but she can start with what she says to herself and what she allows others to say about her. When Ellie starts to see a therapist with the help of her supportive father, she begins to see that she has every right to take up space in this world. Ellie is about the collapse under all of the expectations in middle school, from her mother, and from the entire society about how fat people should be invisible and yet easily mocked. She portions Ellie’s food, forces her to weigh herself every day, and is the source of all of Ellie’s Fat Girl Rules that Ellie tries to live by.
It’s kind of ironic, since a swimming pool is where she was first bullied about her weight, earning her the enduring nicknames of “Splash” and “Whale.” Her mother has made it clear that she hates how Ellie looks, constantly posting articles on the fridge in the kitchen about calories and weight loss. Ellie loves to swim in the pool in her backyard.
0 kommentar(er)
