Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff

“I’m always putting pressure on myself, trying to prove myself, be smarter, or thinner, or cooler. When you’re fat, that just comes with the territory. You walk through the door like Babar the Elephant, you have a lot of ground to make up for it.”"

Andy has trouble fitting in-in high school, in his jeans and he sure as heck isn’t making a good impression on the girl of his dreams being the second fattest kid around.  When he finds himself unexpectedly on the football team his dreams of popularity-and the girl-seem closer than ever.

Another addition into the fat lit club for teens but what I took away from this book was the true to life emotions Andy goes through being a fat kid in an unforgiving world. He’s funny even as he’s shoveling in food because it’s the only thing that will make his brain turn off. He’s desperate for something to change and his internal struggle to make this happen is the core of the novel. The emotions run the gamut which makes the books pace and tone uneven. While this bothered me while reading, upon reflection I decided it added a realism to the story that otherwise might be missing. 2009, 311 pages.