Big Fat Manifesto (Hardcover)

by Susan Vaught (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Jamie is a senior in high school and, like so many kids in that year, doing too much—including trying to change the world—and fighting for her rights as a very fat girl. And not quietly: she's writing a column every week in the paper with her thoughts and fears and gripes. As her column raises all kinds of questions, so too, must she find her own private way in her world, with love popping up in an unexpected place, and satisfaction in her size losing ground to real frustration. Tapping into her own experience losing weight, her training as a psychotherapist, and the current fascination in the media for teens who are trying drastic weight-loss measures including surgery, Susan Vaught's searing and hilarious prose will grip readers of all sizes, leaving them eager to hear more.

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Product Details Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books; 1st edition (December 26, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 1599902060 ISBN-13: 978-1599902067 Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,811 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews 5 star:  (5) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, December 27, 2007 By  TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews Does the world discriminate against fat people? Jamie Carcaterra thinks they do, and she is out to change things. Proudly calling herself "Fat Girl," Jamie has started a feature column by the same name in The Wire, her school newspaper. Making people aware of the unfairness suffered by overweight people is her goal. She is also hoping her top-notch journalistic efforts will help her win the National Feature Award which could earn her a fully paid college education. With the help of her friends, Freddie and NoNo, Jamie has planned an attack on a popular clothing retailer offering clothes in sizes designed for the very thin. Jamie weighs in at over 300 pounds, and her plan is to enter the store, request an item, and demand a fitting room to try it on. Armed with her notepad and a video camera, she gathers material for her column. Jamie is comfortable with her size. She doesn't try to disguise the fact that she is fat. Her mother is fat. Her father is fat. Her boyfriend, Burke, is fat, but not for long. Another issue Jamie explores in her feature column is the fact that Burke has decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery. The risks are enormous (pardon the pun) but Burke tells Jamie he is tired of it all. She agrees to support him, but will things ever be the same? Teen readers of all sizes will relate to Jamie. She has lots of friends, is active in school activities, and is feeling the stress of senior year with ACT pressure, college applications, and financial concerns. She candidly reveals her thoughts and feelings about being fat in a world that worships those who are thin. BIG FAT MANIFESTO is a must-read. Susan Vaught offers everything in this book. She has great characters, humor, roller-coaster emotions, and romance along with interesting statistics and opinions about being overweight. I hope she will give us another peek into the life of Jamie Carcaterra some day. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Big Fat great read!, August 15, 2008 By  Tracy Barrett (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews If Big Fat Manifesto were only the story of a fat girl struggling for acceptance, it would be worth reading. But it's much more than that. It's really about a teenager's search for herself. As she navigates the world of school, friends, love, college applications, and everything else that an intelligent and talented high-school senior has to juggle, Jamie sees the world through the eyes of Fat Girl, a persona she has created for herself. The reader goes along with her on her journey, admiring this smart and sassy girl for her guts and determination, laughing with her as she skewers her opponents in her school newspaper column, and feeling for her as she is forced to figure out where Fat Girl ends and Jamie begins. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking AND funny, July 22, 2008 By  B. Long (South Carolina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This is a book about an aspiring journalist who's senior in high school and who writes a series about being fat for her school paper and for a journalism scholarship. The book takes place over a couple of months, starting at the beginning of the semester and ending right before Thanksgiving. Jamie juggles her boyfriend, her two best friends, her editor-in-chief, the school play, her newspaper column, the ACT and more, all with a slightly unrealistic splash of drama. I very much enjoyed the book. It definitely made me rethink fat people. I've never even really thought about the fact that I even have a set of viewpoints on fat people. It just never crossed my mind before. I have family who is overweight. I need to lose ten pounds, probably. I've never hated the people who struggle to gain weight because I've been in that boat. I also know how hard it can be to lose weight. I'm often self-centered, even unwittingly, so I've always thought of weight in terms of my own life, not in the lives of others. So, yeah, Big Fat Manifesto gave me something to think about. Oh, and it was funny.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars A big fat fun read In some ways, Jamie Carcaterra is your average high school senior. She is overwhelmed with deadlines, struggling to study for the ACT, courageously filling out college... Read more Published 11 months ago by Teenreads.com 5.0 out of 5 stars A role model Jamie is sexy, talented, smart, hard-working, and oh yeah, fat. Not a typical insecure size 10 swimming in a sea of zeros, Jamie tops the scale at over three hundred pounds. Read more Published 12 months ago by T. Feuerbach 5.0 out of 5 stars Great read Jamie Carcaterra is outspoken, opinionated, talented, sexy, not afraid to be in the spotlight - and fat. Read more Published 13 months ago by Cathe Olson Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books; 1st edition (December 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599902060
• ISBN-13: 978-1599902067
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,811 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, December 27, 2007

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

Does the world discriminate against fat people? Jamie Carcaterra thinks they do, and she is out to change things.

Proudly calling herself "Fat Girl," Jamie has started a feature column by the same name in The Wire, her school newspaper. Making people aware of the unfairness suffered by overweight people is her goal. She is also hoping her top-notch journalistic efforts will help her win the National Feature Award which could earn her a fully paid college education.

With the help of her friends, Freddie and NoNo, Jamie has planned an attack on a popular clothing retailer offering clothes in sizes designed for the very thin. Jamie weighs in at over 300 pounds, and her plan is to enter the store, request an item, and demand a fitting room to try it on. Armed with her notepad and a video camera, she gathers material for her column.

Jamie is comfortable with her size. She doesn't try to disguise the fact that she is fat. Her mother is fat. Her father is fat. Her boyfriend, Burke, is fat, but not for long. Another issue Jamie explores in her feature column is the fact that Burke has decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery. The risks are enormous (pardon the pun) but Burke tells Jamie he is tired of it all. She agrees to support him, but will things ever be the same?

Teen readers of all sizes will relate to Jamie. She has lots of friends, is active in school activities, and is feeling the stress of senior year with ACT pressure, college applications, and financial concerns. She candidly reveals her thoughts and feelings about being fat in a world that worships those who are thin.

BIG FAT MANIFESTO is a must-read. Susan Vaught offers everything in this book. She has great characters, humor, roller-coaster emotions, and romance along with interesting statistics and opinions about being overweight. I hope she will give us another peek into the life of Jamie Carcaterra some day.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Fat great read!, August 15, 2008

By	Tracy Barrett (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

If Big Fat Manifesto were only the story of a fat girl struggling for acceptance, it would be worth reading. But it's much more than that. It's really about a teenager's search for herself. As she navigates the world of school, friends, love, college applications, and everything else that an intelligent and talented high-school senior has to juggle, Jamie sees the world through the eyes of Fat Girl, a persona she has created for herself. The reader goes along with her on her journey, admiring this smart and sassy girl for her guts and determination, laughing with her as she skewers her opponents in her school newspaper column, and feeling for her as she is forced to figure out where Fat Girl ends and Jamie begins.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking AND funny, July 22, 2008

By	B. Long (South Carolina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a book about an aspiring journalist who's senior in high school and who writes a series about being fat for her school paper and for a journalism scholarship. The book takes place over a couple of months, starting at the beginning of the semester and ending right before Thanksgiving. Jamie juggles her boyfriend, her two best friends, her editor-in-chief, the school play, her newspaper column, the ACT and more, all with a slightly unrealistic splash of drama.

I very much enjoyed the book. It definitely made me rethink fat people. I've never even really thought about the fact that I even have a set of viewpoints on fat people. It just never crossed my mind before. I have family who is overweight. I need to lose ten pounds, probably. I've never hated the people who struggle to gain weight because I've been in that boat. I also know how hard it can be to lose weight. I'm often self-centered, even unwittingly, so I've always thought of weight in terms of my own life, not in the lives of others.

So, yeah, Big Fat Manifesto gave me something to think about. Oh, and it was funny.