Fat Camp (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The second reason that I'm happy to be sitting in an Upper East Side Manhattan diner is that the waiter with the buff build who's..." (more)
Key Phrases: fat camp, visiting day, New York, Camp Calliope, Victoria's Secret

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Camp! Freedom, first kisses, summer fun...but not at Camp Calliope, a prison camp for the overweight. That's where Cam Phillips' parents have shipped her off to eat controlled portions, endure rigorous exercise, and sleep in a bunk full of girls who'd rather exchange recipes than ghost stories and gossip. Except for one cool girl from Texas, Faith Masters-who's normal enough to help her stay sane and temporarily replace her best friend, Evie. And then there's Jesse-the only thing close enough to drool-worthy on the camp's menu. Cam can totally relate to him, since his basketball-coach Dad sounds a lot like her perfectly thin, successful Mom. It looks like for the next eight weeks, only the issues (and not the food) on Cam's plate will be supersized.

About the Author

Deborah Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and nutritionist who writes children's books and adult novels. She is a regular contributor to New York Times and a columnist for Newsday, and has appeared in other newspapers and national magazines.

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (June 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451218655
• ISBN-13: 978-0451218650
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #852,525 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine story about unwilling changes - and fun, August 19, 2006

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Nutritionist Deborah Blumenthal provides a fun summer story of a super-sized girl who is sent to an unusual camp: it's a camp for the overweight, and Cam is sent there to eat controlled portions, exercise, and change. She misses food and her best friend - and with humor relates a celery-toasting campfire and smuggled forbidden foods from home. FAT CAMP is a fine story about unwilling changes - and fun.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very cool book, August 14, 2006

By	C. Klein (NYC) - See all my reviews

I really liked this. It tells the story of a girl who goes to a fat camp for the summer. By the time the summer ends, she learns a lot more than just how to cut calories. In her bunk she meets a girl who has bulimia, and somebody else who's totally thin because she lost the weight before she got there and is desperate to stay thin. I got really drawn into Cam's struggle to find out who she is, and her relationship with Jesse, a hottie guitar player at the nearby boy's camp.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fair, June 27, 2006

By	www.bookshipper.blogspot.com/ "www.bookshippe... (Montreal, Quebec) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I like reading anything about weight issues - having had them most of my life. While I thought this book was entertaining and tackled a difficult subject with compassion and fairness, this storyline was seriously missing the point.

The author obviously likes to write about this subject as I have read her adult books on this matter. By the way, I believe she writes better at a teen audience!!!

While the whole concept of changing your eating habits and exercising are an integral part of loosing weight, this book and this fictious camp never actually tackle the weight problem head on - that is - the problem is NOT the food its what is going on inside of you and your head!!!!

This book, would have been a perfect opportunity to explore this issue in detail - I thought it would actually happen when the author skirts (and i mean skirts) around the words eating disorder!!! but nope - apparently all you have to do to loose weight and to get the guy is to eat properly and do tons of exercise!!! gee, really???

Although I liked this book well enough - it just did not tackle the tough subject in detail enough - what a lost opportunity to educate the teens out there!!!