Customer Reviews

I Get So Hungry

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One of my kids picked this up at the library, and I found it disturbing and embarassing. (Caveat: I hate all children's books that carry a "message" or deal with "issues".) I liked that it encouraged kids to eat healthy foods and exercise in ways the feel good to them, but it sets unrealistic expectations around the possibility of long-term weight loss. The most obnoxious aspect of the book is that the bully stops tormenting the girl because *she* changes--not him--setting up bullying as a sort of reverse inspirational technique. As if the fat girl deserved to be abused by the little jerk. Bullies are a real problem, fat people are not. I would guess that the psychologically-driven overeating portrayed in "I Get So Hungry" relates to a vanishingly small proportion of the obesity "problem" in our country. Television and simple caloric abundance are much more likely culprits. Nice illustrations, though. I only wish the artist would do something less in the line of propaganda.

Nikki is a fat child. She eats because it makes her "feel better" when she's sad. She gobbles her food so quickly she can "barely taste" it. Her mother feeds her fried food and soda. When Nikki goes to the doctor for a checkup and is told she's too fat and to cut out "junk food," her mother lies about what Nikki eats and buy doughnuts to soothe Nikki's hurt feelings. Her teacher (also fat) sneaks food and has some illness (a heart attack?) because she's fat.

Once the teacher (and Nikki) simply stop eating "junk food" and taking a walk in the morning, they become thinner.

So, in other words, fat people eat emotionally, eat only bad foods, gobble their food, lie about what they eat, reward themselves with food, sneak food and will inevitably suffer health consequences because of their poor eating habits. And if they'd just put down the fries and take a walk once in a while, they'll become thin.

I believe strongly that we should teach children to eat a balanced healthy diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean protein sources and with the occassional ice cream or potato chip thrown in. I believe we should exercise every day. I don't believe we should reinforce stereotypes in children's literature, that we should frighten children that eating a cookie will make them sick or that it's OK to tease other children if they're fat, but that the teasing should stop once they become thin.

Please: feed your children well, take them outside to run and play and move their bodies and teach them tolerance and respect for others, not stereotypes and prejudice.

Bebe Moore Campbell's heart was in the right place when she wrote this book, "to touch kids and parents and help them make changes in their lives." It is too bad that this final of her writings doesn't represent the thoughtfulness and careful research of her other work. According to the author, Nikki and her teacher, Mrs. Patterson, are gluttons--they load up on the wrong foods and fail to eat the right foods. Nikki's mother is even worse--not only is she a glutton, she encourages her daughter to be one, too. Nikki and Mrs. Patterson become thin when they stop being gluttons. This book demonstrates common attitudes: people are fat because they eat too much; anyone can become thin if they try; and everyone (and her mother) should be willing to try. Research supports none of it. Body weight is most strongly determined by genetics. Those who try to overcome their genetic endowment by dieting get fatter, not thinner, even when they diet by eating "good food," or "the right things," as Nikki and her teacher do. Nikki's and Mrs. Patterson's weight loss is extremely unusual. So unusual, in fact, that it is simply cruel to lead the child reader and her parents to believe that problems with peers will be resolved by losing weight. Nikki's mother is represented as not caring what she feeds Nikki. Only a minority of parents of children of size simply don't care--about the same percentage as the population as a whole. Given all these flaws, rather than achieving the author's goals, it is more likely that this book will reinforce the bigotry that fat children and their parents have to deal with and make them feel worse, not better. It's too bad--Campbell had a good thing going by making Nikki popular and talented. I wonder why she didn't take Nikki one step further by having her stand up to her tormentor, thereby showing how successful she could be without having to be skinny? To read that book, check out Fat, Fat, Rosemarie by Lisa Passen. Ellyn Satter, author, Your Child's Weight: Helping Without Harming.

A wonderful discussion of obesity and the use of food in ways destructive
to health. This book would be good for a doctor's waiting room or a school library. It would help kids understand how they misuse food.

Putnam and Penguin should be ashamed of this addition to the canon of fat-hating media culture.

As a children's counselor this subject has been minimally addressed in young childrens literature. I was pleased to see this title and review it. It is important to address this issue, and this author does so in a realistic manner. This book makes a good starting point for further discussions with children and parents about nutrition, reasons we eat, exercise and healthy habits. Many people use food as a coping mechanism and to see this issue being addressed for young children is a positive step in addressing this problem.