A Lot Like You [Mass Market Paperback]

Judith Pinsker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1989

An obese fifteen-year-old receives a shock when she returns to school in the fall and finds that her formally thin heartthrob has gained a lot of weight following the death of his mother in an automobile crash.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bo has long accepted the fact that she is fat. Then handsome Howard returns to school following a family tragedyhis mother has been killed in a car accident. He is seriously overweight, and when he and Bo become better acquainted, she sees their friendship primarily as an opportunity to help Howard return to "normal." Only after an explosive scene does Bo grant that Howard's feelings for her may be genuine and agree to base their relationship on who he is, not on who she thinks he should be. This is a refreshingly different tack for a YA novel to take but one that ultimately falls short of its mark. Pinsker tells the story with humor and sensitivity, but Bo's lack of self-awareness is not always credible, given the many sophisticated perceptions she voices, and readers are not given sufficient insight as to Howard's motives. Ages 11-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10 Overweight sophomore Bo ``Butter'' Barrett has but one reason to look forward to the start of the school yearseeing Howard Nevelson again, school heart throb who befriended her the spring before and has since lost his mother in a tragic car accident. But when the be loved Howard returns, he has become a hunk of a different nature, having gained weight over the summer. Misunderstood by the ``in'' crowd, Howard seeks out a more-than-willing Bo and they form an al liance known around school as the Blub ber Couple. Torn between her need for Howard's companionship and the desire to transform him back into the specimen he once was, Bo finally learns to accept the new Howard and their relationship, but only after an embarrassing and dan gerous incident at Howard's former girl friend's holiday party. There is nothing re markable about this book, despite the po tential of its story line, and there are more than a few disappointments. The charac ters' language is of the 1970speople go ing ``out of their gourd'' and being ``fruity.'' The cover illustration depicts two svelte beauties, albeit smothered in winter garb, and readers are sure to won der who they aresurely not Howard and Bo. Most lacking is insight into why each is overweight, their feelings about the con dition, and the efforts of those around them to make them reduce, as is done so expertly in Wersba's Crazy Vanilla (Harper, 1986). Without this window into the characters, this is just a story, and not a particularly interesting one. Joanne Aswell, Hunterdon County Library, Flem ington, N.J.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Starfire (April 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553278525
• ISBN-13: 978-0553278521
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,020,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, January 5, 2012

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ButterflyWings "~BW" (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Lot Like You (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this when I was a teenager and had wanted to read it again and found it on here. I still like the book even if it's consider a teenage book.