Amazon.com Review
It's tough when you think you have the perfect idea for your science project--and it backfires like a green-smoke-producing chemistry accident. Shrink--so named because his mother is a psychologist and his dad is a neurosurgeon--figures that performing a handwriting analysis on his middle-school science teacher as a classic example of a criminal mind would be perfectly well received. Alas, he ends up in the principal's office... without a project. When he meets the corpulent Pig, Angelo Pighetti, he seizes the opportunity to conduct a human weight-loss experiment, but soon discovers that using a classmate as a guinea pig is more complicated than he anticipated.
"You see these guys?" I asked, pointing at the evil foods.
"You mean those little candy-bar men?" he asked.
"Right. You know who they are?"
Pig was quiet for a moment, studying them. His face was blank.
"No," he said, slowly shaking his head. "But I think I like them."
In this fast-paced, funny novel, Pamela Todd develops a real, complex friendship between Pig and Shrink--one that evolves despite the odd scientist-lab rat dynamic, and amidst a sea of schoolyard fat jokes. Shrink thinks that while he's proving his scientific prowess, he's also helping Pig become a better person. But the truth is, Shrink--born of ambitious, controlled parents--has a lot to learn from the bon vivant Angelo Pighetti and his "noisy, messy, out of control" life at his family's pizzeria. The author serves up generous helpings of Chinese zodiac lore, fortune-cookie wisdom ("Wise men are not always learned. Learned men are not always wise."), and laugh-out-loud witty banter in this wise, compassionate middle-grade novel that will stick to your ribs. (Ages 8 to 12) --Karin Snelson
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Teenaged Tucker, also known as Shrink (because of his small stature), narrates this humorous first novel centering around his efforts to make Angelo Pighetti (aka Pig) the subject of his science fair project on "nutrition and obesity." The stakes are high: Tucker must win the fair in order to gain both admission into the State Math and Science Academy and approval from his high-achieving divorced parentsAhis mother, a sympathetic but distracted psychologist, and his absentee father, a demanding neurologist. Some readers may be skeptical when Tucker's keenly observant school principal doesn't question the flimsy parameters of his project and allows him to focus his analysis on only one subject. (The principal and Tucker's father both repeatedly admonish that "science is a tool for helping people.") However, the breezy narration and plausible ending more than offset this leap of logic. Among the cast are Pig's warm and exuberant family; Mr. Wong, the proprietor of Tucker and his mother's favorite restaurant, who dispenses sage advice with his hot and spicy chicken; and the eccentric Beth Ellen, a science fair rival, activist and vegetarian, who recognizes Angelo's true value all along. Readers struggling to accept others and themselves will be affirmed by this comedy of human foibles. Ages 10-up. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
