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The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (Paperback)

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4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
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  Hardcover, July 13, 2003 $11.99 $3.75 $0.55
  Paperback, June 13, 2005 $8.99 $1.49 $0.01
  Audio, Cassette, October 31, 2004 -- $43.99 $2.02
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  • This item: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10-Sophomore Virginia Shreves lives in Manhattan and attends a prestigious private school. She lives by her Fat Girl Code of Conduct. She has a budding romance with Froggy the Fourth, but she doesn't want his wandering hands to feel her fat. Her baggy clothing helps her to "hide." Her mother, Dr. Phyllis Shreves, is an adolescent psychologist obsessed with her imperfect daughter's weight, and her father is rarely around. Her older sister joined the Peace Corps to escape mom, and brother Byron is big man on the Columbia campus-until he's suspended for date rape. Finally, Virginia stands up to her mother and takes charge of her life. Strong points in the novel are the issue of date rape and its consequences and, however glossed over, eating disorders. Parental pressure is overdone. Mom and dad are stereotypical of adults so involved in themselves that they cannot see their child for who she is. Some passages are very well done, but the book has an uneven quality in prose style and character development. Told through first-person narrative, journal entries, and e-mail, Virginia's story will interest readers who are looking for one more book with teen angst, a bit of romance, and a kid who is a bit like them or their friends.
Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. Fifteen-year-old Viriginia Shreves is the blond, round, average daughter in a family of dark-haired, thin superstars. Her best friend has moved away, and she's on the fringes at her private Manhattan school. She wants a boyfriend, but she settles for Froggy Welsh, who comes over on Mondays to grope her. The story follows Virginia as she tries to lose weight, struggles with her "imperfections," and deals with the knowledge that her idealized older brother has committed date rape. There's a lot going on here, and some important elements, such as Virginia's flirtation with self-mutilation, are passed over too quickly. But Mackler writes with such insight and humor (sometimes using strong language to make her point) that many readers will immediately identify with Virginia's longings as well as her fear and loathing. Her gradually evolving ability to stand up to her family is hard won and not always believable, but it provides a hopeful ending for those trying stand on their own two feet. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Product Details

  • Reading level: Young Adult
  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Candlewick (June 14, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0763620912
  • ISBN-13: 978-0763620912
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #147,597 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Carolyn Mackler
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Customer Reviews

107 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (107 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Has A Positive Body Image Message without the Sap, August 10, 2005
By R. Kearns-White "rockiw" (BROOKLYN, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (Teen's Top 10 (Awards)) (Hardcover)
As a former undernourished-looking child and a current plus-sized 213-lb woman, I loved The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. Don't take a look at the title and lump this book into the Teen Bridget Jones-Chick Lit category. Although it resembles one of those books of the ever fast growing genre, The Earth...is remarkably insightful, introspective, multi-layered, and well written. Carolyn creates a wonderfully multi-dimensional character in the form of Virginia Shreves.

Virginia is a blond-haired and overweight 15-year old who does not fit in with her over-achieving, athletic, slim, and brown-haired family. Virginia is not only an outsider at school, but an outsider at home as well. Like her mindless eating and magazine reading, she encourages the isolation as shield. If no one can notice her, no one can criticize or tease her about her weight. Virginia even dabbles in self-mutilation to deal with the pain she feels about being a fat girl in world where being thin is in.

Unlike other plus-size heroines, Virginia has a grasp of her sexuality and takes a firmer grasp of it as the novel progresses. Virginia makes out with her unofficial boyfriend, and enjoys it even when the size of her body makes her nervous. She also masturbates and is not ashamed feeling arousal towards boys. Mackler writes these scenes, there are a few but not too many, with careful wording. It is never vulgar or sappy. It is plain and unobtrusive.

A tragedy in Virginia's family forces her to take charge of her mental, physical, emotional, and social health. By the end of the novel, which I read in little over a day, you're feeling as energized and as unstoppable as Virginia. The best thing about the book is that Virginia's boost in attitude has absolutely nothing to do with her weight. (I won't spoil the ending by tell you whether or not she slims down.)

This is the best book featuring a plus-sized teen girl since Life in the Fat Lane by Cherie Bennett. I recommend it to all teens, regardless of size, struggling with body image and self esteem issues. I also think this book, like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, would make an excellent choice for a Mothers-Daughters Book Club.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Book We Can All Relate To, October 20, 2003
This review is from: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (Teen's Top 10 (Awards)) (Hardcover)
The book The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler is truly an awesome read. The book is about an average highschooler named Virginia Shreves, the only thing not exactly average about her is her weight. Virginia is bigger then normal and knows it and lives by what she calls the fat girl code of conduct. You get to know Virginia as a character and the issues in her life, one of them being her having to realize her brother is a date raper and her mother may never accept her for who she really is big boned and all. The book is humerous but also touches on some topics that are not so funny, like eating disorders, becasue shes not happy with her weight. It also has romance in it, which i think is the perfect mix. Carolyn Mackler's book is a read worth your time and a book you will regret dearly for passing up.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Not as fresh and funny as the title suggests, February 20, 2004
This review is from: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (Teen's Top 10 (Awards)) (Hardcover)
After reading Carolyn Mackler's "Love and Other Four Letter Words", I borrowed this book--the author's second--from a friend. From the description and the first few pages, I thought "The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things" would be a fresh, funny, and entertaining read, but I was less than satisfied.

The novel revolves around Virginia Shreves, a teeanger in NYC who feels like an outcast because her older siblings appear to be near-perfect, she is overweight and insecure about her body, and her best friend just moved cross-country. Throughout the book, Virginia deals with all sorts of teenager-ish problems, from fitting in to coping with her parents to her first experiences with the opposite sex.

Though I liked the premise of the book, it wasn't really an interesting read. Virgina spent so much time complaining about her weight that it made *me* feel fat. I don't know if the author was the most insecure person in the world, but the story's heroine didn't seem like the average teen to me, and most of her rants were very extreme; it was hard to laugh at certain parts, even if it was clear they were written to be funny.

The book did have a few honest laughs and a believable plotline, but Virginia was so angsty it was more annoying than entertaining to read her "diary entries".

Maybe I just had high expectations after I enjoyed Carolyn Mackler's "Love and Other Four-Letter Words" so much, but I didn't enjoy this book and I wouldn't reccommend it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars sorta disapoting yet still good
This book was actually sorta dispotaitng. It not really that funny!i wanted it to be funny. But it was still great She writes very very good i love how she really got into her... Read more
Published 5 months ago by R. Fly

4.0 out of 5 stars I didn't want it to end.
Virginia is a 15-year-old fat-girl from Manhattan(we never find out how fat she really is, suffice it to say, she can't fit into anything in the teen section of Saks, her mom... Read more
Published 9 months ago by *Caligirl_08*

5.0 out of 5 stars all about empowerment
Ok, this book is a little pat in some places. Turning your life around is probably not as easy as Carolyn Mackler would make it out to be. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mara Zonderman

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book about trials of being an adolescence
Virginia Shreves is a high school sophomore in Manhattan who feels out of place in her family with her perfect university-student brother (Columbia), her older sister in the Peace... Read more
Published 17 months ago by I. Jamaluddin

5.0 out of 5 stars The Earth, My Butt, and My Review
I love this book! I got it for my 18th birthday from a friend who thought the title was funny and knew that I had always had a sore spot about my weight so she decided this would... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Nicke Masoner

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes
I read this book a while ago and I remember it with a passion. It was one of the first books I read when I got into reading. I HIGHLY recommended this book. I LOVE this book. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Erika Stewart

4.0 out of 5 stars The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things Pulls Off a Well-Rounded Story
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, written by Carolyn Mackler, is a book that will not only appeal to people who are different from what the "normal or perfect" image... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mid-Praire Teen

5.0 out of 5 stars Positive w/o being Preachy
I read this book in one sitting and vacilatted between laughing out loud and wanting to put my fist in the air in support of the protagonist. Read more
Published 22 months ago by J. Aragon

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review
I thought this book was very good. I felt bad for the main character. If I was treated like she was I would rebel like she did. Read more
Published on October 29, 2007 by Mrs. H

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a Self-Help Guide, But Still Super Inspirational
I just finished this book, and I couldn't put it down. It is not an action-thriller or crime story. Instead, it's a realistic story told from a to-the-point perspective. Read more
Published on July 27, 2007 by Paige

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