I went to a book signing featuring five authors, and I couldn’t wait to rush home and read Allen Zadoff’s Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have first. Zadoff’s reading was so funny, and he spoke so candidly about his own struggles as an overweight teenager that I knew I’d love his book. I did. It’s the story of Andrew Zansky, the second heaviest kid at his school and the son of a caterer. Unlike most books that deal with weight issues, Food, Girls doesn’t focus much on how many pounds Andrew loses by the end of the story. Instead, Zadoff explores Andrew’s journey to find acceptance with his peers and, ultimately, with himself.

As I read Food, Girls, I kept thinking that this book was in many ways the brother companion to Carolyn Mackler’s The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things. Notice the parallels in the kick-ass titles? Both main characters undergo physical transformations that end up being secondary to their mental shifts. Like Mackler, Zadoff’s message is sincere but never preachy and is summed up in one of my favorite quotes by India.Arie:

“No matter what anybody says, what matters most is what you think of yourself.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under authors, good books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.