Name: Big Fat Manifesto
ISBN: 9781599902067

Susan Vaught

Overweight, self-assured, high school senior Jamie Carcaterra writes in the school newspaper about her own attitude to being fat, her boyfriend's bariatric surgery, and her struggles to be taken seriously in a very thin world.

Big Fat Manifesto

Caitlin Berger

Wow, what a book!!! By the second page, I was hooked. This was written in 2008 but it sounded like a book that could’ve been released today, because of the body positive language and beliefs. Really great story and protagonist! The only thing that bummed me out a bit was that towards the end, there was quite a bit of the belief of: I’m fat and I will stand up for my dignity but yes of course I’d rather be skinny.
Which to me is not really part of BoPo. Wanting to be skinny still instills feelings of inadequacy in marginalized bodies and tells the world: I’ll talk about what it’s like to be fat, but I wish I wasn’t. Which I guess just isn’t as powerful as: I’m fat and I’m okay with that.
THAT BEING SAID: there is no right or wrong way to feel about your body and everyone is on their own journey and my intention is not to criticize people who are struggling to love their body. I think this book is still very powerful and illuminating and body positive. Definitely a must-read!

Talia Dominguez 

Jamie is a senior in high school and, like so many kids in that year, doing too much-including trying to change the world-and fighting for her rights as a very fat girl. And not quietly: she's writing a column every week in the paper with her thoughts and fears and gripes. As her column raises all kinds of questions, so too, must she find her own private way in her world, with love popping up in an unexpected place, and satisfaction in her size losing ground to real frustration. Tapping into her own experience losing weight, her training as a psychotherapist, and the current fascination in the media for teens who are trying drastic weight-loss measures including surgery, Susan Vaught's searing and hilarious prose will grip readers of all sizes, leaving them eager to hear more.

Big Fat Manifesto

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