The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

A Michael L. Printz Honor Book * An ALA Best Book for Young Adults * A YALSA Teens' Top Ten Book * An NYPL Book for the Teen Age

Carolyn Mackler's Printz Honor book--starring the unforgettably funny, body-conscious Virginia Shreves--returns in this 15th anniversary edition featuring text updates and never-before-seen material from the author.

Fifteen-year-old Virginia feels like a plus-sized black sheep in her family, especially next to her perfect big brother Byron. Not to mention her best friend has moved, leaving Virginia to navigate an awkward relationship with a boy alone. He might like her now . . . but she has her doubts about how he'll react if he ever looks under all her layers of clothes.

In order to survive, Virginia decides to follow a “Fat Girl Code of Conduct,” which works, until the unthinkable causes her family's façade to crumble. As her world spins out of orbit, she realizes that being true to herself might be the only way back.

Told in a perfect blend of humor and heart, this acclaimed Printz Honor winner resonates as much today as it did when it first published, and now features a new author foreword, text updates, and other bonus content.

ADD TO MY SHELVES

Recommend book

BUY THE BOOK

288 pages

Average rating: 7.67

6 RATINGS

2 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

Write a review...

Mrs. Awake Taco

Nov 13, 2024

4/10 stars

I didn't care for this book. It seemed to me that the overall message was trying for "your weight isn't everything" (which is a great message that I firmly believe in) but really missed the mark for me. It seemed to me that the message of loving yourself for who you are got lost in the numerous scenes where Virginia broke her toe in anger or burned her finger on a candle on purpose or yelled at her family members or otherwise demonstrated really unhealthy behaviors. She didn't truly acknowledge or seek help for her actual unhealthy behaviors. Yeah, she got away from them eventually, but most teens are not so lucky. If you want to check out a better book about dealing with issues like this, try Wintergirls or Speak. Also, no conclusion on Brie the bulimic? Virginia is perfectly aware that Brie is bulimic and getting worse and literally does nothing about it. As little help as she's getting, she's giving even less of it. Eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes and everyone is deserving of help, love, and compassion.

Anonymous

Aug 01, 2023

10/10 stars

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. That being said, this is a really good book. Virginia (or Ginny) is a believable, sympathetic, likable character. Her problems are real, and her solutions to them are fun, if not entirely realistic. But they work for her, and I, at least, was willing to go along for the ride.

A good read aside, Mackler also deals with some serious issues in the book, including date rape and eating disorders (no, neither apply directly to Ginny). These I thought she dealt with very well, and very realistically, showing that not everything wraps up in a neat package at the end, and not every problem can always be solved.

Overall, this is just a good story about a girl who manages to find ways to empower herself despite not always (or usually) getting a lot of support from her family. But she has help from other people around her and figures out how to be herself, and, more importantly, how to be comfortable being herself.

See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.

CREATE YOUR CLUB

More books by this author

The Wife App: A Novel

The Future of Us

Infinite in Between

Guyaholic