Basically, the
book is the story of a 14-year-old girl named Maggie who is overweight and is teased at school. After she goes on a diet and loses weight, she becomes happy and popular. FYI: The cover shows a fat Maggie looking hopefully at a skinny Maggie in the mirror (see image, left).Apparently a lot of people are up in arms because the book is likely to make little kids self-conscious about their weight, but as a children's book person, I'm stuck on a more basic question: Why is a book about a teenager being written for and marketed to 6-year-olds?
And then there's the quality of the writing; um, it's in verse. Here's a sample: "Searching the refrigerator in hopes she would feel better/eating lots of bread and cheese including some cheddar." Make of that what you will, but I suspect Dr. Seuss is rolling in his grave!
So, what do you think of all the criticism? Not to mention how many copies this guy is going to sell as a result?
More to the point, can any of you recommend children's books about being overweight that aren't so annoyingly didactic? (Preferably not picture books, in the name of common sense.)
Update, 11-24-11: See also Eddy Shapes Up, the semi-autobiographical story of how a young Ed Koch went on a diet because of peer pressure and became thin and happy. Also a picture book, this time by the former mayor of NYC and his sister, Pat Koch Thaler, with illustrations by Jonathan Hoefer and an introduction by President Bill Clinton. This one appears to be more age appropriate, but is still didactic.
