"Fat Chance, Charlie Vega" Part One

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 💥💥💥👎👎👎💥💥💥

 I chose this book as one for a diversity project. Ideally, it should have been great. It had a plus size girl who is a person of color, along with a variety of different sexual orientations within the story. This story had the opportunity to glimpse into many different cultures and express something positive about being different. For the most part, Charlie Vega is pretty normal. There’s nothing that makes her an outcast, except for the fact that she is plus size. She’s a beautiful girl, and we know that because of not only the description of her, but also the image of her on the front of the book. She definitely has self-esteem issues, though. 

I totally understand having a negative self-esteem, and how that can affect the relationship one has with everyone around them. I actually had a few very personal connections with the story from time to time. When I got to experience these moments, it was good. I felt like I was reading something beneficial to me, and something I could relate to. The problem arises in the handling of a lot of these issues she has not only on her part, but by everyone around her. Her best friend at one point even holds their differences over her head when they get into a fight. Charlie’s mother is a monster most of the time by insisting that she change, and making her feel as if she’s incapable of having a nice boyfriend. When Charlie does get a boyfriend, her mom tells her she thought Charlie would have a boyfriend who was skinnier. The guy is not described as very overweight, but rather just slightly chubby. On top of Charlie’s persistent whining, the message of the book gets somewhat lost in all of the self-loathing. She never gets over her weight (pun intended) the way one would expect in the end, and for these reasons, among others,  I will not use this diversity book in my classroom.

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