The Summer I Lost It by Natalie Kath

Kat's tired of being fat. She doesn't like how she feels about herself and she doesn't like how others see her. She's decided that this summer is going to be the summer that she finally does something. Her parents quickly veto the idea of 'fat camp,' so it's up to her to find a way to incorporate exercise, healthy food, and better habits into her life.

(The summary that was provided by the publisher is really inaccurate in terms of the actual plot of the book, so I hope that has been changed by the time it hits stores).

I approached this book hesitantly, not quite sure what I would find, but it turns out there was a lot that I liked about this book. I liked how it established that Kat was in fact overweight (15 pounds away from being not obese), and that was established by a doctor. In fact, doctors, nutritionists, and even personal trainers were frequently name-checked as people to talk to when you want to lose weight sensibly and responsibly. Kat shares her plans with her parents and doesn't do it in secret. Yes, she might initially want to do it partly because of a boy, but it's more complicated than that and actually tied into her feelings about her self-image and self-worth. Losing weight is presented more as a part of living a healthy life than how important it is to be thin. I was worried that the book might be too preachy, but it wasn't (the closest it came to that is when Kat describes what she's eating and the calorie count of that and a high-calorie 'regular' meal appears in a bubble on the page). The story is told through Kat's journal entries and at just over 100 pages, it's a very streamlined story with few-to-no subplots or other storylines. There are also some recipes and meal plan ideas at the back of the book. I do want to see more fiction that focuses on people who are fat and where the story doesn't focus on losing weight, but I think there's also a place for a book like this.

Check out Stone Arch Books (Capstone).

Find it at Amazon.

Read it with:
Fat Camp by Deborah Blumenthal
Fat Chance by Leslea Newman
Sweet Valley Twins: Lois Strikes Back by Francine Pascal
Eat This, Not That! For Kids by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding