Big Fat Disaster

Bibliography: Fehlbaum, B. (2015). Big fat disaster. New York, NY: Merit Press.

ISBN: 978-1440592676

Genre: realistic fiction

Reading Level/Interest Age: 12+/14+

Plot Summary: Colby is overweight and undervalued. As the sore thumb in an otherwise perfect family, she is used to people telling her that she needs to lose weight, eat less, be more like her sisters. She seeks comfort in her secret snack stash, but even that isn’t enough to help when the world as she knows it explodes in chaos. First, she finds proof that her dad, who is running for Senate, is having an affair. When she tells her family and he leaves, everyone blames her for stirring up trouble. Colby, armed with a box of Ding Dongs, could handle their anger, but seeing their family troubles plastered all over the media breaks her down. No one will support her, though, especially when their assets are frozen because of her dad’s shady deals. Now there’s no family and no money and no way to pay for their home. Colby’s mom moves them three hours away to a rattle-trap camper behind her aunt’s house. As if that’s not bad enough, Colby’s cousin hates them and takes every opportunity to make them miserable--including filming Colby in the middle of a very private moment. When that video hits Facebook, Colby becomes the laughing stock of the school. Between that, the guilt from her binge eating and her mom’s devastating comments, Colby decides to check out of life. Does anyone care enough to save her?

Critical Evaluation: Fehlbaum jumped right into her protagonist’s character development in the very first sentence of Big Fat Disaster. The reader immediately starts to feel the confusion and isolation that Colby battles on a daily basis. Within the first chapter, the reader has a complete view of all the main characters and their family dynamic. Questions slide into the reader’s mind--why does Colby’s family acts and reacts like this? How does Colby cope with their constant berating and demeaning comments? Like the immediate character development, the first person perspective works to bond the reader and the protagonist. It gives immediacy and significance to the story; it enables us to see Colby’s true personality, her heartbreak, loss of control and the dire hopelessness she feels. Using a third person perspective would have created a distance between the reader and the protagonist which, in a story that is so much about emotion, could cause a major break in believability. Colby’s tone of voice was realistic and completely believable. She wasn’t too glib or too clever; she didn’t have snappy come-backs or use an inordinate amount of complicated words. Comparisons were also minimal which, again, helps develop credibility in a character since most people don’t think with similes and metaphors. While the rhetoric of Colby’s thought process was mostly spot on, her descriptions run the risk of becoming dated. Her references to “Axe body spray” (8) and “Michael Phelps” (139) can very easily affect the book’s staying power. But overall, Beth Fehlbaum has created a memorable character whose personality and strength can’t help but make a deep impact on the reader.

Reader’s Annotation: Colby has a better relationship with her snack drawer than she does with her family. But when her world explodes into chaos, she’s going to need more than Ding Dongs to pull her through.

Author Information: In addition to writing Young Adult Contemporary Fiction, Beth Fehlbaum is a secondary English-Language Arts teacher who frequently draws on her experience as an educator to write her books. She has a B.A. in English, Minor in Secondary Education, and an M.Ed. in Reading.

Beth is a featured author on the 2015-2016 Spirit of Texas Reading List- High School. She is the author of the Kirkus Starred Reviewed Big Fat Disaster (Merit Press/F+W Media, March 2014) and The Patience Trilogy (Courage, Hope, and Truth).

Beth is a member of the RAINN (Rape , Abuse, Incest National Network) Speakers’ Bureau. She has a following in the young adult literature world and also among survivors of sexual abuse because of her work with victims’ advocacy groups. She has been the keynote speaker at the National Crime Victims’ Week Commemoration Ceremony at the Hall of State in Dallas, Texas and a presenter for Greater Texas Community Partners, where she addressed a group of social workers and foster children on the subject of “Hope.”  (If you are interested in having Beth speak at your event, please use the “Get in Touch” tab.)

She is in-demand as an author panelist, having presented/appeared at the Texas Library Association Annual Conference, the American Library Association’s annual conference, YALSA, and N.C.T.E./ALAN. Young Adult Book Festivals that Beth is a featured author for in 2015-2016 include (but are not limited to): the YAK (Young Adult Keller) Bookfest in Keller, Texas;  the Montgomery County Book Festival in The Woodlands, Texas; Books by the Bay, a YA book fest in Corpus Christi, Texas; the Dogwood Trails Book Festival in Palestine, Texas; and the Mansfield ISD Book Festival (Mansfield, Texas).

She is the founder/administrator of UncommonYA, a thirty-member-strong marketing group and website for traditionally-published authors of “gritty” YA, which posts new content five days a week, 52 weeks a year. Members support one another by sharing/retweeting links as well as inviting each other to participate in events on-line and in-person. UncommonYA has grown to include authors from around the world including the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Japan, who write for all sizes of traditional publishers. She is a member of The Author’s Guild.

Beth is a survivor of a traumatic childhood, like Ashley in The Patience Trilogy, and the day-to-day manager of an eating disorder much like Colby’s in Big Fat Disaster. These life experiences give her a unique perspective, and she writes her characters’ stories in a way meant to inspire hope.

Beth lives with her family in the woods of East Texas.¹

Curriculum ties: health; societal ideals

Booktalks: How do you make yourself feel better when you’re down?

Challenge issues: obesity, abuse, death, suicide, eating disorders, infidelity, bullying, family dysfunction

Challenge resources (for usage in a challenge situation):

• Library Selection Policy

• Rationale explaining why the item was chosen for the collection
• Active listening skills
• Awards
• Reconsideration form (as a last resort)
• Illinois Library Association (Banned Books Listings)
• National Council of Teachers of English “Right to Read”
• Positive and negative reviews: expert, parent, student
• ALA Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials
• ALA Bill of Rights on Intellectual Freedom

• Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
• Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

Reasoning: Big Fat Disaster a great title to expand the diversity of a collection. There aren’t enough realistic portrayals of overweight people in books and media today, so it’s important to include books like this one that not only provide relatable and astute characters, but also develop empathy.

References:

¹Fehlbaum, B. (n.d.). Beth Fehlbaum Realistic Fiction: "Problem Novels" Retrieved December 3, 2015, from http://www.bethfehlbaumbooks.com/

Fehlbaum, B. (n.d.). About Me... Retrieved December 3, 2015, from http://www.bethfehlbaumbooks.com/about-me/