The Skinny on Plus-Size YA

In the past few days there have been a flurry of articles highlighting one of the new trends in YA fiction. No, it's not vampires...or werewolves...or zombies...or fairies...or any other supernatural or magical creatures. It's novels featuring overweight teen protagonists!

As I've been thinking about ordering books for my library, I've been careful to ensure that the fiction list contains books reflecting the wide array of racial and cultural diversity in my student body and covers all genres. I looked for titles featuring characters with various physical, mental and psychological abilities and differences. But I never thought about their weight. But I'll bet my middle schoolers (fat, thin, short, and tall alike) think a lot about their weight, and I'll bet that I have students who are looking to see their clothing size represented on our shelves.

I confess to not having read any of the titles noted in the articles, but I definitely plan to check them out. One of the ABC articles includes a handy list of recommended reads, which gives a nice quick plot summary for each book. Looks like I've got some additional purchasing to do!