Reviewed by Kristin
Being part Puerto Rican, Charlie Vega sometimes she feels as
if she sticks out in her Connecticut community. It’s not just her skin tone—Charlie
has a larger body, something she and her white mom used to have in common, but
now her mom has lost a great deal of weight. Mom thinks she is being
encouraging by leaving weight loss shakes for Charlie, and just does not
understand that her actions make Charlie feel anxious and uncomfortable. Charlie
is athletic and at ease in her own body, and wishes her mom would let her be.
Charlie is totally into a boy in her class—Cal. Her best
friend Amelia thinks that Charlie shouldn’t waste her time, and that is all the
more complicated because it turns out that Cal is talking to Charlie just to
get closer to Amelia—oh what a teenage mess!
School is easy for Charlie, especially her writing class. She
is also artistic, and enjoys her art class even if it takes her weeks to get
through one project. She manages to complete all her schoolwork on top of a
part time job. Moreover, it just so happens that her art classmate Brian works
for the same company. Now that Charlie has noticed him, she feels a spark of
attraction to him as a handsome and kind human being.
This is a modern coming of age story where the teenagers do
seem to be more self-aware than I was at that age. Or admittedly, maybe it just
takes a little time and distance to be able to look back at your own teenage
self and body image. I remember having a health teacher who was also the swim
coach. She said that when she was a teenager she was “so fat”. She talked about
her binges at fast food restaurants, and said that she was a size (gasp) 16.
Reading how Charlie feels at her mom’s urges to diet and work
out, I was taken back to my own size 16 teenage self listening to that teacher.
Seeing Charlie’s insecurities about boys and friends made me recall those years
in my own life. I am glad there are more books these days stressing health and
body positivity.
I also really liked the diverse characters. Even Charlie’s mom
was a complex person who was dealing with the loss of her husband and her new
reality as a single mom. I enjoyed this as a pleasant audiobook taking me
through my daily drives to work. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega can be
borrowed in print from other libraries in the OWL consortium, or checked out in
e-book or audiobook format via Tennessee READS.
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