Fat Kid Rules The World





G.P Putnam’s sons, 1838, 183 pp., $17.99
K.L Going

Six-foot-one, 296 pounds, seventeen-year-old Troy Billings is about to jump in front of the F train in New York. He stands there on the other side of the yellow line, thinking about what will happen after he jumps. Will it be funny to see a fat kid splatter everywhere? Will people laugh? Troy imagines the scene in his head and then starts to laugh.
“You laughing at me?” says Curt MacCrae.
Curt MacCrae is a small, dirty blond, homeless, high school dropout, hyper, mad guitarist. He’s in Troy’s favorite band, Smash Metal Puppets. They go out for food at a small diner and Curt was frantically looking at the menu at how much food there was. Troy wanted to order everything on the menu but he doesn’t want to look too fat so he orders a small meal. When their food comes Curt takes out some pills and then sets them on the table. Troy just stares at them and wonders what the pills are for. Curt notices that he is looking at him and answers him.
“Prescriptions.”
Troy takes Curt home cause he said that he had to go but Curt wanted to come too. So they call a cab and then go back to Troy’s place. But when they get home, Troy’s dad is mad and his brother Dayle, are waiting to hear Troy’s story. But Curt thinks of something quick and says:
“Band practice.”
Curt says that they have started up a new band and that Troy is going to be his new drummer. They have a new gig that they would play coming up in about five weeks. When Troy’s dad leaves, Curt says that he really meant what he said there and then he franticly starts jabbering a schedule for their meetings and practices. But Troy hasn’t played the drums since Junior High and he doesn’t want to play the drums and he has school. There’s no way he could learn to play the drums in five weeks in time to play a gig! Or is there?
I liked Fat Kid Rules the World because it is funny yet serious story. This story goes with all of your opposite opinions of what you think might happen and it won a Honor Book Award. This story is about how a fat, teenage kid finds his place in the world where he fits in. Troy Billings narrates the story. I would recommend this book to kids over 13 because of the language and some of the story plot. This story has a lot of statements and always has something exciting going on in each paragraph. Sometimes being fat has its advantages.