(18) Fat Cat by Robin Brande

What a supremely awesome book.

Big props to the wonderful Meg Cabot for recommending this book. My mistake was the fact that I didn't actually read her review. I just browsed it, thought it looked good, so I added it to my e-book wishlist, knowing that my nook was on the way.

So, Fat Cat was the first book I read on my nook. On page one, I realize that it is actually a Young Adult novel. I was a bit disappointed because I thought it was going to be a biography about a woman who made all of these radical sacrifices to lose weight. Well, that is kind of true.

Fat Cat is a YA book about a seventeen year old heavyweight braniac, Cat. Cat is given a picture of a male & female Homo Erectus and is told that she has seven months to create a Science Fair project based off of this picture. After some major freaking out, she decides she is going to do an experiment where she will live the kind of life that our very first ancestors lived. No electricity, no technology, no processed foods. She can only eat what the hominid's could have eaten. She must walk everywhere & she has to give up her iPod, television, and cell phone. With the support of her family & her best friend, Amanda, Cat sets off on a scientific journey that will change her life.

As I sit here eating leftover tater tots & chicken strips, I realize that this book could do for the eating habits of high schoolers what Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver did for the eating habits of millions of adults. The book chronicles what eating clean did for Cat. From losing weight to clearing up acne, it becomes clear that her lifestyle change really is the healthy way to live. But the other thing that the author exposes us to is all of the emotional baggage that overweight people, especially kids, have to deal with. Primarily the self esteem issues. That is what REALLY hit home for me. I didn't have weight issues when I was a teen (that came later) but I had major self esteem issues due to physical disabilities and I could easily relate to the hurt feelings that Cat had regarding her relationship with an old friend. The situation was so familiar to me, it moved me to tears.

Forget that Fat Cat is written for Young Adults, Fat Cat is a well written, engaging fictional tale of the girl that lives inside so many of us. Pick it up for your daughter, your niece or even yourself. It is a book you won't regret buying. I promise.