I read this so often when I was ages seven through nine that the cover warped. Even as an adult--I can understand it much better, but -damn- it is still my childhood. My mom really was president of the PTA, but had three kids under the age of ten, and was a waitress until she started working at an elementary school. The dad in this book? Easily my dad. It took hours and hours for me to calm down after I finished. The author describes him in an afterward as tyrannical. Yes, and psychologically abusive hinting towards physical, and--oh, I just freakin' hated him. But I remember hiding this book from my dad because I was worried he'd realize he was the book-dad, and I didn't want him to hit me. I remember being so grateful and so scared when my mom read this out loud, the times she did, because surely she would realize she was the book-mom. And now that I'm an adult--I'm so, so glad I had this book as a kid. I'm so glad it's still in circulation, and so widely respected. ( )

Good, but a little too much diet culture. ( )

Ex libris Rebecca Schaffner ( )

Paula Danzinger was another staple author of my early adolescence. She doesn't hold a candle to Judy Blume for emotional or moral/ethical depth, but she still wrote a number of compellingly readable titles filled with humor and a realistic amount of angst.

Marcy is in ninth grade and she's shy, has no self-esteem - although lots of pragmatism - and a pretty lousy home life. The first three lines of the book run:

"I hate my father. I hate school. I hate being fat."

Her father is verbally abusive and not at all subtle about it.

She hates school because she's bored. She's intelligent and not at all challenged, until Ms. Finney comes along and teaches English in a whole new way.

She's fat and she's opting to completely fail gym because there's no way she's changing and showing in front of the other girls. She has a running list of hilarious excuses for why she doesn't dress out for gym each day (hence the title of the book).

These three themes are woven into a story that's basically about peace, love and understanding. It is so a book of its time (early 70's), but it's also funny and empowering. Through Ms. Finney's teaching Marcy makes new friends and they all learn the importance of standing up for what they believe in.

At 119 pages, this book is short. As a result, it tackles these themes only shallowly and a lot of people aren't going to like the whole fat angle. But for me, it had nostalgia going for it and I liked that Danzinger didn't have Marcy going on diets or crazy exercise plans; Marcy just starts opting out of the junk food and ice cream. At the end of the book (which doesn't end all that satisfactorily btw), Marcy's still "fat" but the reader is left with the idea that she's making positive changes regardless of whether she'll get a smaller waist or not. ( )

This was a decent coming of age novel. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I was actually coming of age, and going through similar experiences. Now, I'm looking at the characters with the benefit of wisdom that comes with age. However, having said that, Danziger created some phenomenal characters that were very relatable. At one point, when Marcy's father was being a worse emotional abuser than normal, I actually called my father and told him I loved him for not being like that. The best part was the ending, the problems were resolved in a realistic manner. Everything was not rainbows and butterflies", but life went on anyway." ( )