I liked this quite a bit - although much of it was somewhat predictable, certain other plot twists were not. I really like the message of being yourself in your own way, instead of what others want you to be, and I like that she was working to get her family to talk more about their issues. But the parents - what horrible horrible people! Now that I'm a parent, I find that I get obsessed by parental behavior in books, and these were the worst I've seen in a long long time.

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things follows high-schooler Virginia as she gains confidence and accepts herself. It's difficult with a perfect family, a competitive high school, and constant feedback that being fat is bad. While Virginia's classmates, brother, and parents (and sometimes even herself) treated her atrociously, in the end, Virginia surrounded herself with supportive friends and professionals who helped her realize she is unique and perfect.

My review is here.

This book has major components of Neglect, eating disorders and rape.

I cannot express how much I feel like these issues are dealt with very poorly. Where I can understand the conversation the author was trying to portray i felt as though the intense conversations wrapped up into those topics where missed, extremely dated, and very problematic.

Froggy Welsh the Fourth is trying to get up my shirt.
This is the third Monday that he's come over to my apartment after school. Every week we go a little further, and today, on September twenty-third at 3:17 P.M., he's begun inching his fingers across my stomach and towards my bra.
"Virginia?"
I'm not sure whether Froggy is saying my name as a prelude to a question or whtether he's uttering it in ecstasy. As much as I wish it were the latter, I conclude that it's the former. We're only fifteen, after all.


Fifteen-year-old Virginia Shreves is the main character in Carolyn Macker's The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. I swear this book deserves an award just for the wonderful title. How can you not love it? However, despite the humorous title, the book is not all laughs as it could seem. There are a lot of serious issues going on here.

Virginia has a bigger-than-average body, which comes complete with an inferiority complex. She has her own Fat Girl Code of Conduct, and feels inferior to the other members of her perfect family, which includes a beautiful, skinny sister who works in Africa for the Peace Corps, and a rugby star, popular college student for a brother. Her mother is an adolescent psychologist while her father is a successful businessman.

Things seem perfect in the Shreves family... until a telephone call with a terrible accusation comes, and things will never be the same. Throughout the book, Virginia learns to let her inner self shine and express her ideas. I loved her character and personality: she turns from insecure girl to decise teenager in a very believable way. The dynamics inside the Shreves family fel very real and realistic.

I'd recommend this book to all the girls who have issues with their bodies, and to all the mothers of teenage daughters.

The plot surprised me, in a good way. When I started reading, enjoyed Virginia's funky narration but I thought it would be a typical teen book about boys, friends, parent troubles, etc. Then Byron's incident came out of nowhere and added a lot of depth to the story. It got me thinking on a lot of different levels.

As I was reading this, I was reminded of my 15-year-old self so many times. Although I didn't experience many of Virginia's specific issues, I totally related to her general self-consciousness and her struggle to identify herself as an individual instead of a member of her family or peers. She's trying to figure out how to be herself instead of conforming to the roles that she's always filled with her family and at school, and that's something that teens and adults alike can connect with.

BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN!!!!!!!!