Who Am I?
The life in my head seems
so different from the life outside,
where I am so big
that everyone stares,
but no one sees the real me.

What a poignant story! I’m worried that this book will slip through the cracks and go unnoticed. I truly hope it doesn’t. It’s a wonderful story written in verse about a seventh grade boy, Ari, who struggles with his weight and body image.

What I loved about this story is that you get a deeper understanding of Ari’s emotional issues and his feelings about his weight problem. He’s a likable boy, strong, and sensitive, and you want to pick him up every time somebody knocks him down. His character has a lot of growth and watching his transformation was so amazing and heartwarming.

The author did a fantastic job allowing the reader to walk vicariously in Ari’s shoes, so that you can get an idea of what it feels like when people mistreat you because of your weight, and see the demons people face both internally and externally.

This is an important story, one that shouldn’t be missed, especially in an era where the media tries to fit us all in a mold, and shames those that don’t fit in it. It’s a story about friendship, compassion, and empathy. It’s a lesson in understanding those around you and learning sensitivity, because we’re not made of steel, and your support could mean the world to somebody else.

Highly recommended.

CW: anti-Semitism, body shaming, and self-harm

2.5/5

This has one major point in its favor (male character struggling with weight rather than female), a few fairly average issues (the writing felt far more adult than middle grade in places; more than one plotline or character seemed to trail off and disappear with little resolution; although the story seemed to be taking place in the current time based on mentions of cell phones the cultural interests of the young characters seemed to have been arrested in the eighties; the Judaism that they keep talking about in theory of the mitzvot and keeping Shabbat seemed significantly at odds with what any character was doing currently) and the serious issue that I'm genuinely concerned it might contribute to a child's eating disorder.

Yes, it has the eventual "your weight doesn't matter, it's on the inside that counts" message, but only in perhaps the last quarter of the book. Prior to that, readers must follow Ari on adventures in severe bullying, self harm, crash dieting, and extreme body negativity, and the revelation only comes after he has lost weight and been noticed for it. No information is given about the genetic factors of weight gain, the complex entanglement of fatness and health, or the metabolic complications with dieting vs. keeping weight off. All adult figures including medical professionals (except perhaps the rabbi, whose storyline is somewhat separate from the weight aspect) are extremely focused on weight loss by whatever means necessary. Little change has been made or support added regarding the familial/emotional aspects to which Ari connects some of his overeating tendencies - his parents are still a mess, still absent, and he never returns to therapy. At no point is it mentioned that a body can be good for more than being thin. I would have loved for just once Ari to think to himself "I appreciate that my body helps me ride around on my bike."

I especially struggled with weight right around seventh grade, and if I had read a book like this, even if the message was allegedly that you should love yourself however you look, I would have come away angry and ashamed of my body. I would have picked up on the much stronger messages about the importance of significant food regulation, that bullying can be stopped if you just look better and don't provide as much of a target, that the culturally accepted standard of beauty or health is singular and meant to be reached by any means necessary, and that would have been tremendously damaging.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

"All of Me" has stopped me in my tracks so many times that it's taken me 3x as long to read as a novel usually would, and what a joy that is.

"Sometimes the silence of others is better than attention."

I've highlighted so many passages, but this one pierced right through my heart that is breaking for Chris Baron's lead character, thirteen-year-old Ari Rosensweig. Baron so lovingly constructs a world of Ari's emotions and thoughts that you slide right into a place of compassion for a boy who is trying to find his place in the world and in his "husky" body, as Ari is so often reminded. This book brought me right back to my own adolescence and struggle to feel accepted and seen for the goodness inside of me, instead of how I looked on the outside. Decades later, I can still relate to Ari feeling uncomfortable in his own skin, but finding pathways to acceptance.

This novel in verse is beautifully crafted and poignant, and it's certain to strike a chord with any reading audience. Highly recommended.

So much is wrapped up in this middle-grade in-verse book. Perhaps its greatest strength is the amount of nuance it's able to portray in what seems to me to be so few words. I was rec'ed through a Twitter thread for Jewish MG books, and am glad I found it. As some previous comments have said, I think it's excellent that this be the story of an overweight boy, as the issue of weight with girls is a bit more known by this point, and boys are often left behind. I enjoyed how real these kids felt, too, from the pop culture references to the way they each reacted to major problems. I agree with some commenters that the language seemed almost too old at times, but that's easily forgivable. I'm so happy with the conclusion, as well, and how it elegantly ended the weight/diet plot. A great read. My one qualm is that I have personal experience with the keto diet that leaves me... at odds with it. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with how positively that diet specifically is depicted, especially as it's geared toward kids. Kids going on strict diets always gets my hackles up. But as I said, even that plot has its good points.

Beautiful novel-in-verse on a topic not often talked about, but much needed. While this is definitely a book for mature middle-graders, I’d say 5th grade and up, it is necessary to have in classrooms and libraries, because one of the marginalized groups that don’t seem to get a lot of empathy is one where people struggle with weight and body image issues.

Ari’s story shares his struggles so beautifully, yet doesn’t pull any punches. Ultimately, it is a story of resilience, the power of vulnerability and connection, and the gift of understanding that perfection is not a thing.

Thank you to the author and publisher for sharing this with our #bookexpedition group.

Novel in verse about Ari who worries about his weight (and bullies), the disintegrating relationship between his parents, and the troubles his friend Lisa is experiencing at home. He is also trying to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah (late) in the middle of all of this and has just moved across the country. So much to deal with!

Beautifully written. I worry that it might be a bit of a hard sell unfortunately.

"The life in my head seems so different from the life outside, where I am so big that everyone stares, but no one sees the real me."

This story is about Ari, an overweight, Jewish boy who has just moved from New York to San Francisco. Often bullied, Ari resorts to self harm, which as a result prompts his mother to take him to a doctor for weight loss help. Ari's struggles seem to become deeper when his father unexpectedly leaves and never returns, forcing him to spend much of his time alone. However, Ari has friends who spend time with him during his summer vacation, where much of his maturation and weight loss occur.

Written in poetry format, this book is about individualism and self-reliance. It is also about love and maturation.

I wanted to love this book since I am a sucker for body positive books. But this one just didn't sit right with me. I appreciated that the author made issues around weight and size complex and multifaceted, and the deeply felt pain around the bullying Ari experienced was a truly visceral experience. But, I hate when books tie losing weight to a better life experience and I thought this book really walked that line a little too closely.