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Overweight Topic Is Filled With Dignity

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By REBECCA YOUNG

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 28, 2008

"I Get So Hungry," by Bebe Moore Campbell (Putnam Juvenile, $17)

Whether you're 8 or 28, this is a tough time of year to be trying to lose weight.

The entire month is one long parade of cookies, chocolate and buttered rolls.

Compounding the problem in some parts of the country, it's dark, cold and hard to get outside and run around.

We know that too many kids weigh too much. Health professionals are sounding the alarms about the childhood obesity epidemic.

There are good fiction and nonfiction books for preteens and older, but literature for the younger set has been mostly silent or substandard on the subject.

So, hooray for Bebe Moore Campbell's valuable and perceptive new picture book, "I Get So Hungry," with lovely, sensitive illustrations by Amy Bates.

In Campbell's tale, it's back-to-school for Nikki and her classmates. Nikki has a solid group of friends, but there's also Arnold, a classmate, who taunts her about her weight.

"Hey, Supersize, don't break the desk."

His teasing saddens Nikki. She turns to food for comfort. She sneaks chips in class. Then she eats her lunch - fried chicken, two biscuits, cake and soda - and part of her friends' lunches, too.

Nikki is a bright girl, and she bonds with her teacher in more ways than one. Mrs. Patterson is obese, too. Arnold also makes fun of the teacher, under his breath.

As the school year rolls on, Nikki and her mom go in for checkups, and we learn about the roots of Nikki's weight trouble. The doctor tells mom and daughter, "No more junk food."

But, on the way home, they stop for a doughnut.

"It's been a long morning. We deserve a little treat," Mom says.

Bates depicts doughnuts floating in the foreground, with a dejected-looking Nikki in the back seat of the car.

The turning point for Mrs. Patterson, Nikki and finally Nikki's mom, comes with a health scare for the teacher. Just after Nikki's doctor's appointment in October, she comes back to school to a substitute teacher. She overhears other teachers whispering: "Close call. Too heavy."

That night Nikki asks her mother if they can go on a diet. She's told they come from a line of "big-boned women."

Mrs. Patterson doesn't return until after Christmas. She has lost a little weight. She's wearing sneakers, and she sips from a bottle of water all day. Nikki discovers the teacher walks around the schoolyard each morning and gets permission to take the early bus to join her.

While they walk, the teacher talks to Nikki about how she eats now - lots of fruits and vegetables. She passes on other good advice, such as telling Nikki to fill her life with interesting things to do so that she won't eat out of boredom.

As they walk and talk over the weeks, Nikki loses weight. Finally, at teacher conferences, Mrs. Patterson's weight loss inspires Nikki's mom to start walking with her daughter.

Campbell packed a lot into a picture book. Though fiction, the story about a healthful lifestyle is sound. The depiction of the emotional pain that overweight kids often suffer is sensitive and realistic.

Author and illustrator portray Nikki, Mrs. Patterson and Mom with respect and dignity, qualities often lacking in depictions of people with weight issues. They are smart, attractive and nicely dressed.

Bates' technique of portraying food floating on the pages works nicely. At the end, the food becomes carrots, cherries and peaches.

Acclaimed adult novelist Campbell, who died in 2006, has one other picture book, the equally valuable "Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry," which deals with bipolar disorder.

Rebecca Young writes for The News-Tribune in Tacoma, Wash.

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