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In this book, we follow Charlie Vega through the ups and downs of high school. Her mom struggles with her own body insecurities, which she pushes onto Charlie. She feels overshadowed by her best friend, and she longs to find the right boy and have her first kiss. We get to see her find that boy, a wonderful cinnamon-roll sweetness of a boy, and fall into the wonderful whirlwind of first love. All the while, Crystal Maldonado writes it in such a way that just warms your soul.
Imagine a world where women secretly control everything. A secret society that seems preoccupied with tea parties and secret recipes is actually an intricate web of women running the world to better women in abusive and dangerous situations but also to lift good men into leadership: men who listen to their wives and make good decisions for everyone. This society is welcoming of women regardless of race, sexuality or ability. This is the setting for Sheena Boekweg’s book. We follow Elsie and a group of unmarried society agents trying to wed a young man the society has marked as a future president. It is 1927, and they go about arranging meet cutes in soda shops and other places to see who the front runner is to win his heart
By Kelly deVos
Whether by choice, through coercion or for employment, these six teens are bound for fat camp. Things go south before they even get there, and once they arrive it is a pretty quick slide into kicking zombie ass. It is fast paced and well written. There are lots of twists and turns and it often leaves you on the edge of your seat. There are characters you root for, characters who break your heart, and characters who grow in ways you hope others would. All the while, the subtextual indictments of diet culture and systemic fatphobia make this book a stand out.
By C.L. Lynch
Stella Blunt is starting a new school and she is stared at and drooled over by a weird guy in her chemistry class. This starts a hilarious Twilight retelling with a fat girl feminist and a zombie twist. Overall this book is a well written zombie story, full of chainsaws and brains. But it’s also a take on a dated franchise retold with a shotgun blast of girl power. It is laugh out loud funny with Shakespearean level insults coming from the mouth of a vulgar fat girl who is making her own way in the world. These books are definitely worth a read.
Rory has struggled with her weight her whole life. She finally discovers why when a doctor diagnoses her with PCOS, a hormonal issue that makes losing weight exceptionally hard. Shortly after learning this, her bully, a cheerleader named Merritt, insinuates that she just needs to try harder to lose weight. On this particular day Rory is done. She snaps back. One thing leads to another, and she ends up betting that she will be able to get the quarterback of the football team to ask her to homecoming.
By Lyla Lee
Skye is on a journey auditioning to be a K-pop star on a reality TV show competition. She is an amazing singer and dancer; her main challenge is convincing the judges that her weight won’t be an issue. Her own mother doesn’t believe she can do it. Skye doesn’t let any of that stop her; she is determined. She will find new friends and new loves, and maybe she will prove to everyone they were wrong about her.
Derry is a witch, but that’s not what Frank calls her; he says that’s a harmful word and that she and her eight siblings are alchemists. It’s all a rather idyllic life filled with chores, meal times and magic practice, until one of her sisters goes missing in the woods one night. From then, a darkness settles and begins closing in all around her family, and it is up to Derry to save them. All of her skills, both magical and mundane, will be pushed to their limits. Will she be able to defeat the darkness before it takes more from her family?
By Julie Murphy
Faith Taking Flight adapts the Faith Herbert comic books into a superhero-themed, coming-of-age YA novel. Of course, weird stuff goes down at “summer camp,” but these superhero origin tropes serve as a backdrop for her struggles to adjust to this new normal while attempting to live the life of a normal teenager. Upon returning to the real world, Faith is excited to learn that her favorite TV show will soon be filming in her town; maybe she might even meet the star (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). Also a lot of weird stuff starts happening in the town: disappearances and the arrival of a new drug all the kids are taking. Faith may just have to don the cape one more time, save the town and fall in love. It is an empowering and enjoyable book to read.
By Renee Watson
This book ticks a lot of boxes: A fat heroine? Check. Intersectional representation? Check. A cute community activist as a love interest? Check! All of this, though, serves as a mere backdrop for the deep and radical love story in the title: the journey to self love.
In a world of magic and vision, draconian laws are enacted on prophecies and enforced with mind control. It is hard to have a secret plan when your enemies can read your mind. These four young, brave rebels will need all of the talents they possess to fight the evil that controls the entire citadel. Alys is one of the four main characters of this book. She is a fat apothecary with the gift of sight. She is a strong fat character who does her part to have the citadel in this story.
We don’t think that YA has an upper age limit. We love some YA books, and hope that you enjoy them too. We would love to hear what your favorite is, from this list or not! Let us know in the comments! Thank you for reading <3