Tremendous Things

April 1, 2021
A fat teen gains self-confidence in a quest to get the girl. Fourteen-year-old Wilbur Alberto Nu�ez-Knopf is still trying to recover from his "Number One Defining Moment." Upon entering seventh grade after being home-schooled, Wil's deeply embarrassing time-capsule letter was found and shared by a classmate on social media. Now dubbed "Wank" by peers, the straight, White Toronto teen is a social pariah. Wil's luck starts to change when Charlie, a beautiful French exchange student, is placed at his house for the week. Wil's feelings for Charlie come fast, but class bully Tyler (the "Chris Hemsworth" to Wil's "Napoleon Dynamite") hooks up with her instead. In an attempt to avoid being friend-zoned yet again when he visits Charlie in France, Wil agrees to let his gay friends and 85-year-old neighbor "do a Queer Eye" and make him over. But will it be enough? Nielsen's quirky portrayal of a sensitive male with a working-class, two-mom family is welcome, and the tone is mostly light and fun. However, many of the characters--unfortunately especially Charlie--lack sufficient depth to move beyond trope territory. Though body-shaming is often called out and at least one fat character is full of confidence and self-acceptance, the repeated use of "some pig" (from Charlotte's Web) as an affirmation and the intense emphasis on size toe the line between reclamation and fatphobic objectification. There is some ethnic diversity in secondary characters. Fills a need for representation--but not entirely successfully. (Fiction. 12-18)

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May 1, 2021

Gr 7 Up-Wilbur Nu�ez-Knopf became the subject of viral ridicule in seventh grade when a personal letter detailing his hopes for the future was photographed and shared. The sealed letter, intended for a time capsule, reveals embarrassing information about his "spontaneous erections." Wilbur was referred to by insensitive nicknames for the remainder of middle school and his self-confidence suffers greatly at the hands of bully Tyler Kertz. Two years later, when the school band hosts an exchange program with students from France, Wilbur falls for the girl assigned to stay with him, Charlie, and is broken-hearted when he discovers her and Tyler making out. Just as Wilbur prepares to cancel his upcoming visit to Paris, his friend Alex and Alex's boyfriend, Fabrizio, stage an intervention with Wilbur's elderly neighbor, Sal. Encouraging Wilbur to work out, update his wardrobe, and refrain from desperate over-texting, Wilbur emerges a more confident teen, ready to leave an impression on Charlie. Readers will find themselves immersed in each scenario that unfolds. The focus on Wilbur's penis is over-the-top and his gaze toward Charlie comes across at times as objectifying, though the book overall highlights the power of a peer support network in building self-esteem and one's willingness to reach out for new opportunities. The discomfort readers may experience as they learn of the initiating event parallels the awkwardness of adolescence and the unexpected experiences of middle school. Wilbur is described as having white skin and one of his mothers is coded as Argentinian. Alex is Iranian and Sal is Jewish. VERDICT Nielsen presents a realistic teen experience with raw emotions. A heartwarming addition for collections looking for titles with fewer than 200 pages.-Monica Cabarcas, Sutherland M.S., Charlottesville, VA

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