Rocking My Socks Off: Fat Kid Rules the World

I started "Fat Kid Rules The World" last night just before bed as a pathetic attempt to put a larger dent into my box of YA lit I borrowed from my school's library. I was feeling a bit too guilty about only wanting to read non-fiction-- particularly about organic gardening. While I thought I'd just calm my brain with some reading before bed, instead I found my brain strangely roused from its plant-track mind. I've read one other book by the same author (K.L. Going) which was Saint Iggy. It was unconventional and gritty enough so I figured "Fat Kid" would be worth a try. And it was refreshing.

I found myself awaken this morning after dreaming about the first day of school and I decided that immediately after my obligatory run, I'd be snuggling into the couch to finish "Fat Kid". It was rainy and gray out, even if it was going to be 90 degrees again, and "Fat Kid" sucked me further into its depths.

Like "Saint Iggy", there is a homeless teen as a main character. There's also a bit of school skipping going on- which is beginning to make me wonder if K.L. Going was ever homeless and if she skipped school a lot. The protagonist is "Big T" who is a dorky, 300 lb softie. He's contemplating throwing himself into an oncoming subway train when the homeless rock prodigy Curt MacCrae interrupts him and forces him to buy lunch for the two of them.

Curt and "Big T" become an odd coupling in that Curt twists "T" into playing drums for a band that has just recently dreamed up. For some reason Curt sees potential in "T" that no one else sees or is willing to invest in. Curt and "T" begin the hang out at the expense of "T's" attendance at school, but "T's" dad puts a quick end to this truancy all while showing that he not only cares about his son, but also that he's concerned for the welfare of Curt.

"Big T" is a big baby and he trie to come up with reasons for why he isn't good enough to be the drummer that Curt is hoping to cultivate. Curt also exposes "T" to some of the seedier sides of life and he even gets T out of the house to go to a "real show".

I couldn't help but think that the author would magically fix T's problems by having him lose weight and get lots of attention from girls, but this didn't happen. I was pleasantly surprised. Instead, T had to earn his own respect and the respect of those around him- which was refreshing rather than seeing a simplistic ending to the story. The author forces the protagonist to deal with the real problems and she also forces him to look at his family members in a new light in order to better understand himself- which is something we could all use to do once in a while.