Like many kids, Marcy Lewis has problems and she tends to hide behind them. She is bored by school, her father tyrannizes both Marcy and her mother, she despairs of ever being thin, she is certain she'll never have a date and that a horrible case of acne will break out any minute. Then along comes Ms. Finney, an English teacher willing to try anything in the classroom--light shows, student plays, far-out books, videotape productions, group dynamic sessions. Above all, she is accessible and human. Marcy has never met anyone like her, and suddenly life in and out of school begins to have a purpose. When Ms. Finney is suspended because of her controversial teaching methods and her refusal to pledge allegience to the flag, the whole school is thrown into an uproar. Now out of her protective shell, Marcy helps to organize a protest, and she too is suspended. …
Like many kids, Marcy Lewis has problems and she tends to hide behind them. She is bored by school, her father tyrannizes both Marcy and her mother, she despairs of ever being thin, she is certain she'll never have a date and that a horrible case of acne will break out any minute. Then along comes Ms. Finney, an English teacher willing to try anything in the classroom--light shows, student plays, far-out books, videotape productions, group dynamic sessions. Above all, she is accessible and human. Marcy has never met anyone like her, and suddenly life in and out of school begins to have a purpose. When Ms. Finney is suspended because of her controversial teaching methods and her refusal to pledge allegience to the flag, the whole school is thrown into an uproar. Now out of her protective shell, Marcy helps to organize a protest, and she too is suspended. With her mother firmly on her side, her father violently opposed, Marcy must decide whether her fight for Ms. Finney and the values she stands for is worth the price she must pay at home and in school.
With a mixture of biting humour and insight based on personal experience, the author puts reders in touch with their own feelings and the difficulties of trying to survive in an adult world.
--back cover
read for the GD summer challenge (shelf discovery) i thought i'd read this book before, but no - didn't strike a bell. it's told from the fat girl's point of view which is in contrast to Blubber, and this girl's self esteem is so low that she thinks her best friend only talks to her because her mother makes her. by the end of the book, it seems she's lost a bit of weight and gained a little esteem. don't know if that's a good message or not.
