Author: Erin Jade Lange

It only took an excerpt and the synopsis to get me to read this. In fact, when I shared that excerpt and synopsis with my students, they demanded I bring this book into the classroom library.

Here we are–Butter, a book about a guy who is morbidly obese and so beyond getting picked on that he’s not even bullied, just ignored. So he decides to take action by eating himself to death on the internet for everyone to see.

The book starts off with a lot of promise, a lot of questions and a lot of interest; especially into the psyche of Butter

As the book continues, you really get a feel for his life and the psychology behind what he’s going through. There are points when you sympathize with him, but also with his parents and teachers.

You also feel, intelligent because even though it’s being told from his perspective, you kind of get a bigger picture of what’s going on. And you can see the blind spots of the protagonist. Whether this was intentional by the writer, it was a brilliant move and made the book very enjoyable.

The writing on this book was smooth and it kept you going right to the very end.

In fact, once you got to the ending bit (the part where the action slows down and you just kind of trudge through to see how it ends), you’re still kind of working through the issues with the main character and putting it into your own perspective.

I really do have to thank the author here for wrapping this up in a way that makes you feel content.

You’re not left with all the answers, but you’re left with enough to trust where this main character will go from here. Overall, this is a great book to add to a classroom library and to offer to a middle school (or high school student) as well.

It’s good for anybody who has any empathy for those being bullied…especially about their weight.