Disappointing. There's no depth to the story or the characters. ( )

Crappy YA novel about the coming-of-age of a fat chick. Boring and by the numbers, although some attempt is made.
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Susan is overweight, self-conscious and the butt of jokes. She is caught vandalizing a classmate's truck and ordered to participate in a weekly counseling class. Also in the class is a popular jock, a cheerleader, a gay, a punker and Susan's primary tormentor, Kale. Counselor Mr. Duffy generates discussion to get the kids to know each other and talk about things. Susan develops a friendship with gay Brendan and a tenuous but growing understanding of the others. She also is dealing with her mother's death from cancer and the distance that's grown between her, her father and brother Tom. She finds more confidence to stand up for herself in and out of the counseling class.

Susan is fat, Brendan is gay. Together with four other students, they attend an afterschool class with the guidance counselor. Each student has done something that could result in expulsion unless they attend the pilot project “Alternative Education.” Susan and Brendan develop a friendship through unpleasant shared experience: they are both victims of bullying and harassment. Each week, they have to face one of their most vicious tormentors (Cale,) a perfect and popular student (Tracy) whose goals for college eclipse any notice she would normally take of such outsiders as Susan and Brendan. Then there is football star Randy (Susan has a secret and hopeless crush) and the sluttish (name is a blank. Mandy?)
This is a very plausible portrayal of the cruelties of adolescent “dissing”, sexual and alcohol abuse (gang rape) and of how seeking peer group approval often overrides compassion. The story explores the concept that encounter groups can be effective and helpful without entirely solving the underlying problems. Susan is also struggling with a father and brother who have yet to come to terms with the death of Susan & Tom’s mother. The story brings in the important themes of silence about loss and parental blindness to teenage problems. This could definitely be a good read for junior high students as they are at the highest risk of initially perpetrating or being victims of bullying and, as witnesses, often feel ill equipped to do anything but "run with the pack". ( )

Susan Callaway, whose dad is a well respected football coach, gets bullied about her weight. Due to a misunderstanding involving some spray paint, she ends up in an alternative ed class with five other students, including her biggest tormentor. Susan must learn to speak up or be insulted forever. The language is more suited to a high school, and that is the target audience for this fast but engaging book for reluctant readers.