Biggie by Derek E. Sullivan (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Biggie by Derek E. Sullivan Elizabeth Bush Sullivan, Derek E. Biggie. Whitman, 2015 [272p] ISBN 978-0-8075-0727-8 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12 Henry, nicknamed “Biggie” since second grade, is perfectly happy being over three hundred pounds. He’s doing just great, thank you, with his robust roster of online girlfriends, terrific grades, and a part-time job that lets him gaze upon customer/classmate Annabelle, who will, he’s sure, one day be his real-time girlfriend. It’s everybody else that has a problem with his weight: the kids at school who ridicule him; Mom, who’s always nagging him; his stepfather, who only respects kids who play sports; his doctor, who treats him, well, like a patient with a problem. Henry’s self-assessment takes a hit, though, on the day he miraculously pitches a perfect wiffle ball game in gym class, Annabelle offhandedly remarks to Coach that Biggie should pitch on the baseball team, and Biggie’s young stepbrother, Maddux, convinces him he could be the first player in baseball-crazy Finch, Iowa, to pitch a perfect high school game. Think you know where this is going? On a straight line to respect, romance, and baseball glory? Biggie gets most of the way there, eventually, but not before confronting a boatload of uncomfortable truths: his online behavior is creepy; his weight has made him dangerously hypertensive; his schoolmates ridicule him not because he’s fat but because he’s weird and condescending; his stepfather has always been ready to meet him halfway; Annabelle isn’t worth the effort; Mom is right. Biggie’s road to enlightenment is by turns hilarious and devastating, and although he doesn’t end up with ripped abs, sports-page headlines, or the girl of his dreams, he does get a life—and despite his self-deluded protestations, that’s exactly what he wanted. [End Page 519] Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois