I Get So Hungry (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: I Get So Hungry Karen Coats Campbell, Bebe Moore I Get So Hungry illus. by Amy Bates. Putnam, 2008 32p ISBN 978-0-399-24311-0 $16.99 R 6–9 yrs Nikki is excited to meet her new teacher, Mrs. Patterson, on the first day of school. She’s a big woman, and the overweight Nikki soon sees in her a kindred spirit, as Mrs. Patterson sneaks a cookie from her purse during reading time. Nikki, too, sneaks food out of her backpack during the day, mostly to make herself feel better when the boys in her class tease her, and it isn’t long before people are saying that “Nikki Thicky is Fatty Patty’s pet.” One day, Mrs. Patterson doesn’t show up for work, and Nikki infers from whispered conversations that whatever is keeping her out of school has to do with her weight. Finding little support from her mom for a change in diet patterns, Nikki joins a slightly slimmed-down Mrs. Patterson in her morning walk around the schoolyard when the teacher returns to school. Mom is finally convinced to get moving herself when she sees the changes in Mrs. Patterson at a teacher’s conference. The story is fairly programmatic, but it’s broadly thoughtful and it addresses a pressing problem with understanding. Moore’s text explores both the emotional and practical reasons for Nikki’s destructive eating habits; as a child, she is at the mercy of what her mother is willing to buy and familial notions of body norms, but the problem is exacerbated by Nikki using food to calm her down when she is angry and lift her spirits when she is sad. The illustrations are occasionally metaphoric, with Nikki eating the mean boy or surrounded by a swirl of junk food, resulting in a nice counterpoint to the realistic text; the figures themselves, in generously textured watercolors, are all attractive and appealing in their various states of emotion. While there is nothing subtle about the message, the text is empowering and even inspiring for children dealing with similar issues. [End Page 419] Copyright © 2008 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois