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		Book Review - Fat Boy Swim Reprinted from December 2005 Issue -by MARSHA BATES Fat Boy Swim, written by Catherine Forde, c. 2004, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, New York, NY, 230 pages. Jimmy Kelly has lived in fear his entire life. Coddled by his mother, he uses food to calm his anxieties and as a result, he’s become obese. Friendless and taunted by his classmates, Jimmy’s only joy is cooking for his Aunt Pol (Pauline) and his mum. He dreams of owning a restaurant someday near the sea, far from the torment of sweltering Glasgow and his cruel teachers and schoolmates. Only one person outside the family knows of Jim’s culinary talent. Father Patrick takes advantage of Jimmy’s generous nature by selling his baked goods and candies at church fund raisers but never gives Jim credit. One day a new priest visits Jim’s house. Father Joe is different from any priest Jimmy has ever met before. He’s young, tough, a brutal taskmaster as a football (soccer) coach, and he wants to help Jimmy overcome his poor self-esteem. Jimmy offers to help Father Joe raise money to re-roof his missionary church in Africa and in return, the priest agrees to teach Jimmy to swim. Although he’s tried to learn to swim many times in the past, Jim’s fear of ridicule and his mother’s overprotective nature have doomed his efforts. In his dreams, he feels at home in the water, swimming strongly toward a “shadow figure” at the end of the pool. Reality is far different. Wearing swim trunks the size of a small tent, Jim starts at the shallow end, learning the rudiments of breathing and kicking. It soon becomes apparent that Jim has an affinity for swimming. Within a short time, he progresses to the point where he challenges his former nemesis to a race. As his self-esteem grows, along with his admiration for a special classmate, Ellie, Jim’s waistline begins to shrink until the day someone hints that “he’s the image of his father.” But Jim knows he looks nothing like his late father and is puzzled by the secrets he senses between his mother and his aunt. All mysteries are revealed in a dramatic climax that includes both personal victory and painful revelations. Jimmy learns to be his own person, not a coddled mama’s boy or a helpless victim of ridicule. Catherine Forde lives in Glasgow, Scotland where FBS takes place. The tough realities of inner city schools are depicted by the adult characters, who either ignore Jimmy’s torment or over-compensate by babying him and by the bullies who prey on weaker students only to find themselves bested in the end. This teen novel is recommended for readers in grades 8-10. Reviewed by Marsha Bates, employee of the Mid-Columbia Library System, Kennewick Branch.