read this back in Year Eight in secondary school, and I remember this being one of the best books I have ever read.
Welcome to Scotland, where we follow Jimmy, He's fourteen years old and is overweight, and constantly teased, The joke of it all Jimmy's talent lies in cooking, Eventually having enough, Jimmy decides to turn his self loathing life around and learn how to swim,
This book, changed my life,
This isn't even an exaggeration, This book completely changed my perspective on everything, This book made me a lot more aware of so many things I can't even list everything, I connected with Jimmy way too much it was painful, I cannot explain just how much I loved Jimmy and how much I loved this book, This is such a beauty of a book, I really need to read this again and review this correctly,
Read this, Overall, just meh, Meh story, meh ending, meeeehhhhh, . . although I will give it credit for having this guy turn his life around, most of the time it isn't so easy, I'd know. What a lovely little novel,
I read this because I'm teaching it to my Sclass, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, I'm a bit old for most books aimed at kids, but this one was a treat, I felt myself getting extremely emotionally involved in Jimmy Kelly's troubles even had moments reading it on the bus where my eyes were welling up for him!
The characterisation is very good in this, and the progression of not only Jimmy's character but the character of his main bully Victor was very well done.
A real heartwarming read, I'd urge anyone to read it if they fancy something simple and sweet, My book was about my main character jimmy Kelly and his guidance the gym teacher, He gets made fun of in school and also has a secret talent that no one knows about, he can cook very well but he doesn't want people to know because he thinks they'll make fun of him even more than they already do.
The story takes place in Scott land, He wants to learn how to swim so he goes to his gym teacher, It is about his life and his struggles, I liked the book a lot it entertained me and made me laugh, I didn't give it fullbecause it was hard to read at some points because its in Scott land, This book was a alright book, One thing i didn't like about it is that it repeats its self a lot, for example in this book there is a heavy kid who does swim and people make fun of him because hes fat, and it reflects himself a lot for the first half of the book on how he just gets bullied and how hes insecure.
This book was pretty entertaining but its not a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat at all, This book is about a fat boy named Jimmy, He plays soccer, but everyone makes fun of him because he is fat, He is also a really good cook, One day his soccer coach, who also turns out to be his preacher, starts conditioing him so he can lose some of his fat.
One day Jimmy deciedes he wants to be a swimmer, As he starts to get better at swimming, he meets a girl he likes who is a nerd, he loses weight, and is allowed to compete in a huge swim meet against his rival/meanest kid he knows.
This was a pretty good book, and it taught me that size doesn't matter, My daughter was reading this for High Schoolnd year English so thought i would give it a go, Great story, loveable characters and brilliant writing : A really cracking book, actually! Brilliant for young readers, The Scottish accent will no doubt puzzle many who aren't acquainted with it, but if you've got that on lock then it's all grand! I thought it was an okay book.
There wasn't much that was going on in the story but there was a lot of psychological change in jimmy, I didn't like that there were so many plot changes at the end of the story and then the book just ended, It would have been a little better if the book was a little longer, I do think that this book was a lot more than I was expecting, It was definitely an Issue Book, capital I, capital B, and there is some very harsh language in it regarding the main character's size though the book came out in, so that's sort of to be expected, and it is a weight loss plot, which I don't think very many people are going to be too excited about, but it was surprisingly interesting.
The bullies were actually vicious, which was interesting to read, and the love story was cute, Overallnot a waste of time, I found this book boring and that nothing really happened but some big shocking moments, Fat Body Swim is a book about a fat kid who has a talent for cooking, No one knows about this talent that he has except for his family, A coach finds out about his talent and wants to make a deal with the fat kid, The coach is willing to train the fat kid to become a swimmer,
This book would be a higher star rating if it contained more information about the main characters life,
I recommend this book to those who dont want to be bored while reading,
Fat Boy Swim was OK, . .
Jimmy Kelly, the protaganist, is fat, And he is an amazing cook, although he keeps his cooking skill a secret, After bullying, bullying, bullying, Jimmy begins to get fitter, bascically,
It was an interesting book and I think it showed me that size doesn't matter, as long as you are healthy, Also that people hate it if you stare at them in the pool xP
However I found all the family problems a little dramatic, turning what could have a been a four star book into a soap opera.
There was something about the blurb of this that reminded me vividly of reading Tim Bowlers sitelinkMidget, which I loved as a kid, so I couldnt help but pick this YA novel up as a reprieve from
the textbooks.
It also, when I flicked through reviews, promised a happy ending, The first two chapters felt a little unwieldy, Fordes style unfamiliar, however her rhythm is quickly picked up especially read aloud,
Not being the target audience, I did guess the big family secret fairly early in the book however this didnt spoil the enjoyment of the read.
Somehow it ended up beingAM, Id turned one more chapter into the entire book oops! Very good for expanding a teens vocabulary and definitely one to read about the pool on holiday her vivid detail left me craving chocolate éclairs and a good swim!
This novel still remains a favorite.
I loved the fact that it was set in Scotland, and the fact that it has a Bruce Willis lookalike in it, and it also makes me want to go swimming and see what kind of a difference I can make in my own life.
Could I relate I hear you ask, Of course I could, despite the facts that I'm not a boy and one that is still in school, I think anyone could, regardless of whether they have been bullied or not, School was difficult for most people, and this novel really digs into the mind of a young, amicable lad who just gets on with it.
I'm proud of him and he is only a character in a book, I loved the whole 'dream' concept as well, it is symbolism at its best, It is one of the few novels that I can remember telling myself to read again whenever I had a slight break from reading novels for University a novel I can come back to again and again, and go on the journey with Jim who just shines with his honesty and his gracious heart.
I finished University this summer, and this novel again, was a 'mustread' as soon as I got home, waiting for me patiently, never failing to put a smile on my face and a quickened beat in my heart for such a modest and realistic character.
A truly great read. I owe you, Jim. .