Literacy is the Most Direct Route to Freedom (Part 1)

It's banned book week! I thought I'd celebrate by reviewing some banned or challenged books this week by writing reviews of them here in my dusty old blog. I'll try to get you five by the end of the week. First up is "The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things" by Carolyn Mackler. I first read this book back in High School. I was a little older than main character Virginia, but we were going through the same things; weight issues, intimacy issues, trust issues, and a crumbling family life. Suffice it to say, this book has a very special place in my heart. When I found out it was one of ALA's most-challenged books of the last year, I can't say I was surprised, but I was definitely disappointed.

In The Earth, my Butt, and Other Big Round Things, protagonist and narrator Virginia Shreves tells a story of transformation from an unhappy, fat, fifteen year old girl to an empowered young woman. And here’s the catch: she makes this transformation without losing the fat. In fact, her attempts at dieting cause most of the heartache of the story for her, and only after she gives up on crash-dieting do things start looking up for her. The 2003 book tackles issues important to young, contemporary girls like eating disorders, emerging sexuality, and what happens when we see the darker side of a former idol. For these very reasons the book has been the source of some controversy, ending up as one of the top ten banned books of 2009 on ala’s website.

As the book opens, Virginia is having one of her first pre-sexual experience. Her pseudo-boyfriend is making his first attempts to feel her up under her shirt. If this isn’t enough to give a conservative reader pause, Virginia’s self-loathing soon takes center stage as we learn that she is overweight, unhappy about her body, and overshadowed by her perfect, beautiful, thin family. She writes a list she calls the “fat girl code of conduct” which stipulates that young women who are overweight don’t deserve real relationships, and in fact are bound by society to be secretly promiscuous to get attention from boys, without feeling the right to demand relationships out of fear that the attention will be cut off if they are required to be seen in public with a “fat girl.”

As the story continues, Virginia overhears the popular girls talking about how hot her older brother is and how unattractive she is by comparison. Less than five chapters in it is clear that this narrator has no self esteem and is fairly depressed about her life. When her older brother is accused of rape, her world spins upside down. She previously idolized her brother and cannot believe what he is being accused of. To escape the stress of her family life she visits a friend in another state, where she gets her eyebrow pierced. This is the first step to accepting herself and seeing herself as powerful and in control. She goes on to change her wardrobe and dye her hair bright purple.

There is a lot about the story that could be considered inappropriate and offensive to young audiences, but these are precisely the sections of the book that ring most true. The book has been banned for being inappropriate for young audiences, for sexual references, and for discussing sexual abuse. But having read the book, I feel that these subjects are dealt with in an appropriate way, and in fact are the kind of subjects young girls need to be educated on. Virginia is a heroine because she finds herself, finds pride in herself without starving herself or otherwise doing harm to her person. She does a few unorthodox things that parents might not want to see their kids doing like piercing eyebrows and dying hair purple, but the way taking control of her body empowers her is so transformative and enlightened an idea for a YA novel, that I feel banning this book is to ban the idea that young women don’t have to conform or behave to be human. The message of this book is so valuable, and so tied to the very things about it which are controversial, that I feel it should be celebrated rather than banned.

It has, indeed, been celebrated. The Earth, My Butt, and other Big Round Things has been included on ALA’s Best Book for Young Adults list, the YALSA top ten list, been a nominee or finalist for dozens of book awards, and when it was banned in Caroll County Maryland a petition of over 350 teenagers demanded it be returned to their high school bookshelves. The impact of Mackler’s book is far-reaching. Rather than banning or challenging this book, I applaud it for tackling difficult and real issues that young women face. I would encourage any young woman in crisis over her weight to read and look for inspiration in Mackler’s The Earth, My Butt, and other Big Round Things.