Fat Kid Rules the World

Troy Billings is a 300-pound high school senior contemplating suicide when he meets Curt MacCrae, a homeless teenage musical genius who decides that Troy is just the drummer he's looking for to start a new band. Narrator Matthew Lillard takes cues from the text to create unique voices for all the characters; his voice for Ollie, a punk drummer who is giving Troy lessons, is particularly inspired. Lillard captures Troy's joy in being part of the punk crowd, as well as his confusion over Curt's apparent drug addiction. There are no pat answers, but the listener hears Troy's hope as the last sentence segues into a rocking musical track at his first performance. A fine choice for teens and adults. A.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2004 Newbery Honor Award, Winner of 2004 ALA/ YALSA Recording (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

June 23, 2003
In her savvy and fast-paced debut, Going tells the story of high school senior Troy Billings, 6'1", 300 pounds and completely unhappy. An eternal fish out of water, Troy is on the verge of suicide—at least he believes he is—when he is inexplicably rescued by the dangerously thin Curt MacRae. A homeless boy who constantly pops pills (Tylenol and Imodium, he says), Curt is a legendary local punk rock musician. The unlikeliest of friendships develops, and Curt recruits Troy as the drummer in his new band. Troy, who thinks in headlines (the titular example being one of his more optimistic lines), is a winning narrator, immediately roping us into his sad-sack ennui. But for all his problems—his weight, his relative lack of social skills, a brother and father who don't understand him—there is a sweetness to Troy, which rescues the book from becoming a Prozac nightmare. And Troy's experiences within the band ably mirror his uninvited shove into adulthood. But the most fascinating and compelling character is his father; a widower and a retired marine, he is a man of very few words, but the growth he undergoes in these few pages is remarkable. Going uses a fair amount of explicit language in her dialogue ("No one beats me or fucks me without my permission. Got that?" says Curt) but it lends an air of authenticity to the dealings of two young men—both trapped in their own extremes, both in need of interface with others, both able to clumsily help each other. Ages 14-up.