Rating: 
Summary: A girl with some Sense
Review: A Review by Randall Hawk
A teenage girl named Judi enters 8th grade and she struggles with friends and fitting in and she struggles with her looks. Judi has to deal with constant criticism from her peers as well as her mother as they try to develop a deeper and closer relationship. Judi is given a diary as an English assignment and this diary becomes a very important part in her life.This book has a wide variety of characters in it whom all of which are realistic but funny in their own way. I liked Judi because she had to deal with a lot of problems that regular teenage kids deal with today with fitting in at school, dealing with the way she looks and developing relationships. Judi for example, she has problems just like any teenage girl. She wants to have a closer relationship with her mother. And she wants to fit in at school, which becomes a big problem for her based on how she looks. Or at least that's the way she sees it. Like for example, Judi tries to do different things to change the way she looks and this becomes a problem for her as well as her friendship with her best friend Monica. I also liked Nancy Pratt as well. She was the typical cheerleading type girl who everybody likes and she was snobby in a way and she used people like Judi. She got Judi to bring her things and do things for her. And Judi did it because she wanted to fit in and she wanted to be liked. So Nancy was very manipulative. I deffinatley liked the subject matter of this story because it was very realistic and it talks about a common problem with many teenage girls have at this point in time. And it is something that is very serious, but the author told it in a way that was interesting. I like that as well. I would strongly recommend this book to anybody, but especially young teen girls. It sends a very strong message and it tells that you don't always have to change your look or be somebody's gofer just to fit in at school and be liked.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding, realistic view of eating disorders
Review: As an adult who suffered from chronic anorexia onset in junior high, this is the first book out of many that has so accurately described the true emotions and actions surronding an eating disorder. I felt as if Newman had a direct line to the feelings I experienced when I began dieting . The eating disorder behaviors are extremly accurate; the emotions are dead on. Best of all Newman presents a realistic look at the progressive development of the disease and of the recovery process.
Rating:
Summary: Surviving 6th-8th Grade
Review: Fat Chance by Leslea Newman was an awesome book. This book is about a girl named Judi Lebowitz in 6th-8th grade. Judi thinks that she is fat and will do almost anything to be skinny. One day she went into the bathroom and herd someone throwing up. She asked if they were ok and shecouldn't believe her eyes when the most popular girl in school Nancy Pratt walked out. Judi asked Nancy if she was ok and that is when it all happined. Nancy Pratt let Judi in on her 'dieting' secret (binging.) Judi figured that if the most popular girl in school did it then why couldn't she? So from then on Judi and Nancy covered for each other while they did their 'buisness.' Their signal was holding two fingers up and moving their hand up and down. Judi decided that binging might not be such a great idea when Nancy was taking longer than usual in the bathroom. So she decided to check up on her and found her passed out in the bathroom stall. Judi promised that she would not ever throw up again. This did not seam to work for long. Read the book to find out what happins to Judi and Nancy. Do they stop for good or keep binging? This book is very suspensful. It keeps you on the edge of your seat untill the end. I reccomend this book mainly to girls and I just want every girl to know that even if you might be big people still love you and care for you. You might get teased but there are still people in this world who do not care for your size or shape or color they love you for who you are.
Rating:
Summary: Fat Chance
Review: Fat chance is about a girl who thinks she is fat. I can really relate to Judi's problems, because there is so much pressure from society to be thin. I am 12 and I can understand what she is going through completely. I have gone on many diets just like Judi, but I never realized that a diet can form an eating disorder so easily. This book really made me realize how cruel our world is and that your real friends will always stick by your side.
Rating:
Summary: Fat Chance
Review: Fat chance! Fat chance is the best book i have ever read. It is about a girl who thinks she is fat but she really isn't but people make fun of her but if you would like to know the end please read it. thanks i hope you will read it.
Rating:
Summary: This book is great!
Review: I absolutely loved this book! I am 12 and I just started junior high, so I can understand some of the feelings Judi is going through about school and boys and all that. I hate to admit, but I have been known to make fun of people who are overweight. This book taught me that what I've been hearing for such a long time is true- that making fun of someone for their weight is just as bad as teasing them for their religion or race. This is an excellent book, and I'd recomend it to just about anyone that's literate.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for younger teen girls
Review: I am a 13 year old, and reading this book opened my eyes. The diary format makes the story seem real. Definitely a good book for 7th or 8th grade girls in the midst of all the identity anxiety girls experience today. It's also a good book for girls who have friends or classmates who are anorexic or bulimic. It helped me see what these people are going through and that there is a way out.
Rating: 
Summary: Fat Chance
Review: I am anorexic and bulimic. I, as well as my 2 other friends [both of which have eating disorders], found this book to be extremely unrealistic. It's portrayal of eating disorders is completely inaccurate. In addition to that, it's just plain boring and the characters aren't developed at all.
Rating:
Summary: A Touching Story
Review: I am not a big reader, but I could not put this book down. As an adolescent, like the main character, I know the pressure of having a good appearance today and being slim. Thankfully, I've never felt pressured to lose weight, but I know someone who was hospitalized because of this problem. I think that Newman did a superb job on this book, because I could really interact with the subject. It was an amazing story and I only hope that more teen girls read this book so that they can read about an experiance where fortunately, the main character was able to stop her vicious cycle. Unfortunately, it doesn't always end like that.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I bought this book when it first came out, when I was in the sixth grade, and had just entered middle school. It was around this time that I was beginning to learn about the dangers of eating disorders, drugs, and alcohol in Health class. This book make a nice learning supplement. Judi wants desperately to be thin, because she thinks that she's fat. However, reading her diary, you see that she is just an average girl: her height and weight are average, and she should have nothing to fear. Leslea Newman captures the effects of peer pressure and the want to be thin wonderfully. Judi soon drowns in a world where the perfect weight is 100 pounds, and she will stop at nothing to acheive that goal. Now, six years later, I still read this book with fervor; the only difference is that it takes only one or two nights to get through it, as opposed to the week and the half I spent reading it before. I look in the mirror and don't always like what I see, but keeping this book in mind, I will never try to get thin by becoming bulimic or anorexic.
| 
