Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

Coming of age as a Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.
 
Harder when your whole life is on fire, though.
 
A New England Book Award Winner!

Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.

People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.

But there's one person who's always in Charlie's corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing--he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her?

Because it's time people did.

A sensitive, funny, and painfully honest coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.

An NPR Best Book of the Year
An Amazon Best Children s Book of the Year
A POPSUGAR Best New Young Adult Novel
A Cosmopolitan Best New Book
A Bustle Most Anticipated Debut
A Forbes Most Notable Young Adult Book
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee
A Latinxs in Publishing Best Books of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year
A Business Insider Best Young Adult Romance Book
 

About the author

Crystal Maldonado is a young adult author of inclusive romcoms for fat, brown girls. She has written the award-winning novels The Fall of Whit Rivera; Fat Chance, Charlie Vega; and No Filter and Other Lies, as well as a middle grade novel called Camp Sylvania: Moon Madness, co-written with #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy. Her forthcoming YA romcom, Get Real, Chloe Torres, releases in spring 2025. Follow her everywhere @crystalwrote.

Summary

Coming of age as a Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.
 
Harder when your whole life is on fire, though.
 
A New England Book Award Winner!

Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.

People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.

But there's one person who's always in Charlie's corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing--he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her?

Because it's time people did.

A sensitive, funny, and painfully honest coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.

An NPR Best Book of the Year
An Amazon Best Children’s Book of the Year
A POPSUGAR Best New Young Adult Novel
A Cosmopolitan Best New Book
A Bustle Most Anticipated Debut
A Forbes Most Notable Young Adult Book
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee
A Latinxs in Publishing Best Books of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year
A Business Insider Best Young Adult Romance Book
 

Report

A New England Book Award Winner
An NPR Best Book of the Year
An Amazon Best Children's Book of the Year
A POPSUGAR Best New Young Adult Novel
A Cosmopolitan Best New Book
A Bustle Most Anticipated Debut
A Forbes Most Notable Young Adult Book
A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee
A Latinxs in Publishing Best Books of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year
A Business Insider Best Young Adult Romance Book
 
"Charlie's struggles are authentic and raw while Maldonado's bright prose makes for a page-turner. . . . An overdue and welcome ingénue." Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
 
"Charlie's emotional arc hits all the right notes, resulting in a warm and insightful coming-of-age tale." Publishers Weekly

"Perfection. . . . A romance that warms your entire body like a cup of hot chocolate." The Nerd Daily

"Sweet and sincere, Charlie Vega's journey is a delight." School Library Journal
 
"With a memorable cast that brings fresh faces and voices to a typically homogenous genre, this title focuses on the positives of the often difficult and confusing high-school experience: genuine friendships and allies, powerful first crushes, and discovering oneself. . . . Charlie's optimistic outlook, despite the challenges that come with her identity, will attract a widespread audience of romance lovers and expand their idea of what a romantic lead can look like." Booklist
 
"We're so excited to get our hands on it." BuzzFeed
 
"Readers will appreciate Charlie from the get-go and rejoice when she herself begins to see the Charlie-celebrating light." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
 
"Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is an utterly heartwarming story of love of friends, of family, of romance and, most importantly, of oneself." Shelf Awareness
 
"Issues of body positivity and racial and gender identity are dealt with in a light, positive, and totally engrossing manner. This novel is perfect for fans of Julie Murphy's Dumplin' and for any reader who struggles with feeling like they are 'not enough.'" School Library Connection

"Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is an accomplished debut, and its nuanced depictions of first love, a complex mother-daughter relationship, and fat acceptance make it stand out." BookPage
 
"Fun and refreshing. . . . A heartfelt debut." Barnes and Noble

"A must-read for teens." Common Sense Media
 
"This book feels like your best friend giving you a hug it's warm and sweet and healing." Mason Deaver, bestselling author of I Wish You All the Best
 
"A sweet and cheerful debut, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega moves with rom-com energy and a whole lot of awkward, goofy, chubby-girl-with-a-crush-on-a-boy vibes." Gabby Rivera, author of Juliet Takes a Breath and Marvel's America

Product details

• Authors: Crystal Maldonado
• Publisher: Holiday house publishing
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 14
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.01.2022
• EAN: 9780823451319
• ISBN: 978-0-8234-5131-9
• No. of pages: 352
• Dimensions: 137 mm x 208 mm x 24 mm
• Subject: Children's and young people's books > Non-fiction books / Non-fiction picture books > Mankind