In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules–like “no making waves,” “avoid eating in public,” and “don’t move so fast that your body jiggles.” And she’s found her safe space–her swimming pool–where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. Reading this book together also led to our own discussions about the kind of people Wren and I hope to be and what we would do during various situations that Ellie found herself in over the course of the book.Ellie is tired of being fat-shamed and does something about it in this poignant debut novel-in-verse.Įver since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she’s been bullied about her weight. We were both equally aghast by the way Ellie was treated and even more horrified after reading that the events of the book were all based on things that really happened to the author. As Wren and I read the story, I tried to engage her in thinking about the secondary characters, thinking about all of the different roles that they played in Ellie’s life. The antagonists range from strangers in public places, peers, and even Ellie’s own family members.
I was drawn to the cast of supporting characters that Lisa Fipps develops throughout the story. She just wants to be accepted for who she is. Despite all of the bullying Ellie endures, she is not ashamed of her weight. Most people call Ellie, Splash, after an incident at her pool party when she turned five. In this story, Ellie is a twelve year old girl who takes the readers through all of the challenges of living in a world where her weight is the one thing she can’t escape. I quickly realized that this book was not only appropriate, but one that would make an amazing middle grade read aloud. At first, I wasn’t sure if the book would be appropriate, but I let her dive in as I listened to the audio version on my ride to and from work. When my pre-ordered copy finally arrived, my almost nine year old daughter, Wren, got to the book before I even had a chance. Starfish by Lisa Fipps is a book I wish someone had handed me as a child.
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