Starfish

(This section summarizes Poem 1: “For Just a While,” Poem 2: “Name-Calling,” Poem 3: “Splash is Born,” Poem 4: “Fat Girl Rules,” Poem 5: “What, Why, Who, How, When,” and Poem 6: “The Gift.”)

Twelve-year-old Ellie is overweight and takes comfort in her family’s backyard swimming pool, the one place she feels weightless. When Ellie was five, she canon-balled into a pool and splashed the other swimmers, earning her the cruel nickname “Splash” as a jab at her weight. She has dealt with bullying from her peers ever since this incident. To cope, Ellie imposes “Fat Girl Rules” upon herself; the intent of each rule is to metaphorically take up less space, and Ellie uses her rules to reinforce her own worthlessness to herself. She wonders why fat girls must endure such contempt from others, and wishes she could give herself and others like her the gift of not caring about their weight.

(This section summarizes Poem 7: “Bellies Dancing,” Poem 8: “The New Neighbor,” Poem 9: “A Poet and a Musician,” Poem 10: “The Thing About Fatdar,” Poem 11: “Shadows,” Poem 12: “Like Picasso,” Poem 13: “Saying Goodbye,” Poem 14: “Super Sleuth,” and Poem 15: “A Fresh Start.”)

Ellie and her best friend Viv, who is also fat, dance to music in Ellie’s backyard before Viv moves to Indiana.