Excellent blog post (and very entertaining video) by Elizabeth
Bluemle in Publishers Weekly about how overweight characters are described in children’s books. She is concerned that writers of children’s fiction are casting negative aspersions on overweight characters instead of just describing them…
‘Fat issues loom large in our culture, as it were, and kids pick up messages about how they should look that batter their confidence at every turn. Literature for young people should be one place where kids don’t find themselves mocked, dismissed, or shamed. I am not talking about books that deal directly with weight; it’s the books that don’t realize they are reinforcing negative stereotypes that concern me.
While we have all become accustomed to popular culture’s celebration of thin, what I didn’t expect is that books — the refuge of the chubby kid, the place where people understand the value of what lies beneath the surface, a land of acceptance and tolerance for difference — would come around to betray their readers.’ More from PW.
childhood obesity is not a problem anymore?
screw it. adults are always imposing their world views on children. why not one which gurarantees a lifetime of health problems.