Carolyn Mackler  The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
      246 pp. Candlewick 8/03 isbn 0-7636-1958-2 15.99 g
      (Middle School, High School)
"You can tell that Ani is angry, but at the same time she's also funny and strong and sassy." Though she's talking about punk folksinger Ani DiFranco, fifteen-year-old Virginia could easily be describing herself. Unfortunately, Virginia buries her anger (toward her picture-perfect but dysfunctional family) and is unable to see herself as anything but a fat girl who's kind of smart. When her brother Byron, whom she worships, is found guilty of date rape, Virginia finally begins to acknowledge what her older sister Anais has tried to tell her: that Byron and their parents are far from perfect. Virginia's transition from an insecure girl desperate for her family's approval to a confident young woman might be a little messagey, but it's believable, and she doesn't do it on her own. Support comes from her best friend, from a teacher with eating-disorder experience, from a doctor who stresses health not weight and recommends channeling anger through kick-boxing, and even from the college student her brother assaulted. Readers will cheer Virginia on when she tells her father not to comment on her weight loss ("my body [is] just not yours to discuss"); tells her brother he's "an asshole for date-raping someone"; ignores clothing advice from her appearance-obsessed mother (who recommends "strategic layers and camouflaging colors") and buys a sexy purple dress instead; and realizes that the guy she's been making out with behind closed doors actually wants to kiss her in public. Mackler does a fine job introducing girls to a very cool chick with a little meat on her bones. J.M.B.