Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
	Author:	Crutcher, Chris
	Date Published:	1993
	Genre:	Real Life
	Grade Level:	8 -12
	Booktalker:	Bonnie Phinney

Booktalk:
Do you want to know a secret? Eric was a fat kid. So fat, in fact, that nobody called him Eric, they nicknamed him MOBY. As in Moby Dick, because he was just as big as a big fat whale. I guess it really wouldn’t have mattered, though, because someone will always find a reason to make fun of you – you might be too fat, or too thin, or too short, or too tall – doesn’t matter. People will find a way to get to you. They always do. So, Eric doesn’t hang out with the popular kids at school. Instead, he is friends with the other rejects, THE FREAKS. His best friend is named Sarah Byrnes. Ironic, isn’t it, that her name is Byrnes, and THAT’S the reason she’s a freak! You see, the whole side of her face was badly burned when she was a child. She tells people, anyone who dares to ask, that is, that she spilled boiling water on herself. But what boils in Sarah now is rage and anger and bitterness at those who make fun of her – and at her FATHER, who wouldn’t allow her to have plastic surgery. People try to find a way to get at Sarah Byrnes, but they can’t. She’s closed down – she’s a HUMAN SECRET. Things change. Eric loves to swim; the more he swims, the more weight he loses. The more weight he loses, the faster he swims. Now, in high school, nobody calls him Moby anymore, they want to call him FRIEND. Nobody calls him Moby, that is, except Sarah Byrnes. Sarah is still Eric’s best friend. And even as he is changing, he tries to hold on to that friendship. Then something happens. Something bad. Sarah ends up in a psychiatric hospital. Eric goes to see her, but she doesn’t respond. Eric tries to break through, but even he can’t reach her. He tries to reason with her. But Sarah just glares at Eric and says: “Friends aren’t the same for me as they are for you, no matter now scared you were or how fat you used to be.” Eric is confused: “What do you mean?” “What do you mean, what do I mean? Look at my face!” Sarah hisses. “So, I’ve seen your face,” “Do you want to talk about the accident?” “Accident?” Sarah pauses. “This,” she says, “was NO accident. Do you want to know how this happened to me? Do you want to hear a secret?”