A WORK IN PROGRESS by Jarrett Lerner and HOT DOG by Doug Salati

We had a great group and good discussions at our February meeting. We started with our novel, A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner. We all mostly had varying degrees of 'Like' for Will's first-person account of his agony that started with his first being called "FAT!" by a bully in fourth grade, and how it continued to affect him even in middle school where he tried to make drastic changes in his eating habits in order to 'fit in' and attract and keep friends. We all remembered the things that had been said to us when we were quite young that continued to bother us many years later. Initially we were all a bit daunted by the 362-page heft of this book, but the format of very short free verse text and many full-page drawings in a facsimile of Will's lined notebook made it a quite speedy read. We thought it was an important story that dealt with bullying, body-shaming, eating disorders, and self-acceptance, along with the usual middle-school angst. We wondered which kids would read it: overweight kids? kids with overweight friends? parents/teachers of overweight kids? We also wondered how an adult might comfortably place this book in the hands of a kid who might really benefit from reading it -- and who also might be able to learn, through the events in Will's story, how to best cope with their own situation and begin to accept themselves for who they really were. We agreed that perhaps presenting it to a whole class would encourage a variety of young readers to at least pick it up and look at it -- and perhaps read the whole thing, given its quick-read/multi-illustrated format. Upon learning more about the author, we were pleased to know that it was his own story, and not just some "...oh! I'll write a popular issue book" situation. We were sure that young readers who started it would definitely want to finish reading the whole book.

We had varying opinions on our picture book, Hot Dog by Doug Salati. One reader was expecting it to be about actual hot dogs, and was disappointed that it was merely about a dog in a big city (probably New York?) who hated the hot summer and the noise and confusion and was thrilled when his owner, who was tuned into his feelings when he plopped himself down in the middle of traffic and refused to budge, took him on a short cruise to a nearby island where he could enjoy the sea breeze, romp on the beach, and cool off in the water and gather pebble and shell treasures to take home. We liked the detailed illustrations, which told most of the story, where the dog himself was portrayed as short, reddish-brown, and yes, sort of 'hot dog-looking'! One reader was not so thrilled with the scant text, and felt that had the text alone been sent to a publisher perhaps it may have not even been published. But we felt it could be a fun read-aloud, and that anyone -- adult or young child -- who had ever spent a hot summer in a big, noisy city could empathize with this nameless hot dog and dream of a wonderful day at the beach.