You think I eat a lot now? That's nothing. Tune in December 31st, when I will stream a live webcast of my last meal. Death row inmates get one. Why shouldn't I? I can't take another year in this fat suit, but I can end this year with a bang. If you can stomach it, you're invited to watch . . . as I eat myself to death. -Butter
So starts Butter, the story of a lonely 423-pound boy everyone calls 'Butter'. Worse than being ridiculed for his size at high school, he is simply ignored. Desperate, he pledges to eat himself to death live on the Internet - and everyone will watch. When he makes this announcement online, he expects pity, insults, or possibly sheer indifference. Instead, his classmates become morbid cheerleaders for his deadly plan.
Yet as their dark encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. And that feels good. But what happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline?
Readers will be surprised to find themselves identifying with both the bullied . . . and the bullies.
Ages 12-16
Untitled
Butter is a boy who weights 423 lbs (192 kg). He is non-existent to his peers at school, except for when they are in the mood to tease him for his obesity. Why is he nicknamed Butter? Well, that has something to do with a horrific prank that was played on him when he was being bullied outside of school, a prank so disgusting that even the bullies had to look away.
Sick of being constantly tormented, Butter thinks up the unthinkable - he decides that on New Years Eve, he won't be celebrating a clean slate with any of his loved ones; instead, he decides that he will eat himself to death in front of a live audience on webcam, giving the whole internet the opportunity to see him keel over and die from too much food being in his body.
Doesn't it sound gruesome? Of course it does!
I had second thoughts about reading this book after it was recommended it to me, but I'm very glad I picked it up because I devoured it in two days! 'Butter' is an interesting middle-grade novel on obesity, bullying, and coping. - Holly (QBD)
Guest, 09/03/2017
