A plus-size playwright stars in his own high school dramaEugene Guterman, a fat Jewish high school junior living in New York City, aspires to be a famous playwright, but he just can't seem to put pen to paper to write the drama club's fall play as promised. Meanwhile, new student Daisy Luna has caught his eye, but he struggles to imagine a story in which the big guy gets the girl. When a misguided attempt to impress Daisy leads to his accidentally breaking the school quarterback's wrist, Eugene joins the football team as an offensive lineman to make amends, even though he knows nothing about the game. Now, both popularity and Daisy's affections are within reach, but as he continues to blow off both his playwriting duties and his friends, he must decide who he truly wants to be. Eugene is instantly lovable, with a nice balance of sincerity and snark, and his experiences as a fat kid ring true, from his mother's unwanted comments about his weight to his reluctance to dance in public lest he become a meme. The secondary characters are well rounded; even quarterback Harry Habib and his cronies have depth to them, and Eugene's best friends, Mia Kim and Ishaan Iyengar, are equally nuanced. Theater references sprinkled throughout add some fun for thespians, but readers need not be familiar with either the stage or the football field to enjoy this excellently crafted novel.A pitch-perfect journey of self-discovery.(Fiction. 14-18)

Eugene, budding playwright and donut aficionado, has set his sights low for junior year: produce a show better than last year's ill-fated one-act play (that reviews said felt like five). Sadly, that's still too high. Even worse, on the first day, he embarrasses himself in front of his crush and dashes his school's football hopes by injuring Harry, the star quarterback. But Harry hatches a scheme for Eugene to join the football team, his girth a perfect shield allowing Harry to continue playing, injury unnoticed. Eugene accepts, thinking that the social cachet of being a jock could win his love's heart. He soon finds out that balancing romance, theater, and athletic glory might just be too much to manage. The story beats are classic for sports-themed YA and, in less adept hands, might have been stale. Thankfully, Zadoff's gift for dialogue and knack for character rises above the plot. Though packed with hilarious zingers and witty one-liners, Eugene's story cluding his complex relationships with food, his plus-size body, and the social expectations of attractiveness one that will tug at readers' emotions.

A plus-size playwright stars in his own high school dramaEugene Guterman, a fat Jewish high school junior living in New York City, aspires to be a famous playwright, but he just can't seem to put pen to paper to write the drama club's fall play as promised. Meanwhile, new student Daisy Luna has caught his eye, but he struggles to imagine a story in which the big guy gets the girl. When a misguided attempt to impress Daisy leads to his accidentally breaking the school quarterback's wrist, Eugene joins the football team as an offensive lineman to make amends, even though he knows nothing about the game. Now, both popularity and Daisy's affections are within reach, but as he continues to blow off both his playwriting duties and his friends, he must decide who he truly wants to be. Eugene is instantly lovable, with a nice balance of sincerity and snark, and his experiences as a fat kid ring true, from his mother's unwanted comments about his weight to his reluctance to dance in public lest he become a meme. The secondary characters are well rounded; even quarterback Harry Habib and his cronies have depth to them, and Eugene's best friends, Mia Kim and Ishaan Iyengar, are equally nuanced. Theater references sprinkled throughout add some fun for thespians, but readers need not be familiar with either the stage or the football field to enjoy this excellently crafted novel.A pitch-perfect journey of self-discovery.(Fiction. 14-18)