Gr 9 Up-Butter is a smart, funny high school junior who happens to weigh 423 pounds. His eating issues stem from multiple sources, but one day when the pressure becomes too much, he opens a website called Butterslastmeal.com . Here he invites his classmates to watch as he consumes his last meal on New Year's Eve, literally eating himself to death. The overwhelming reaction to his posting astonishes him, and he becomes an instant member of the in crowd. But even finding the friendship he craves doesn't help ease his internal pain. His mom still supplies him with high-calorie "comfort" foods; his dad still looks at him in disgust, and Anna, the most beautiful girl at school, won't give him a second glance. Playing his saxophone and spending time as his online alter ego, JP, a tall, athletic hunk who chats for hours online with Anna, provide the only real comforts in his life. Flashbacks show the relentless cruelty of other students that Butter has endured for years, and the story heads toward a frightening climax as he discovers that his newfound friends are just as cruel in their own way as those who abused him in the past. The ending avoids a quick solution, leaving Butter realistically examining his options for the future. Myriad realistic characters feel responsible for his actions-the music teacher who tries repeatedly to reach him; his friend Tucker, who also battles extreme weight, and even Anna, who rejects him in public. The first-person narration allows readers to feel Butter's pain along with the eventual insight into his problems. Using current, hot-button topics-cyberbullying, obesity, and teen suicide-the author weaves a compelling tale sure to draw teens in.— Diana Pierce, Leander High School, TX

The premise alone is enough to break your heart. In a fit of spite, a 423-pound 16-year-old nicknamed Butter declares that he will eat himself to death on New Year's Eve ve on the web. Before he can even figure out whether he was serious, he is welcomed into the lives of the popular kids, who want to show him a good time before the big event (while making side bets on what his final menu will be). Butter knows they're jerks, but social inclusion is a dream, and it even allows him to get close to his crush, whom he has only spoken to online under an alias. So he can't back down d the day gets closer and closer. The plot is designed for maximum cruelty, but that doesn't mean Lange isn't onto something powerful, placing her protagonist in a convincing no-win situation where a webcast suicide begins to look like a halfway-legitimate option. The first-person narration feels too serene, considering the events, but this is no doubt a strong, gutsy debut.

Lonely, morbidly obese teen Butter e-announces that he will webcast his eating himself to death on New Year's Eve. But as Butter's website gains followers, he experiences a sudden surge in apparent popularity causing him to reexamine the plan. Though Butter's voice is an interesting mixture of anger, hopelessness, and wit, the plot feels forced and the resolution overly didactic.

Butter gets good grades and plays smooth-as-butter jazz sax, but he is defined by both himself and his peers by his weight. At 423 pounds, he sits by himself in the lunchroom, parks his Beemer (this is Scottsdale, Ariz., after all) in the handicapped space in the school parking lot and diligently keeps his diabetes in check. As SaxMan on the Internet, though, he has an intense relationship with Anna, a girl who doesn't look twice at him in school. When a school meme designates him "most likely to have a heart attack," he decides to "command the conversation online" by declaring that he will eat himself to death on a live video stream on New Year's Eve, four weeks away. Almost immediately, he finds his social stock soaring, the A crowd--which includes Anna--adopting him as a mascot of sorts. Butter's tale reads like the problem novel it is, his narration feeding itself to readers so they don't miss a thing: "Popularity was like a drug--one taste and I was hooked." But he is likable, in his wry, self-hating way, remarking that he is "a binge eater, not a bulimic. That shit is for girls." In the end, it is the vision of life in the "fat suit" that should hook readers, whatever their size. Rubbernecking the train wreck that is Butter's last meal makes for an uncomfortably thought-provoking read. (Fiction. 13 & up)