Review: Fat Boy vs the Cheerleaders by Geoff Herbach

Summary-

It's geeks versus jocks in an epic battle of the beverages!
From "one of the most real, honest, and still funny male voices to come around in a while" (YALSA) comes a brand-new cast of quirky characters, pitting fat boy Gabe against the high school cheerleading team in a battle over control of the school's soda machine.
The war is ON! Never have the stakes been so high. Never have the trenches been so deep. Never has one soda vending machine been so vital. When the high school cheerleading team takes over the machine's funds previously collected by the pep band, Gabe will not stand for it. Something must be done.

 

Review-

Fat Boy vs. The Cheerleaders is a story of labels, teen angst, and how to fight for what's right. It's also a story of a fat boy, a goth girl, and a pop machine. Author Geoff Herbach chose to tell Gabe (Chunk's) story as a police report which made it comical as the reader listens to Gabe tell his woeful story to a lawyer who never verbally responds. Making the story even more funny is Gabe's life. His grandfather walks around in compaction shorts (picture a jock strap), his mother ran off with a Japanese architect, his addiction is Code Red Mountain Dew, and he compares his trombone to part of a robot's anatomy. Wacky and fast-paced, Fat Boy follows the war of Geeks against Jocks and Cheerleaders during the most hectic nine days of a teenage boy's life. I read this book in one afternoon and laughed throughout the entire story! It brought back memories of high school, some good and some bad, but memories nonetheless. And at the end of the day, Herbach reminds us that, as human beings, we can all change and grow into better people.

 

Publisher-Sourcebooks Fire

Reviewer Rating: 4.5

Reviewed by~Cindi Clubbs

Thank you to the publisher for the donation of this book to the Read for your Future book program in exchange for a honest review!