Here I Am

Seventeen-year-old Marcella “Celly” Boucher is tall, blonde, and fat, and just wants to survive senior year at Twain High School in Sun Valley, Nev., so she can start anew at college. All she has to do is endure the anti-fat bullying that’s followed her since grade school, navigate her gym-owning parents’ efforts to make her thinner, not ruin her secret friends-with-benefits relationship with star baseball player Lou Duncan, and avoid befriending cute newcomer Jason Daley. After an incident at school causes Celly to attempt suicide, she starts therapy and Jason introduces her to his foster mother’s gym, which is unlike any gym Celly has ever heard of. There, women of all body types embrace themselves through weightlifting. Celly soon begins training to join the gym’s deadlifting team and gradually learns how to see her body—and herself—in a new light. Via Celly’s acerbic wit and vulnerability, Grimes (Center of Gravity) presents a sincere portrait of one fat teenager’s experience, ruminates on society’s double standards surrounding body image, and portrays Celly and Jason’s blossoming romance with heart-aching sweetness. Main characters cue as white. Ages 13–up. Agent: Elizabeth Bennett, Transatlantic Literary. (Mar.)