| Booktalk
#1
When I was growing up my dad
went to Vietnam to fight in the was for an entire year. We missed
him terribly. Sometimes family and friends go away for awhile.
Sometimes for a short time and sometimes forever. Has anyone here
had that happen to them? Did it make you feel sad? On the other hand
have you ever met anyone who was very unique and different from anybody
you had ever known? Well this book is full of them. You need
to check out Toby's dad who raises worms and is a postman. You need
to check out Toby's wanna-be country and western singer mom. You
need to check out Scarlett, the girl Toby is crazy about. You need
to check out Toby's crazy best friend Cal who is waiting for his brother
to come home from Vietnam. But most of all check out Zachary Beaver
the 600 lb. boy who lives in front of the Dairy Maid in a trailer.
To find out about all of these characters and more, read "When Zachary
Beaver Came to Town" by Kimberly Holt. (Karen
Womack, graduate student, <kwomack7@yahoo.com>
)
Booktalk
#2
Antler, Texas isn’t the most
exciting place in the world, and today would be no different, except that
I’m about to see Zachary Beaver, the fattest boy in the world. He weighs
643 pounds and he’s in a trailer decorated with Christmas lights in the
Dairy Maid parking lot. I’ve got my two dollars to see Zachary in my hand.
It gets me and my friends thinking things like how do you weigh someone
who weighs 643 pounds? On a meat scale? Does he need a special toilet?
Does he really eat out of a mixing bowl big enough to hold two boxes of
frosted cornflakes? It even gets me to do research. The fattest man living
right now, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, weighs 739
pounds. Well, lest you think I’m totally infatuated with Zachary
Beaver, there are other people and complications in my life. Oh yeah! I
forgot to introduce myself. I’m Toby Wilson and I’m 13 years old. If you
want to find out if my complications are like yours, read When Zachary
Beaver Came to Town. (New
Hampshire Great Stone Face Committee)
Booktalk #3
He was the fattest boy any
of them had ever seen. 643 pounds! They each paid $2 to see
Zachary Beaver sitting in his trailer behind Plexiglas so no one would
try to touch him. Thus begins an unforgettable summer for Toby and
Cal. Toby is hoping Scarlett will turn her attention away from Juan
Garcia and to him. Toby is also waiting for his mother to return
from Nashville where she has entered the National Amateurs’ Country Music
Competition at the Grand Ole Opry. Toby misses his mother’s cooking.
His father, postmaster and worm farmer, believes more in vegetables than
meat. Cal’s brother is serving a tour in Vietnam and everyone is counting
the days until he returns. Then there's Zachary. The day after
he was on display his trailer is still parked at the Dairy Maid, but his
guardian’s blue Thunderbird is gone. Has Zachary been abandoned,
or is Paulie truly out looking for more acts to add to the show?
Intrigued by Zachary, Cal and Toby look for ways to find out more about
this gigantic boy. First they need to get him out of his trailer.
Will he even fit through the door? What's in the gold cardboard box?
What do you talk about with a 643-pound boy? Take a trip to Antler,
Texas to see the fattest boy on earth! (Mary Huebscher, Librarian,
Holy Cross of San Antonio, San Antonio, TX marwood45@hotmail.com) |
