How would you feel if your father had burned your face on purpose? In Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, the main character, Eric, is faced with the dilemma of whether or not to report the father of his best friends, Sarah Byrnes, to the child protection agency, for purposefully burning Sarah Byrnes’s face when she was three years old. However, Virgil Byrnes, sensing that Eric is on to the secret of him being a child abuser, tries to prevent his secret from getting out by threatening, stalking, and even attempting to kill him! Sarah and Eric have been best friends since the start of middle school. Their personalities are complete opposites of each other, but the thing that drew the two friends together is their hideous looks. Sarah’s faced is burned to a crisp, and Eric is obese. Chris Crutcher does a fabulous job of making a story that could be very cheesy into a powerful, suspenseful, realistic fiction book about friendship and loyalty.

This is a fabulous story. It will grab you from the beginning, and not let you go until you have finished the book. The author makes it suspenseful and moving, but also fun to read, because the characters have such wonderful personalities. They are funny, sarcastic, smart, and care for each other just like real friends do. When Eric smart-talks to his enemy, Marc, I guarantee you will laugh out loud! When Eric is running for his life from Virgil, you will gasp for air as if you are running alongside him! The characters seemed so real, I thought they were going to jump out of the book!

This book will appeal to readers with all different sorts of tastes, and of all different ages. If you like reading books that discuss deep, important, ethnic issues, then you will like this book. The characters have to make tough decisions about child abuse, abortion, and keeping promises. However, for those who love light and funny books, the appeal of the characters and their humor, will encapture you. In conclusion, I rate Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes a ten out of then. I will be on the look out for more books by this author.