The 2nd Life of Abigail Walker

by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Is it possible to start afresh when you’re thoroughly weighted down?

Seventeen pounds. That’s the difference between Abigail Walker and Kristen Gorzca. Between chubby and slim, between teased and taunting. Abby is fine with her body and sick of seventeen pounds making her miserable, so she speaks out against Kristen and her groupies—and becomes officially unpopular. Embracing her new status, Abby heads to an abandoned lot across the street and crosses an unfamiliar stream that leads her to a boy who’s as different as they come.

Anders is homeschooled, and while he’s worried that Abby’s former friends are out to get her, he’s even more worried about his dad, a war veteran home from Iraq who is dangerously disillusioned with life. But if his dad can finish his poem about the expedition of Lewis and Clark, if he can effectively imagine what it is to experience freshness and innocence, maybe he will be okay. As Abby dives into the unexpected role as research assistant, she just as unexpectedly discovers that by helping someone else find hope in the world, there is plenty there for herself, as well.

Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Friendship, Fiction, Animals, Fantasy, Juvenile

Unknown Binding

First published August 28, 2012

About the author

While Frances O'Roark Dowell (Dovey Coe, The Secret Language of Girls, Trouble the Water) is best known for her award-winning novels, she also hosts the popular "Off-Kilter Quilt" podcast, where she talks about her latest quilt projects with friends and fellow quilters around the globe. Her own little corner of the globe is Durham, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, two sons, and a dog named Travis. Connect with her online at FrancesDowell.com.

Reviews

[Meredith Holley · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are many facets to the experience of reading a book beloved by a friend. There are probably others that these, but the ones I can think of right now are the friend, the friendship, society, the book itself, and the reader. The experience of reading seems tied up in all of those parts, but also, I think they are all individual experiences. I read this book because it is beloved by a friend, and I love the way it lets me know that friend better and what it says about our friendship that she would want me to read it. So, when I talk about this book, and how I did not enjoy it, I’m really only focusing on my experience with the book itself. I felt like I needed to make that clear before I start tearing up the dance floor.

This left me with a feeling of . . . huh. It was partly magical, partly sad, and above all else very, very troubling. Reading this book reminded me of this time when I lived in New York, and one of my roommates said to me, “Is everyone in Oregon like you, or are you weird there, too?” It was very alienating and, again, troubling. This book tells the story of a girl who, most of all, more than anything else, struggles with her weight because the people around her are obsessed with her weighing five pounds more than the normal weight for her age. There is also a fox in here, and maybe the fox has PTSD. I found it . . . really odd and, again, troubling. There is a 95% chance that I didn’t get it.

The basic plot of this story, like I say, is that everyone around Abigail Walker is really, really mad about how much she weighs, she meets a magical fox with PTSD and a man with PTSD, and then she learns to ride horses, cast off her fears, and be happy. But, there are a lot of things that happen along the way that were (if I haven’t already said this) really, really troubling to me. And there are some other things that were just confusing. I guess I’ll talk about the confusing things first, then the troubling things.

Confusing things :

1. These are my awards, Mother. The PTSD man explains to Abigail that he met his ex-wife in Peace Corps, and then he decided to go into Army because he thought it would pay for college. But, you have to have an undergraduate degree to go into Peace Corps, and I’m pretty sure that’s been a requirement for a long time, so that was weird. And it kind of undermined that whole character to me. Why did that guy really go into the army? And why did he say he was in the Peace Corps if he didn’t have an undergrad degree? Suspect.



2. Bread makes you fat??!! . Abigail’s family is emotionally abusive about her weight, which is 105 lbs. and appears, from the internet, to be five pounds over the normal weight for girls her age. FIVE POUNDS! So, we’re not talking unhealthy, even. But, the parents are so creepily fixated on it that her dad doesn’t take pictures of her anymore and stares her down across the dinner table. So, the one time the family eats dinner in the book, Abigail’s mom makes pizza.

(Sidebar: that is another sub-level of confusing for a mom who is a history professor and always lost in her books and detached from the reality of the family, but, whatever, maybe she also loves to cook and isn’t just trying to be more stepford-creepy than she otherwise appears to be, despite being educated and scholarly. I don’t object to the idea of a professor being a Stepford wife, but I kind of wanted more description about how that actually worked. Also, I’m not meaning that cooking is creepy, just that the mom is kind of creepy in, well, A LOT of ways. “Don’t fight, now, kids! Fighting bad.” “You MUST go to the mean girls’ house, Abigail!” “Your father just yells at you about dieting because he loves you!” brrrrr.)

Anyway, the mom makes cheese pizza for Abigail and sausage pizza for the rest of the family. And it’s like the part in Silence of the Lambs where he keeps saying to the girl in the pit, “It rubs the lotion on its skinnnnn.” The whole family fixates on her, warning her away from even reaching for a regular salad dressing. It eats the cheese pizza and no other pizza!!

But, that’s weird, right? Because how much healthier is plain cheese pizza than sausage pizza? Answer: not at all healthier, and they have basically equivalent calories. So, chill out, Mom and Dad, you creepy assholes!



3. How am I supposed to get into Harvard if I have no wilderness skills?! After Abigail ditches her creepy friends, who also want to watch it rub the lotion on its skinnn, she makes friends with a nerdy computer girl. There is this confusing subplot about how Abigail needs to research all of the animals Lewis and Clark saw on the Oregon trail for the PTSD man, and the nerdy computer girl helps her. Mostly, the nerdy computer girl helps her because Abigail is incompetent at googling. The nerdy computer girl warns her, however, that she will NEVER GET INTO COLLEGE if Abigail doesn’t learn how to google from said nerdy computer girl.

Okay asshole: again, chill out. You are in SIXTH GRADE!! You might get into Harvard, even if you have no wilderness skills. If not, I’ll take you upstairs, throw you out the window, and if you catch the branch of a tree, I’ll be your witness.

So, those were the things that made me feel like, who are these creepy assholes??? Confusing. Next, I’m going to talk about the things I thought were actually troubling, not just confusing.

Troubling things :

I don’t have fancy gifs for this part. This part is just about how the overall premise of the story seems somewhat messed up.

1. Bullying. I remember once, in fourth grade, I didn’t want to be friends with this girl anymore because she would only talk about boys, and because her dad freaked me out. I, being a fourth grader, didn’t deal with it really well, as you might imagine, and at one point the situation culminated in a group of girls sort of making a wall around me and telling my friend that I didn’t have to talk to her if I didn’t want to. I remember feeling both like, “This seems accurate. I shouldn’t have to talk to someone if I don’t want to,” and also like, “This seems really mean and extreme, and I don’t know how to diffuse this situation.” The girl was so upset that her parents talked to the principal about it, and I think my parents ultimately got called into the school because of it. Years later, I would run into her every once in a while, and I always wanted to apologize for that, but, does that make it any better? We were really mean to that girl, even though to us there was some kind of self-preservation aspect to it, but it wasn’t really okay. But, what do you say to apologize and does an apology only make it worse?

I’ve been watching Buffy with my roommate, who is a PhD student in early intervention in special education. When Cordelia first came on the screen, my roommate commented that it’s so funny how TV always shows characters like Cordelia, when, in real life those situations don’t ever really happen. Like, people who have as little social inhibition as Cordelia probably have Asperger’s, and probably don’t have a lot of social power. But, in Buffy, Cordelia is such a great character because she is a shorthand for a mean girl, but also she is a caricature, so her mean-girl power is completely undermined. I think that creates a really great social message because, yes, it sucks to have someone be an asshole, but assholes only have as much power over our lives as we give them, and the Buffy gang doesn’t give Cordelia any power.

So, partly I think it makes sense to simplify an experience of bullying, but that was not what I felt was going on here. (I have to admit, though, that I read A Monster Calls right before I read this one, and I thought the way that discussed bullying was so beautiful it made my brain self-destruct, and I am making an unfair comparison between the two books, my own experience, and Buffy.) Nevertheless, in Abigail Walker, it felt like the mean girls were some kind of physical manifestation of a person’s own self-loathing thoughts. All the lurking and skulking around Abigail’s house, and then the weird plan to videotape Abigail eating candy. It was so weird and pathetic that I’m struggling to really wrap my brain around anyone being scary who was stupid enough to want to do that. I mean, the girls are creepy little assholes, but all of the threats seemed like things that would be scary when you thought them in your head, but if you actually said them out loud (or wrote them down) you’d realize how stupid and not scary they were and how uninterested everyone ever would be in watching a video of a girl eating candy.

My point is that I don’t get these bullies. They don’t seem like characters to me, and to the extent they are physical manifestations of somebody’s personal demons, I really don’t like the idea of giving them so much voice in this story. I mean, everyone has to fight their own monsters in their own way, but giving your monster the dominant social voice in your book seems like a way to nurture your monster, not fight it.

2. Being Normal. Probably the dominant theme of this book is that it’s okay to not be normal, which is a wonderful theme. The way it was executed, though, was another troubling thing to me. Abigail feels like she is not normal because she is five pounds over the normal weight for her age. So, that in itself is tainted with all the creepy assholes around her and seems super creepy in itself. She makes friends with the PTSD man’s son, who also feels not normal. The boy feels not normal because his dad keeps him on this farm and won’t let him leave the boundaries of the farm for any reason because he might get hurt. He is homeschooled by participating in the great Lewis and Clark study.

At one point, the son compares his situation to Abigail’s. He says that Abigail's mom is wrong for saying she’s not normal because she’s too fat. And then he comments that maybe his own mother is similarly wrong for wanting him to be in a school instead of being homeschooled in the country with his mentally ill father. Sooooo . . . . That raises a lot of issues for me. Like, this kid’s mother was a Peace Corps volunteer, and somehow in a custody battle her mentally ill husband got custody of their son? What is up with that? And, like, really? It’s the same to be five pounds overweight as to be trapped in the country acting as a caretaker for a mentally ill person??? This is kind of outrageous to me.

I realize it is a kid who makes this statement in the book, but the kid has a pretty strong voice within the story and is sort of built up to be wise. When he says maybe he and Abigail are actually both okay even though they are not normal, you can tell that statement is supposed to carry the weight of wisdom. I just have a big problem with both the comparison and the idea that it is okay for this kid to be trapped on a farm caring for his father. Very stressful.

3. Weight. I guess I kind of want to talk more about weight, but I’ve probably talked long enough. Maybe all I will say is that I think this book perpetuates the idea that being fat or thin is based on a mindset or emotional change. Abigail walks up the hill to the PTSD man's house the first time, and she huffs and puffs. The second time, though, she is less sad and self-condemning, so she can just run up the hill with no problem. I feel like that is a really negative message to perpetuate. I think that taking care of our bodies is like taking care of anything else and involves responsibility and eating enough food for our bodies, not just eating less food. I feel like the idea is not rare that if you have a healthy sense of self, being athletic and thin will become easy. That really bothers me both because it's clearly false, and because I think it creates this idea that good people are thin and bad people are fat, which is a very troublingly false idea, as well. Also, I've been using the website myfitnesspal.com to lose the weight I gained in school, and I've come to believe that with people who perpetually gain weight, overall it's probably not so much that they eat to much food, but probably more that they eat too little, sending their bodies into storage mode for when they eat too much. That has at least turned out to be true for me. The way the entire world in this book only wanted Abigail to eat less, not for her to be healthy, was really troubling.

I think those are all of my issues. I found this story very distressing to read. While Abigail seemed to have a somewhat strong sense of self despite the creepy monsters around her, I couldn’t really get where that sense of self was coming from. She clearly had no adult or peer support, so when she would make some kind of self-possessed statement, it always felt shaky because how does a sixth grader resist wanting to punish her body when everyone around her clearly does? A lot of this seemed like the written manifestation of imaginary monsters, and that freaked me out not a little. I don’t generally enjoy an author exorcising demons through writing, and doing so in a children’s book, in a way that felt more like nurturing than exporcising, makes me feel even more uncomfortable. This one was not for me.

_________
The publisher provided me a copy of this book, but I did nothing in return.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eleven-year-old Abigail Walker turns her back on the crowd of mean girls with whom she has been trying to ingratiate herself, since her best friend Claudia moved away, and finds that many other experiences and opportunities open up before her. Befriended by quiet Anoop Chatterjee at school, and soon part of his soccer-playing lunch crowd, she also finds a friend in homeschooled Anders Benton, who lives with his father and grandmother on a nearby farm. Almost in spite of herself, Abigail becomes involved in the Benton family's project, researching the animals encountered by the Lewis and Clark expedition. Anders' father Matt, an Iraq War veteran with a tenuous grip on his emotions, is composing a poem inspired by the expedition, and Abigail is drawn in to the effort to help him, eventually involving her new school friends as well. Weaving through these narrative developments is a magical fox, one who migrates between various human stories, and has a prior connection to Matt Benton. The fox decides to get involved - something she has never done before - when she sees Abigail become the target of the mean girls' hateful campaign...

There is quite a bit going on in The Second Life of Abigail Walker. Issues of bullying and body image - Abigail's parents and many of her peers (the aforementioned mean girls) seem to feel she is terribly overweight, something they focus upon with unhealthy zeal - as well as questions of belonging and choice. There is the post-traumatic stress experienced by Matt; Abigail's initial fear of the Bentons' horses, and then her discovery of the joy of riding; the question of boys versus girls, in the forming and keeping of friendships; and the issue of dysfunctional family dynamics. Of course, there is also the fox, whose counter-narrative is woven around the sections which belong to Abigail. I imagine that for some readers this would all add up to a hopeless muddle, but I thought that somehow it all worked. I found Abigail's story involving, at times infuriating. Her parents' obsession with her weight, and their response to the issue often struck me as cruel - even abusive - and was far more disturbing for me than the actions of the girl bullies. I thought it was interesting that her mother always wanted everything to be 'nice,' often suppressing experiences and communication that might undermine that goal. When Abigail wonders what to do after you've told the truth, and nobody believes you, I found myself thinking of my own youthful encounters with bullies. I may sometimes have felt that I couldn't confide in my parents, that they wouldn't (or couldn't) understand me, but I can never recall opening up, and having them disbelieve me, having them deny that my experiences were actually real. When Abigail's mother does just that, it is a terrible betrayal, one that is not ameliorated by her later acceptance of Abigail's reality. After all, she may accept that the other girls are unkind to her daughter, but she never shares that knowledge with Abigail's father. Perhaps that would be too uncomfortable, because it would lead to a frank discussion of Abigail's supposed 'weight issues,' and how they themselves (Abigail's parents) have been participating in harming her?

Just as some readers might find the multiplicity of themes here rather jumbled, I would imagine that the lack of definite resolution, when it comes to Abigail's home life, might prove unsatisfactory. I myself found it realistic. It would be lovely if everything were neatly tied up with a bow at the end, but that doesn't always happen. As engaging as I found Abigail's story, I also found myself involved with the character of the fox, whose ruminations were alternately amusing and poignant. I had to chuckle when the fox interprets the mean girls through her own vulpine idiom, deciding first that they are raccoon girls, and then that they are definitely weasel girls. When she asks, "who was tender to a fox?," after her first meeting with Abigail, I had a lump in my throat. In truth, it is the fox that drew me to The Second Life of Abigail Walker, as the depiction of foxes in children's books is one of my research interests. I'm struck by the use of the fox figure here as a sort of magical guide, one not necessarily central to the narrative developments, but whose presence helps the protagonist to move in the right direction. This is very similar to the recent French-Canadian graphic novel for young readers, Jane, the Fox, and Me , and seems to point to evolving ideas about the role of the fox - or perhaps the natural world in general - in human lives.

In sum: although not a perfect book, there is much here to entertain the reader, to move her emotionally, and to spark some thought in her, on a number of important issues, from body image to the human relationship to the wild.

[Wandering Librarians · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a confession I'd like to make, I know that Frances O'Roarke Dowell is an amazing writer but I always end up finishing her books with a bit of a miffed feeling. There seems to be always a bit too much going on, or a theme that just doesn't need to be there, or an aspect that is a little jarring.

I really thought that the whole aspect with Abigail's different issues - being bullied, weight, discovery of self - trying to resolve themselves was quite well done. The evolution of her friendship with Anders; his father Matt, who has post-traumatic stress disorder; and Matt's mother Mrs. Benton, teaches horseback riding; is quite lovely as well. There's a little bit of mirroring going on with the whole overcoming obstacles that is just generally well written. I really enjoyed that.

But then there's this whole thing with the fox. I just don't get it. The fox talks about essentially who she jumps through different times and spaces, and how she's a friend of the crow, and what in the world is this doing in here? Turns out that the fox was with Matt when the tank exploded and there's a thing where she must resolve her feelings about what happened to him in order to move on. Weird. I would go as far as to say unnecessary. This part either needed to be fleshed out, or gotten rid of. I just kept thinking of how odd it was to have the fantasy aspect in a realistic fiction book. It slowed down the pacing and really didn't add a whole lot to the plotline.

I also didn't love how Abigail didn't seem to resolve anything with her parents. She learns to eventually stand up for herself, but you know that she is going to be pushed into horrible situations with her mother stressing about Abigail's lack of social life and her father ragging on her about her weight. Yes, it is a bit more realistic, but I needed just a touch more resolution. You know?

Considering the fact that Oct. is National Bully Awareness month, I do definitely recommend it. Overall it is a memorable and well written book. Accessible and engaging. There's just some weird parts.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't quite put my finger on why I liked this book so well. I shouldn't have, really; I'm wary of books about mean girls, which are often uncomfortable to read until they sometimes offer an easy answer; of books about overweight girls, which usually seem to struggle with being both body-image-positive and you'll-be-happier-if-you-lose-weight. This book ought to be "doing too much", because it is about bullying, body image, parent/child relations, post-traumatic stress disorder related to friend's dad home from Iraq, AND there is a goodly portion of fantasy/legend, with a magical fox that takes the narration sometimes. Yet this book, which is quite short, WORKS. I guess sometimes when you mix together a whole bunch of ingredients you get a mess like Everything Pudding, but sometimes you get panettone or tiramisu. #whimsical

This book has some elements in common with Wonder and some of the other recent school stories, but struck me as taking place in the real world. (Which is ironic, since this is the book with a fantasy element.)

I don't think this quite rises to the top in the very strong field this year, but it is certainly worth looking at and discussing, and recommending to kids and teachers independent of Newbery discussion.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abby has always been on the outskirts of her group of friends, considered the fat one who could be teased endlessly about her weight. She has to be careful not to give her real opinion and to always toe the line set by the group leader. Privately, she considers them to be “medium girls” and nothing special, but they are her friends. As Abby starts to investigate the abandoned lot across from her house, she gets gently bitten by a fox. It is from that point on that she is no longer content to be a medium girl herself. Following the fox and then a dog, Abby discovers a creek she never knew was in her neighborhood and then a farm on the other side. A boy lives there with his grandmother and his father who is recovering from battle in Afghanistan. As their friendship grows, Abby gains self confidence and is able to give a lot back too.

This book had me from the very first page. Told from the point of view of the fox, the first short chapter invites readers to speaks to the power of story, the role of fabled characters in our lives, and moments when the real world and myths intertwine. It sets the stage perfectly for what is to come. This is a realistic story that has magic and myth moments. The writing is outstanding, bringing magic into our world through empty lots filled with weeds, foxes who live in urban settings, edges of suburbs, and newfound friends.

Abby is a great character. She is chubby and ridiculed for it by not only her friends but her parents. Yet she has a quiet strength, an underlying confidence, that allows her to withstand those opinions and grow into the person she really is. She is a wonderfully normal child, not the brightest, not the strongest, but one who is willing to see beyond the weeds to the flowers.

This is a radiant book that celebrates the quiet, the mythical, the connections that are too often missed in our rush. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sixth grader Abigail (Abby) Walker is desperately trying to fit in with a group of girls she thinks of as "mediums" because of their clothing size and their safe, vanilla attitudes. But because of her extra weight, 17 pounds more than the others, and possibly because of her desperate need to belong, the girls--mostly Kristen and Georgia--make her the butt of jokes. She feels pressured to go along with whatever they say, until one day she's had enough and simply disagrees with a cruel, clueless remark from Kristen. That small act of rebellion is enough to provoke the swarming bees into a full-scale assault with the main intention being to put Abby in her place. But Abby has a few resources, including a fox that hangs out in the woods near her home and seems to have a connection to Abby and Matt, the father of Anders, a boy she meets while out walking one day. She also finds a place with Marlys, Anoop and Jafar, other classmates she's never really noticed before. As Abby is drawn into Matt's obsession with the Lewis and Clark Expedition--he's writing a poem about it and wants to know all about the animals they encountered--she takes risks, gains confidence and finds her place in the small world in which she lives.

While I liked the voice of the fox, her presence in the book isn't really clear to me. I understand that she somehow became a part of some of the characters' lives, but why and how isn't explained. The author deftly handles the subtle--and not-so-subtle bullying of Abby's circle of friends throughout the book and nails the cluelessness with which her parents address her weight and self-esteem issues and her mother's insistence that she maintain a friendship with Kristen. For anyone who doubts the levels of cruelty to which middle girls can stoop, the scene in which Abby's favorite candies have been planted in Kristen's bedroom while she's being secretly recorded as she consumes the snacks serves as painful proof of the lengths to which some mean girls will do. All through the book, I kept thinking about how Abby had so much more going for her than the other girls and puzzled over the pack mentality that seems to want to rein in anyone who defies the norm.

[Eh?Eh! · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet little ambling story. It didn't fit together very well with lots of out-of-left-field-feeling parts and characters, but the girl was written spot-on. There was a sentence that was something like, 'she didn't want to start crying, so she kept chewing.' Oh, Abby, I know. I know. There was another part where she looks down at herself and sees her doughy thighs and the roll around her stomach. I was happily unselfconscious of my body until 4th grade, when tiny Vanessa (a classmate kind of like the mean girl in this book) declared, "I'm so fat!" I remember wondering why she said that and then forgetting motivations as I considered my own protruding belly. If she was fat, I was obese.

There was no resolution but I think that fit. At this age - I think Abby is 11 - things aren't going to tie up neatly, not with so many changes happening inside and out. Abby manages to begin the journey in a right way, though.

[Wendi (Alex) Werner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would have liked the book better without the magical fox. Sometimes magical creatures can seem believable and add to the story, but not in this case.

[Gryffin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was disappointing. It's told from the point of view from a young girl who is overweight and is bullied about it in school. There is also a fox, who has certain magical abilities, which were not explained very well in the story.

The main character seemed to have too much self pity, some parts were left unexplained, and some of the characters seemed to act much different than people their age should have.

Near the end when her mom forced her to go to the sleepover, that part seemed just a little forced, the mother ignoring her daughter completely on what she had to say. When her 'friends' locked her in the room and left her there without dinner... well, that just didn't make sense.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a rule, I don't enjoy realistic fiction. Especially when it is "issue" centered.
This would normally be a 1 or 2-star book for me. However, the fox character that creates the extended metaphor enhanced this reading experience. O'Roark Dowell hooked me when she began the book, "the fox had been stepping into stories since the beginning of time. Important stories, everyday stories, stories that only matter to one or two people. She sniffed stories out. When she smelled one that interested her . . . "(p. 1).

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eleven year old Abigail discovers herself in this story of the bullies she must defend against, the kids who really are her friends, and a young boy met in her wandering in nearby woods whose father is struggling with PTSD and who needs her help. A fox enters the story too, adding a bit of magical realism, and Dowell puts it all together beautifully. What a strong main character Dowell gives us in this story, one to offer those middle graders who are struggling to find a place in their worlds that feels right. I couldn’t put it down.

[Laurie B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Minor spoilers ahead...

I'm surprised I liked this as much as I did. I contemplated giving it four stars, but it does have some problems, which is why I rounded down.

This was a really compelling story that I couldn't put down. It felt real, despite the fantasy elements. Even though I wasn't overweight as a child, I related to Abby in a lot of ways. I think most people can relate to feelings of insecurity at some point in their life. Plus, I really enjoyed her imagination and how she spent so much time in the overgrown vacant lot watching birds and daydreaming. She loved the weeds and the wild look to the place. That sounds like me. :P

I also enjoyed her friendship with Anders. When I first read the teaser, I expected them to be the same age, so I was quite surprised when he turned out to be only nine years old. It was really nice and refreshing to see a wonderful, caring friendship between two children of different ages.

However, this book tackles a lot of issues, and I'm not sure it handles them all equally well. A lot of it was quite sad - particularly how Abby's parents treated her. I have some concerns about what some young readers may take away from this book. For example, I don't know how I feel about Abby's specific weight being included. From what I can tell, she wasn't that overweight for her age, yet her family and some kids at school treated her like a fat failure. Yes, there's a positive message here eventually, but I wouldn't want a child of the same weight reading this and suddenly thinking they're obese or something. Maybe I'm overreacting, but that's a vulnerable, impressionable age and I think the story could have been told without the specifics of her weight.

I'm also not sure about how the bullying was handled. Overall, I think Abby dealt with it pretty well - trying to ignore it without it taking over her whole life, saying she's not against anyone, even the mean girls and that she has no desire to get back at them or anything. That's all good, as are all the statements about how pointless their actions are and how bullies end up being friendless and miserable in the end. But I wanted Abby to tell someone what was going on. I kept hoping she would explain things to her parents, especially when her mom kept forcing the "friendship." But it became clear they didn't really have that kind of parent-child relationship, which is sad.

I've seen other reviewers refer to the parents as "clueless," but it goes beyond that for me. The father was holed up in his office above the garage for 18 hours a day and hardly a real part of the family. We learn at the beginning that when the parents became concerned about Abby's weight, he told the mother, "Can't YOU put her on some kind of diet?" and "Are YOU letting her have snacks?" (emphasis my own). That's disturbing in more ways than one. And the whole family picture thing? Unbelievable. Abby didn't seem overly unhealthy to me. And as far as I could tell, the only food-related issues she had came from her parents depriving her so much and giving her a complex. And unfortunately, while Abby eventually learns to stand up for herself, that particular thread is never really resolved. I would have liked to see a confrontation, some intervention, some realization for the parents, some closure...but the lack of it actually makes this book sadly more realistic. After all, it's not always easy to stand up to adults at that age, especially one's parents. And unfortunately, some children cannot count on their parents. So on the one hand, I think seeing Abby come to accept and love herself and find her own strength despite her parents could be a good message for some kids. But it's really heartbreaking and could be depressing to some readers.

Finally, I know a lot of reviewers hated the fox part. I am not a fan of magical realism myself...and yet it didn't bother me in this book, for some reason. I can't explain it. I'm not sure it was completely necessary to the story, but I kind of enjoyed it.

Easy book to read - not so easy to sort out my feelings about it...

[Libby May · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was ok. The fox was adorable, and the throb in Abby’s hand was cute.
I liked her struggle with eating. It’s honestly like that for a lot of girls. Well brought up.
I didn’t like the bullies.
Why the three stars? The plot wasn’t all that great. What was the plot even? There was a fox. Abby was bullied about not being a bean pole. There was Anders and his dad. Nothing happened at the end of the book. Abby proved to her mom the girls were bullies, and Anders dad met the fox. So? That’s it? What about the biggest question that runs in the blood of the book “Why did they care?” There was no answer! It’s unfinished. I don’t know.
Didn’t love it.

[Bookandahug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle school girls with medium lives can be very, very mean. It's subtle and hard to prove sometimes but when you are caught in their web, it can be an intense and painful problem that no one else can help you with .... maybe.

This is the world of eleven year old Abigail Walker known to her classmates as Tubby Abby. This is the world where no one sits with her on the bus, and her parents try to get her to eat one slice of cheese pizza instead of three slices of sausage pizza.

Abby is drowning her feelings in food. She's got stashes of candy and sleeves of graham crackers for armor. She has lost her best friend to a move and now she's trying to survive on the fringes of a group ruled by a girl named Kristen.

The dynamics between Kristen, Georgia, Casey, Rachel, Myla, Bess on one side of the cafeteria and Abby on the other, are vividly painful and all too familiar to most of us. Why do these girls want to pick on Abby? What do they hope to gain? We all know the desperate need to belong and we watch with dread as Abby faces the humiliation and ostracism that come when the queen bee decides to make you her target.

But this is not a simple story of one girl against the middle school world. It's a story about all of us. We all have a story and we all have things that are so scary that it seems no one can help us with them. This is a story spun of lines of a web of stories that connect us all and they're all fragile lines and fragile stories. But they have some amazing strength in them and they hold together and sometimes we are holding each other together.

It's told magically and powerfully from two points of view. First the point of view of Abby, our heroine, who is going to have to decide if she is going to change or not and if she is going to be open to the new possibilities that life is leading to her door. Second it's told from the point of view of a fox....a fox who has a recurring nightmare and lives in a field near Abby's home.

The vicious animals in the story are eleven year old girls. The most frightened character may be the father of Abby's new friend, Anders, a soldier recently returned from Iraq who has post traumatic stress syndrome.

At the most primal level we all know our fears and we wish and hope and dream that somewhere there is a magical, powerful force that can deliver us from evil ...that can protect us and reassure us that all is well.

There were two moments in this story that caught me off guard and sent me to the tissue box. I offer you that info simply so you'll know that this is not an ordinary story. It's a story of wonder and possibilities and above all finding the courage to believe in yourself and trust yourself and your world. Bullies beware... if everyone reads this book... you don't stand a chance. 978-1442405936 228 pages Ages 9-13

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abigail Walker is in middle school, and her best friend has moved away. This has left her wide open as a target for bullies like Kristen Gorzca and other “medium popular” girls in her class. Kristen constantly teases Abby about her weight, a topic that also frequently comes up with her parents at home. When she stands up to the bullies, it seems like Abby is destined for loneliness, but instead, she begins making friends - first with the two Indian-American boys with whom she eats lunch, and then with a boy named Anders, whose father, Matt, is dealing with the psychological fallout of serving in Iraq. Abby and her new friends bond over Matt’s interest in learning about Lewis and Clark. The story occasionally shifts to the point of view of a mysterious fox who has a connection to Matt’s experience in Iraq. Through her experience helping Matt, Abby learns to feel alive again, despite how her tormentors try to suffocate her with their cruelty.

I always develop a real affection for Frances O’Roarke Dowell’s characters, and Abby is no exception to this rule. I loved her instantly, because she is so heartbreakingly real. Like so many middle school girls, she lives on the margins, just trying to make it through each day without hurting her mom or subjecting herself to more pain. Dowell writes such lovely descriptions of Abby’s loneliness that the reader has no choice but to feel empathy for her. When it comes to authentic contemporary realistic fiction about middle school, no author has a better sense of what is true and interesting than Frances O’Roarke Dowell.

The problem with this book, though, is that it occasionally deviates from reality.

The sections of the story from the fox’s point of view - including the first chapter of the novel - are beautifully written, but they feel like they belong to another book. I could never quite figure out how the fox linked Abby to Anders, or how a fox who had witnessed Matt’s experiences in Iraq ended up in the U.S. I don’t necessarily think I wanted those things to be explained, because that might have bogged down an economical, poetic text with a lot of information, but I do wonder why the fox’s part of the story wasn’t removed during editing. I also questioned why there was also a dog in the story in addition to the fox. It seemed to me that the dog’s role could easily have been played by the fox as well.

Despite its problems, I really do recommend The Second Life of Abigail Walker, especially for middle school girls. Dowell understands tween friendship better than any author whose work I have ever read, and Abby’s story does have a satisfying ending, even if the rest of the threads don’t quite tie up. For those rare kids who ask for magical realism stories, this could be a perfect match, even if the fantasy fans and realistic fiction readers are a bit put off.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sixth grader Abby she feels lucky when a group of "medium popular" girls take her into their group after her best friend moves away. However, Abby quickly realizes that she is on the bottom of their social ladder, always teetering between being in and being shut out. The fact that Abby is slightly overweight gives them fuel to constantly taunt her. When she decides one day that she has had enough of their cruelty, Abby walks away from the clique. Though turning her back on the girls results in even more bullying, Abby's life improves as she starts to meet much more interesting people.

First, two Indian-American boys invite Abby to join them at lunch, and she is pleasantly surprised by their easy friendship. Then she meets Anders, a home-schooled boy who lives on a small horse farm with his grandmother and father. Anders' father is badly emotionally scarred from recently serving two tours of duty in Iraq and needs psychiatric care. As he waits for an opening at a veteran's hospital, he spends his days collecting information about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Abby is fascinated by the family and returns to the farm daily. Wanting to help Anders' father heal, she agrees to assist with a his research. As she becomes involved in the project, Abby finds unexpected friendship and a sense of purpose that ultimately leads to happiness.

As she did in Dovey Coe, Frances O'Roark Dowell has again created an honest, funny, and lovable heroine. You can't help but feel Abby's pain as she faces her tormentors and cheer for her when she finds her own strength. Dowell's short novel shows that it is possible, though not easy, to walk away from bullying and find new friends, which is an incredibly powerful message for middle school readers.


4 out of 5 stars
Recommended for grades 5-6

[Maddie D · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-26-13
I am currently reading the Second Life of Abigail Walker by Frances Dowell. I'm not very far in this book, but so far I think it's very interesting. It's about a young girl who's going into middle school that is from New York. Her new house is supposed to have a hidden diamond in it somewhere. So Abigail starts telling everyone at school that there's supposed to be a diamond hidden in her house, but nobody listens and she just gets made fun at even more. I think the book is interesting because how a diamond is supposed to be in her house and you never know what's going to happen next. Is she going to find the diamond, or is the whole thing just a big myth? This book really makes you think. I can relate to this book because Abigail has a sister and she thinks she's so annoying! Well I also have a sister and she can get on my nerves a LOT! So it's really fun to read all the tricks that her sister plays on her and then think if my sister could ever do that to me. I think this book is character driven because kids are making fun of Abigail and Abigail is trying to find the hidden diamond, while her sister is also making fun of her. I love how the author focuses on a lot of different things in the book because even though it’s a little hard to keep up with it definitely makes the story much more interesting and compact! For example if the story was just about her sister making fun of her, that would be a really boring story because all it would be talking about is her sister doing mean pranks on her, but once the author added that hidden diamond part, it definitely made the story come to life. It was just more descriptive and made you want to keep reading this amazing book! I can’t wait to see what else the author adds into this story!

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked Frances O'Roark Dowell's newest book, the Second Life of Abigail Walker. It didn't wow me as much as Kristin Levine's The Lions of Little Rock OR Rebecca Stead's Liar & Spy, but, it was a gentle, satisfying exploration of first friendship. The heroine, Abigail Walker, does not have many friends, and what "friends" she did have once her true best friend moved away the year before, she's since lost because she was brave enough to stand up for herself. (Her new "friends" liked to pick on her every day, boss her around, call her names, criticize her, etc.) When she didn't say, "yes, you're right, throwing up would be a great way for me to lose weight," well she became "dead" to them and they started making her life miserable. But this is a hopeful story in many, many ways, a quirky story too. (Every other chapter was narrated by a fox.) For Abigail does find her way, she does make new friends, she is able to bring hope and joy to others just by her being herself. The message was a good one. And I did like many things about this one. I liked the friendship theme. I didn't enjoy the focus on Abby's weight as much, though I suppose it felt authentic enough in showing her daily struggles. But it was sad too. The pressure others put on her in addition to the messages she told herself, it all felt sad to me. I could see *why* she was turning to food. It isn't a book with an easy answer at the end, which was good, I suppose.

Personally, I think I would have loved this one a little bit more without the fox fantasy-elements. But I think it is still a good read.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A blend of realism and fantasy about bullying, and learning to like yourself and know more of who you are. I liked Dowell's writing and the progression of the story. The ties between the war veteran and Lewis and Clark expedition were interesting, but there wasn't an explanation of why the vet became interested in the expedition to begin with. I'm also not sure about the fox and his narrative, but it worked fairly well. It gave an air of magic to a story in which Abby changes subtlely. She discovers new friends and interests. Her confidence grows even though she still has doubts about herself.

The bullying was difficult to read perhaps because it seemed real. No adults taking notice, no fellow students standing up to the mean girls. I kept wanting Abby to get the courage to tell the "medium girls" off and to tell her parents. The parents made me angry with their obsession over their daughter's weight and the obliviousness about her life. I was surprised that Abby could disappear for hours and no questions about where'd she been. Perhaps this is more of the fantasy side of the book.

[Laura Phelps · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am quite torn about this blend of realism and fantasy. On the one hand I really loved Abby, the slightly overweight main character who suffers bullying at the hands of her 6th grade peers (and her parents, really). Her ability to deal and find friendship elsewhere is both believable and quite impressive. Alongside the story of Abby is the more fantastical story of fox - an animal character who brings Abby together with an Iraq war vet suffering from PTSD. There were a few pieces of this which didn’t quite “fit” for me as a reader (one weird and jarring detail: Abby is reading a Junie B. Jones book, despite being in 6th grade, which as a librarian I just can't really understand), but in the end when the puzzle came together I closed the book saying “Hmm... that was really interesting" and I suspect Abby and fox will both stay with me for a long time.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. Dowell gives us a coming-of-age story in the truest sense and one that is achingly authentic. Lonely chubby Abby, adrift after her best friend moves away, wanders into the circle of the "middle" girls. Eleven-year-old mean girls are just as nasty as older mean girls and Abby struggles to please them as well as her parents who are worried about Abby's weight and social standing. Abby knows the consequences of going against the popular group and her first tentative steps toward standing up for herself are wonderfully crafted. It takes courage to be yourself, even at 11, and Dowell gives us a wonderful portrayal of a young girl starting that journey. Wonderful character development here - so much in a few words or phrases and I loved the unexpected magical realism thread that wove all the threads together.

[Courtney McLean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abbey just wants to fit in with the popular people. But when she finally makes a retort back to them after they insulted her she is suddenly never going to be popular again. She makes some new friends and helps a man find his sanity by writing a poem about Louis and Clark. Then her friends come back looking for revenge. Will she find a way out or will she be humiliated, again?
I gave this book four stars because it tells the story of a girl who is struggling with everything social-wise because of how she looks. I don't like that at all and I think we should be like Abbey and stand up to bullies like Kristen and Georgia.

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a really good book i give it a 4/5 it wasn't the best iv'e read but it was good

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all have interior lives we don’t /can’t share. Middle school children are learning that, caught between parental expectations and peer group judgments and bullying. When you don’t fit in where you are, find somewhere you do fit in, or at least, can make a contribution. Abigail Walker does just that – she finds new friends, sets new goals for herself, and helps some other people along the way. At the end, not everything is perfect, but some things have gotten better, and our heroine has found a life outside of the judgmental school bullies, helping her to not care about them anymore.

[Carolanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really enjoying this book right up until the end. I felt like it just petered out. I was intrigued by the mixing of realistic fiction with fantasy/folktale (with the fox & crow) and was hoping for an explanation or inference of the significance of the fox & crow, but I never saw it.

Kids will identify with Abby having to deal with 'mean girls'. I love how she develops the self-confidence to accept/love herself as she is - despite her awful, clueless parents - and how she makes better choices about friends.

I would definitely recommend the book to students.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

????
This book is definitely not what I expected. I was really confused with the ending, because it wasn't much of one. The book started off with a good start but for me it went downhill from there. I feel like the plot was really under-developed and didn't really have much depth or purpose. The character development was okay, but I feel like Matt's could have been better. I also wish Kristen & Georgia's actions after the beginning would've been explained more. All in all it was an okay book, wouldn't say I would recommend it or read it again. Don't even get me started on the fox!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading, but I felt like it was missing pieces. It had the potential to be really good, but maybe caved to the pressure to be a "small" book. I wonder if the pieces that would have really filed out the story were edited out or never there to begin with.

[Mrs. M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real-world look at relationships in elementary school- great dynamics. And, PTSD addressed which is important for our kids to understand. I read with my son and we enjoyed, but the ending seemed to drag a bit.

[Natasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of course the Indian character is the only one that talks like an 80 year old man. There are such gems like “I am correct that you have B lunch? Would you care to join me?...But Jafar is not here today, and I would like company?” and “Shall we walk? We can see if any of the fellows are playing at the field.”
Keep in mind that he is only 11, and none of the other kids talk like that. It is suggested that he is at least second or third generation American, and has plenty of other friends at school that talk like normal children. It is also suggested that his family went to England, but even so, it seemed like an odd and unnecessary choice for him to speak like that. It has absolutely no effect on his character. He can talk like his peers and still be introspective and sensitive to others.

In addition, I was really annoyed by Abby’s friendship with Marlys. Abby knows how poorly her fake friends treated her and how they were basically using her, yet she gets Marlys’ attention for the sole purpose of getting help on doing research. She doesn’t even ask her, just passively puts paper in her line of sight. Marlys has done nothing but indicate she is a kind person who would probably readily agree if Abby has just asked outright for help.

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abigail Walker wants to fit in with the popular group of sixth-grade girls, but seventeen pounds (known because they all get weighed in gym class) make her an object of their ridicule. One day, Abby disagrees with a flippant remark about throwing up to control weight and, then, leaves the “popular” lunch table. This is an affront the popular girls cannot abide, and they launch their character-destroying attacks in earnest. But, Abby soon realizes that she’ll survive the alienation and even benefit from it. She becomes friends with Marlys, Anoop, and Jafar, classmates she hadn’t noticed before. And, there’s Anders and his father, Matt, who live in the woods near her home. They live with Anders’ grandmother because Matt, a veteran of Iraq, suffers from severe PTSD. Matt’s only comfort is the epic poem he writes about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Abby readily agrees to research the animals Lewis and Clark encountered during their travels. Soon, her new schoolmates are helping her. A painful encounter with the popular girls helps Abby realize that she’s moved beyond them and their petty concerns. Her world is “a new and undiscovered place” with “friends along for the expedition.”
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com