When Zachary Beaver Comes to Town

Toby is a child living in hard time in Antler, Texas. His girl is dating his buddy, his best friends brother is serving in Vietnam and his mom is off chasing her dreams, but something great is about to happen. Zachary Beaver, "the fattest boy in the world" is on his way into town. Toby and his best bud, Cal stir up trouble when their curiosity begins to get the best of them. As the boys start to see Zachary as not much of a sideshow freak , rather a boy just like them, they begin to grow.
I like this book a lot because when I was teaching a fifth grader who was reading at a 2nd grade level, we would read this book together. I would read the majority, while he would chime in here and there. He wasn't fat or overweight, yet I could see that he was relating to how Zachary felt when people would laugh at him for not being at the other kids level in school. He would never raise his hand or try and read in front of the class for fear of being made fun of, and it was tough on both of us, because I just wanted him to try. As it turned out the reading of the book was one of the times he most looked forward to during the week, and I used the viewing of the movie "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town " as motivation for him for the last half of the school year. I got him to read in front of the class, just a paragraph, and he did just fine. So we watched the first half on a Friday and the second half the next Friday. This was a great book and a nice movie for anyone who may feel different, whether it be body, size, looks, smarts or anything else.