Fat Boy Swim.(Children's Review)(Audiobook Review)

Fat Boy Swim (unabr). 4 cassettes. 4:53 hrs. Prod. by Listening Library. Dist. by Listening Library/Books on Tape. 2004. ISBN 14000-9042-3. $32.

Gr 7 Up--Gary Lewis reads Scottish YA author Catherine Forde's heartfelt and heartening novel (Delacorte, 2004) with such a heavy accent that American listeners must be patient and attentive in order to understand the narration. For those willing to try, this novel, one of several recent books with similar themes, has a lot to offer while remaining fairly realistic. Fourteen-year-old Jimmy is so fat that his asthma and his bullying classmates pose equally pervasive threats to his physical and emotional health. His mother …