Although we’re far from seeing all of the covers of 2021 YA books, it’s been really promising so far. The representation is far more reflective of today’s teens. There is, as always, more room for improvement, but the strides forward are worth pausing to reflect upon.
One area that’s gotten better but is still lacking is the representation of fat teens — and specifically fat girls — on book covers. It shocks me to see casts of characters on a cover, be them illustrated or a photo, and not one of them is not thin. One in five teens is considered obese by CDC guidelines, which are wildly flawed, but that number is a point of reference for how unrepresentative YA book covers and stories about fat teens are.
That all said, what’s positive is how many of the fat teens on YA book covers in 2021 are teens of color. It’s a double win for representation.
Though this roundup focuses on fat female-appearing teens specifically, it was pretty apparent that fat teen boys on YA book covers for next year are even more rare.
I’ve pulled these descriptions from Goodreads, and determination on what makes for a “fat girl” is my own subjective decision. My rule of thumb is that these teens are much curvier than their counterparts or are clearly carrying more fat on their bodies. Of course, if you know of other 2021 covers that have been revealed so far that showcase fat teen girls, I’d love to hear about them in the comments.
My fingers are crossed we see more as more covers are finalized.
Fat Girls on 2021 YA Book Covers (So Far!)
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega (February 2)
Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.
People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it’s hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn’t help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.
But there’s one person who’s always in Charlie’s corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing–he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her? UGHHH. Everything is now officially a MESS.
A sensitive, funny, and painful coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.
How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love With The Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland (August 10)
When her twin sister reaches social media stardom, Moon Fuentez accepts her fate as the ugly, unwanted sister hidden in the background, destined to be nothing more than her sister’s camerawoman. But this summer, Moon also takes a job as the “merch girl” on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers and her fate begins to shift in the best way possible.
Most notable is her bunkmate and new nemesis, Santiago Phillips, who is grumpy, combative, and also the hottest guy Moon has ever seen.
Moon is certain she hates Santiago and that he hates her back. But as chance and destiny (and maybe, probably, close proximity) bring the two of them in each other’s perpetual paths, Moon starts to wonder if that’s really true. She even starts to question her destiny as the unnoticed, unloved wallflower she always thought she was.
Could this summer change Moon’s life as she knows it?
Love Is A Revolution by Renée Watson (February 2)
When Nala Robertson reluctantly agrees to attend an open mic night for her cousin-sister-friend Imani’s birthday, she finds herself falling in instant love with Tye Brown, the MC. He’s perfect, except . . . Tye is an activist and is spending the summer putting on events for the community when Nala would rather watch movies and try out the new seasonal flavors at the local creamery. In order to impress Tye, Nala tells a few tiny lies to have enough in common with him. As they spend more time together, sharing more of themselves, some of those lies get harder to keep up. As Nala falls deeper into keeping up her lies and into love, she’ll learn all the ways love is hard, and how self-love is revolutionary.
In Love Is a Revolution, plus size girls are beautiful and get the attention of the hot guys, the popular girl clique is not shallow but has strong convictions and substance, and the ultimate love story is not only about romance but about how to show radical love to the people in your life, including to yourself.
Speak For Yourself by Lana Wood Johnson (June 1)
Girl meets boy. Girl likes boy.
Girl gets friend to help win boy.
Friend ends up with crush on boy…
Skylar’s got ambitious #goals. And if she wants them to come true, she has to get to work now. (At least she thinks so…) Step one in her epic plan is showing everyone that her latest app is brilliant. To do that, she’s going to use it win State at the Scholastic Exposition, the nerdiest academic competition around.
First, she’ll need a team, and Skylar’s not always so good with people. But she’ll do whatever it takes to put one together … even if it means playing Cupid for her teammates Joey and Zane, at Joey’s request. When things get off to an awkward start for them, Skylar finds herself stepping in to help Joey. Anything to keep her on the team. Only, Skylar seems to be making everything more complicated. Especially when she realizes she might be falling for Zane, which was not a #goal. Can Skylar figure out her feelings, prove her app’s potential to the world, and win State without losing her friends–or is her path to greatness over before it begins?
I think using the term “Fat” is hurtful. Maybe the article should be titled “Full Figured” or “Curvey” or “Voluptious”. We should never label books lists this way.
“Full figured” and “curvy” or “voluptuous” are super hurtful and demeaning to folks like me who are fat. Fat isn’t an ugly word — it’s only made ugly when it upsets folks who are afraid to use what is an accurate description of a body that has extra fat on it. I’m fat, and so are the girls on these covers. I’d invite you to do a little reading on the topic, and if that’s too time consuming, perhaps the description of Fat Chance, Charlie Vega will be enough to make clear fat is a description, not a judgment.
as a fat woman myself, i find the other terms way better when describing myself. I work in a high school and girls have come up to me and fat is very hurtful. to the teens i work with. I also don’t see any of these covers as “FAT” girls. I’m just concered for my students.
As always, you should follow what it is your community prefers. But in my space and life, “fat” is the appropriate term. If it’s not where you are, you’re welcome to choose another term.
The term “Fat” has a negative connotation because people have given it a negative connotation. So, I can understand the hurt feelings at hearing it, but i also agree with kelly that it is the term to use. I personally would like the term to be taken back by us who are fat. the terms “full figured” “curvy” etc can mean something different to so many different people, but when i hear fat, i hear me.
Also? It’s your article so you title it what you want.
These are all so straight. So. Straight.
Yep, they are. Given that it took this long to see a majority fat teens of color on covers, it’s sadly not a surprise. May those emerge as the year’s covers pop up (and more and more visible in the future).
“Fat” is such a relative term. Looking at these covers, I don’t think I would describe ANY of these women as “fat”. They’re just… normal, realistic looking women.
I had the same feeling when I first saw the video to that Megan Trainor song. I had some respect for her for speaking out against fat shaming. Until I saw what she looked like, and all I could think was, “Man, that’s not fat! Not by a long shot.”
And I know some women who get very offended at the implication they’re fat, based on depictions like this. Many of them are bigger than this, and never considered themself anywhere close to “fat”.
Other women are half that size, and they definitely consider themselves “fat”. That’s a different problem, of course. A very serious one. No matter how big or small you are, you deserve to be happy in your own body without considering yourself “fat” or “skinny” or “obese”… or even “full figured” or “voluptuous”.
I think I might’ve rather titled this article something along the times of “Regular girls on 2021 YA Book Covers”….
And you’re also welcome to be fat AND happy, as I and so many others, choose to be.
Absolutely fair, yes. If you’re “Fat”.
But is there an objective definition of “Fat”? Is it anyone over 80kg? Over a certain BMI? Something else?
Because a 1.6m tall woman weighing, say, 75kg is nowhere near “Fat” by most reasonable people’s definitions (except maybe misogynist pig men, supermodels, or fashion magazine editors). She’s not “Skinny”, certainly, but she’s not “Fat”, either.
The problem is that articles like this run the risk of giving her the impression that the world thinks she’s “Fat” when she’s never thought of herself that way at all. And that could have the opposite effect to what I think you’re going for. 🙁
Follow-up: I do know women who freely admit that they’re fat, and say they’re 100% happy with that. They’re happy in their own skin, happy with their bodies, and have no intention of trying to change for anyone.
That’s awesome, and I believe those women and have mad respect for them. I think they’ve got it right. I’m not going to embarass them by naming them here, but these are women who weigh 120-130kg and up, and when I think about it, I can understand their definition of “Fat”. Yes, sure, you’re probably fat. And that’s totally okay, and it doesn’t change who you are as a person, and it’s nobody’s business but yours.
If they were 80kg instead, I’d be trying to tell them that they are absolutely, positively NOT fat, and in fact calling themselves “fat” might just be offensive to the 120-130kg ones (if not the other 80kg women out there).