Larger-Than-Life Lara

This isn't about me. This story, I mean. So already you got a reason to hang it up. At least that's what Mrs. Smith, our English teacher, says.

But the story is about her. Ten-year-old Laney Grafton feels the air change the day Lara Phelps walks into her class. Lara is fat. Really fat. How a kid who looked like this one, big as a sofa, could just sneak into a room, Laney doesn't know. All she can think is that finally, there will be someone else for the boys to pick on.

But Lara doesn't act the way a fat kid should. She's confident. She's happy. And nothing, it seems, can change her positive attitude. Until one day, when Laney's classmates do the unthinkable.

With the use of sparkling language and clever structure that illustrates just what makes a story a story, bestselling author Dandi Daley Mackall tells an unforgettable tale of how the new girl in school transforms an entire class.