When Zachary Beaver came to town by Kimberly Willis Holt

Blurb: "Toby Wilson is having the toughest summer of his life. It's the summer his mother leaves for good. The summer his best friend's brother is serving in Vietnam. And the summer Zachary Beaver, the fattest boy in the world, arrives in Toby's sleepy Texas town. While it's a summer filled with heartache, it's also a summer of new friendships gained and old friendships renewed. And it's Zachary Beaver who turns the town of Antler upside down and leaves everyone, especially Toby, changed forever."

I was sad to read about Zachary Beaver and the way he is used by this man called Paulie Rankin. Poor Zachary sits behind a plexiglass screen and people pay to enter the trailer to gawk at him. When Paulie left my emotions turned to worry. Who would look after Zachary? He seemed to be way too large to even get out of the trailer and what about his personal hygiene and the sewerage waste tank under the trailer. Luckily Toby and his friend Cal and later other people in the town do drop food at the trailer door for Zachary and after nearly a week the kind Sheriff organises for the pump out man to empty that tank. Toby and Cal are curious about Zachary but their curiosity has a level of kindness. They visit Zachary and gain his trust and listen to his fanciful travel stories but they also want to help Zachary. I was so thrilled when they organised a way to extricate him from his trailer 'prison' and take him to a drive-in movie. I won't give you details of the second time Zachary leaves the trailer but is also very moving.

There are fabulous character descriptions in this book:

"The skinny guy selling tickets moves to the top step in front of the trailer door. Even though he smokes a pipe, his baby face, braces, and tux make him look like he's ready for eighth grade formal. From the front his hair looks short, but he turns and I notice a ponytail hangs down his back."

"In the middle of the trailer sits the largest human being I've ever seen. Zachary Beaver is the size of a two-man pup tent. His short back hair tops his huge moon face like a snug cap that's two sizes too small. His skin is the colour of buttermilk and his hazel eyes are practically lost in his puffy cheeks."

"Ferris leans against the counter, where the bowling shoes are kept, rubbing his long Elvis sideburns. With is shirtsleeves rolled up, his two tattoos are visible. One is an anchor, and the other is a hula girl."

I'm not sure if this book will appeal to every Australian reader (aged 11+) but I loved it from the first to last page. I was totally immersed in the world of this small Panhandle town in Texas with its stores such as Ferris Kelly's Bowl-a-Rama; Earline's Real Estate Agency; and Clifton's Dry Goods. I also loved learning about the role of ladybirds in the control of pests, specifically Bollworms, in cotton crops. It is such a heartwarming scene when everyone gathers to release the ladybirds. Especially as this comes after the sadness of losing Cal's brother Wayne. 

At turns passionate and humorous, this extraordinary novel deals sensitively and candidly with obesity, war, and the true power of friendship. Kimberly Willis Holt

A master at finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, the author peoples her town with a quiet postmaster/worm-raising father, aspiring country-singer mother, watchful sheriff, eccentric judge, town historian Miss Myrtie Mae, flirt Scarlett, and, at the center of it all, sensitive narrator Toby Wilson and his sidekick, best friend Cal. Kirkus

I think this book might have been on the shelf of my local bookshop for quite a few years so I feel very lucky to have discovered it. When Zachary Beaver came to town was first published in 1999 my paperback copy was published in 2007. I now discover a new edition of this book was published in April this year. This book was the National Book Award winner in 1999.

Here are a set of teaching ideas and questions. I did look at part of the movie based on this book but it did not appeal to me - the characters looked way too young. 

I would pair this book with The Small adventure of Popeye and Elvis.

And if you a another book that explores the grief connected with the loss of a young life during the Vietnam war take a look at Footprints on the Moon (a new Australian verse novel) and The Wednesday Wars.

Here are some other novels by Kimberly Willis Holt:

Thanks to the prolific reviewer Karen Yingling I now discover there is a sequel to When Zachary Beaver came to Town.