When Zachary Beaver Came to Town

I recently finished Kimberly Willis Holt's When Zachary Beaver Came to Town; it is a delight.

Set in the fictional tiny Texas town of Antler (somewhere between Amarillo and Wichita Falls), this coming-of-age story of 13 year old Toby Wilson's heart-breaking summer will make you pause. Faced with a mother who has left to pursue a singing career, the teenage beauty who doesn't know he exists, and "The World's Fattest Boy" who arrives in Antler as part of a traveling side-show, Toby is faced with choices and a change in his perspective. When he reaches out to Zachary, this boy trapped in his own skin, he discovers that the "best way to work through your own problems is to help someone with theirs." The baptism scene alone, near the end of the book, makes this story worth reading.

I loved it. Add it to your list!