Welcome to the world of Virginia Shreves, the 15-year-old narrator of The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. In a family of beautiful overachievers who are dedicated to looking like beautiful overachievers, Virginia's a bit of a misfit. She's not super skinny like her older sister; she's not popular like her older brother; she's not a golf-toting club member like her father and she's certainly nothing like her gym-rat-child-psychologist mother. She's smart enough, sure, but she's also boyfriendless and lonely now that her only friend's been whisked off to Oregon by her vagabond parents. With no social life to speak of, she's been spending her time surfing the Web and downing Doritos, neither of which help with her biggest problem - her weight. Viriginia's not grossly obese, but she's chubby enough to get picked last for any kind of team in P.E. She's "heavy" enough that her calorie-conscious mother has to remind her about it every single day. Virginia's getting the message loud and clear: she is the fleshy blight on what is otherwise a perfect family.