Join us for a virtual visit with Crystal Maldonado, author of "Fat Chance Charlie Vega", as she talks about her inspiration for the book and answers audience questions.

About Fat Chance, Charlie Vega: "Coming of age as a Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.  Harder when your whole life is on fire, though.  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? Because it’s time people did.  

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."

About the author: Crystal Maldonado is a writer by night and a marketer and social media manager by day. She has been published in Latina magazine, The Hartford Courant, and Dogster, contributed a personal essay to BuzzFeed, and is the co-founder of the online magazine Positively Smitten. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega is her debut novel, and was bought in a competitive pre-empt as part of a two-book deal. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband, her dog, and her super-duper adorable baby daughter.

NOTES: 

Adults may register for this event, but priority will be given to teens in grades 9-12.  

This is an online event via Zoom. An invite will be sent at least an hour prior to the start of the program to the email given at registration. Be sure to check your clutter/junk/spam boxes if the invite does not appear in your inbox.