Maggie Bean Stays Afloat

Here's what's new with Maggie Bean: At the end of her tumultuous year, Maggie Bean is a very happy, healthy girl. After months of Pound Patrollers attendance, diet, and tough swim workouts, the scale now reads 150. But Maggie isn't resting on her laurels - she's got a busy summer ahead. Not only is Maggie spearheading a Pound Patrollers kids' program but she gets a junior camp counselor job at Camp Sound View. Camp Sound View is a whole new world for Maggie. She works with kids from other schools who don't know her, or what she looked like a year ago. Everyone's friendly, boys treat her like a real girl, and Maggie is mesmerized! The experience is something she knows never would've been possible the summer before. Wounded by Peter's recent rejection and flattered by the unexpected attention, Maggie immerses herself in everything Camp Sound View has to offer. Her confidence grows, and before long she's cracking jokes and initiating conversation without worrying (much) about what people think. It's all fun and games until Maggie becomes so involved, people (Aimee, Arnie and her family) feel neglected. Will Maggie sacrifice old friends for new ones? Will she change what's on the inside as people respond to her changed outside? Can she blend her two worlds together? And will all this tension send her seeking solace in old habits?

She was no longer the boring girl who hid in her bedroom eating mounds of chocolate every night. She was the new and improved Maggie Bean, and she was going to do her best to convince Peter Applewood that she was the girl for him.

At the end of her tumultuous year, Maggie Bean is a very happy, healthy girl. After months of Pound Patrollers attendance, diet, and tough swim workouts, the scale now reads 146. But Maggie isn't resting on her laurels - she's got a busy summer ahead. Not only is she new and improved, but she's decided now is the right time to tell Peter her true feelings.

Children's Literature

For the first time, Maggie Bean has learned to control her lust for chocolate and consequently her weight, so she is really looking forward to eighth grade where she will be on the swim team. But she has weighed herself down with too much baggage—real and emotional—and she keeps piling more on. Last year, when she was still her chubby self, she had told Peter Atwood, as they stood side by side at their lockers, that she liked him. He had spurned her attention. So this year she is embarrassed to go to her locker and face Peter, which means she carries all her books all the time. As the school year progresses, teachers add more and more books to her already bulging book bag until Maggie feels she is collapsing under the weight of it. To add to that pressure, Maggie has been put in charge of saving the swim team from budget cuts: either the girls' swim team or the girls' synchronized swim group has to go. Aided by her friends, Maggie starts a student petition to keep the swim team, but the "witchy" synchronized swimmers keep bribing students to sign their petition instead. Maggie and her new boyfriend, Arnie, are also counselors in a group to help overweight kids start exercising and eating a healthier diet. The problem is they are so good at what they do, more and more kids sign up. And then there is the big problem of when Arnie and she will have their first kiss. In the end, Maggie helps save the swim team, talks to Peter, and has her first kiss with Arnie. Written with a lot of energy and sympathy, this book, third in the "Maggie Bean" series, is an enjoyable read. Reviewer: Sarah Maury Swan

Tricia Rayburn lives on eastern Long island with her fiancé and crazy shih tzu. She tries to eat vegetables instead of candy but, in her weaker moments, loves Reese's Pieces. The Melting of Maggie Bean is her first novel.