John McNally gives readers an honest and often mischievous look at his working-class childhood in midwestern America. This intimate glimpse into McNally's family takes readers through two states, five grade schools, 210 pounds, and a lifetime of insecurity. Like Dickens's David Copperfield, McNally hopes to be the hero of his own story, but unlike David Copperfield, he is a fat boy who breaks kids' noses in karate and has fantasies of living in a nudist camp with his kindergarten teacher. From an explosive night in an Illinois trailer park to tumultuous father-son bonding at an endless stream of flea markets, McNally gives the skinny on life as a fat kid.