Find your next great read for National Reading Month by exploring my reviews of these inspiring YA books about plus-size heroines.

Heroines come in all sizes, and there are many lists of YA books to encourage body positivity for chubby, fat, and curvy bodies. Beauty comes in many colorful shapes and packages.

Here are my personal recommendations for a few inspiring YA books about plus-size heroines on various personal growth and coming-of-age journeys. Some of them involve shedding weight, but all involve gaining self-confidence in the journey. Enjoy!

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

“I just can’t believe that life would give us to each other,” he said, “and then take it back.”
“I can,” she said. “Life’s a bastard.” ― Rainbow Rowell, quote from Eleanor and Park

It's been a long time since I've encountered a novel that I literally couldn't put down. Eleanor & Park was one of those books. I loved every minute. I sat on the porch, on the couch, on the floor by the window... and devoured this book. I giggled. I sighed. It was a wonderful reading experience about first love. Sweet and heartbreaking and everything I wanted. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good, humorous, romantic young love story.

The story unfolds from alternating points of view, both Eleanor and Park, as they fall in love over the course of one year. The dialog is witty, snappy, and fun. As a super-dreamy YA book about dating, intimacy, and sex, it will give you all the feels about falling in love for the first time with those awkward first telephone conversations.

Eleanor and Park is my favorite YA book about plus-size heroines in this list. Reading it, I didn’t think much about Eleanor as a “plus-size heroine,” but she’s clearly portrayed this way in imagery. She’s a stout, red-headed, “big girl” with loose clothes and weird accessories.

To Park (and to me), she’s simply enchanting. She is herself: beautiful!

Wonder When You’ll Miss Me by Amanda Davis

“I'd lost forty-eight pounds and my skin had mostly cleared up. I'd missed a whole semester of school and disappeared for seven months. It seemed like no one had even noticed I was gone.” ― Amanda Davis, quote from Wonder When You’ll Miss Me

In Wonder When You’ll Miss Me, sixteen-year-old Faith Duckle still talks to The Fat Girl. She sees her too. Usually The Fat Girl is eating something and offering snarky commentary or advice. Sometimes Faith tells her to go away. Sometimes she listens to her.

Faith was sexually assaulted by a group of boys who made sport of her as the fat girl, and then she tried to kill herself. Then she ended up in a hospital, where she lost the weight but not The Fat Girl. She’s still hanging around.

This is the beginning of the story.

The real story is Faith’s journey when she runs away to join the circus, takes a new name, gets a tattoo, and becomes a handler of elephants. The real story is how Faith and The Fat Girl found healing after such a terrible event.

I loved this book when I read it twenty years ago, and I love it still. Amanda Davis was a gifted author, and you don’t want to miss this YA book about a plus-size heroine who finds a path through trauma to redemption. Sadly, this author died in a small plane crash at the age of 32, and Wonder When You’ll Miss Me was her only novel.

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

“I know what you’re thinking- if you hate it so much and it’s such a burden, just lose the weight, and then that job will go away. But I’m comfortable where I am. I may lose more weight. I may not. But why should what I weigh affect other people? I mean unless I’m sitting on them, who cares?” ― Jennifer Niven, quote from Holding Up the Universe

I loved this book. Told in alternating viewpoints, this is the story of Libby and Jack. Libby, who weighed 653 pounds at her heaviest, was once labeled “America’s Fattest Teen” and had to be cut out of her own house. After losing a great deal of weight, she returns to school, where she meets Jack through a rather bumpy beginning.

Their relationship struggles are painful but authentic, and the message of the book is that “seeing someone” can happen in many ways. This theme comes through in Jack’s rare condition, Prosopagnosia, which means he can’t recognize people’s faces. He can see but can’t.

As events unfold, Jack and Libby learn about forgiveness and self-acceptance, as well as the transformational power of kindness.

If you’re looking for one of the the sweetest YA books about plus-size heroines that give all the good feels, pick up this classic from Jennifer Niven. I hope you like it as much as I did. In fact, Jennifer Niven is such a great author that she’s on my list of Best YA Authors to Binge on Kindle Unlimited because she’s all-around amazing!

Other YA Books about Plus-Size Heroines

If you are looking other YA books about plus-size heroines, check out the Plus-Size YA Heroines list and New Adult and Young Adult Books Starring a Plus-Size Heroine on Goodreads or this YA Books that Encourage Body Positivity list. You might also be interested in my post, Other Good Reads, which has a comprehensive list of reviews of YA books by type of tough topic, including substance abuse, mental illness, and others.

Do you have any personal favorites to recommend to me? I’m always looking for another great read in this category.

Khristina Chess is the award-winning author of several YA novels about troubled teens turning corners. You can find her on Amazon, Goodreads, and Twitter as an active daily contributor in the #5amwritersclub.