Book, movie inspire teen to tackle weight

Brandon, like Jimmy Winterpock, was heavy and taunted relentlessly at school.

Just 13, Brandon weighed 346 pounds — at least 200 pounds more than the typical weight of a boy his age.

“I’m done!” Brandon yelled to his parents after returning home from a family vacation where kids on the beach giggled, pointed and called him a “whale.”

He was done with being obese.

He had just read “Chronicles” for a second time, and the book’s inspiring story of losing weight clicked — just like it had for Jimmy Winterpock.

Motivated by Jimmy’s transformation, Brandon, now 14, started exercising, eating right and little by little, losing weight.

Since last July, he has lost 76 pounds. He continues to lose about two pounds a week.

Co-written by Michael Buchanan, a retired math teacher who lives in Alpharetta, “The Fat Boy Chronicles” is now also a movie that spotlights twin menaces facing school-aged kids today — bullying and obesity.

Since its release on DVD earlier this year, thousands of middle-schoolers, parents, teachers, doctors and school administrators have gathered for special screenings in Georgia and around the country. They often break into groups afterward and talk about civility, the power of bystanders, making healthy life changes, taking steps to stop bullying.

The film has also caught the eye of Georgia State School Superintendent John Barge, who said he would like every teenager, every parent in Georgia to see it.

Barge likes the movie’s messages, which encourage young people to reach out to adults for help and sensitively portray other teenage struggles. The movie features a girl who seems to have it together cutting herself. There’s also a teenage boy tormented by his father’s alcoholism.

Filmed in Newnan, the simple plot of the low-budget movie revolves around a “diet-challenged” kid who is a target for meanness.

Some scenes are tough to watch. At one point, a boy asks Jimmy Winterpock for his bra size. In another one, a group of boys trick Jimmy into running in the hall in his underwear, promising him if he does it, he can be a team trainer.

But when Jimmy exits the locker room, the boys lock the door. Girls laugh when they see Jimmy in his underwear. A tearful, panicked Jimmy tries to push the door open into the locker room, but the boys on the other side keep it shut. While Jimmy dissolves into tears, the boys laugh.

Jimmy finds comfort in church, and with the help of his family, he is motivated to start running and lose weight.

Barge, a former high school teacher and principal, said the scenes are very real and important for parents to see.

“Unfortunately, this happens, kids can be very cruel to each other and parents may not realize this is going on,” said Barge.

Barge plans to make the book and movie a resource for schools across Georgia. He will encourage guidance counselors and teachers to weave the book and movie into either class work or anti-bullying programs and events. Already, a handful of schools are using the book in health class. Barge said the book and movie could eventually be offered as part of the state-approved curriculum.

“I really think [this movie] will save lives. I honestly believe that,” said Barge.

The book’s beginning

Buchanan co-wrote the book with Diane Lang, a former Georgia teacher, now living in Ohio. About a decade ago, the two educators struck up a conversation while the two were chaperoning a high school trip to Honduras. Lang noticed Buchanan was writing about scuba diving. She asked for him to help write a scene about night-time scuba diving for her book. Before long, they were writing the book, “Micah’s Child,” together.

During a book signing in 2006, a teenage boy approached them and said they should write a book about him — an overweight kid who’d been bullied in school.

The idea seemed a natural fit. As teachers, they could draw from their experience with teenagers — the sometimes cruel hallways of middle school; the angst, the stigma of obesity.

Lang, who taught English at Chattahoochee High School, had her students write journals as part of the class. Lang and Buchanan decided to use a journal style for the book.

While writing, Buchanan often thought about a heavy ninth-grader he had in class years ago.

“He wouldn’t make a peep,” said Buchanan, whose last teaching job before retirement was also at Chattahoochee High. “I worked hard to get him into the group.”

While Buchanan said he felt like he could minimize “painful interactions” in his classroom, he knew it was happening in the hallways and the locker rooms.

The book was released in 2009. A series of coincidences and connections helped it become a movie. Buchanan’s various writing projects caught the attention of the father of one of Buchanan’s former students. He helped Buchanan and Lang launch Tin Roof Films.

The movie was filmed in Newnan over a six-week period close to the downtown area (one of the producer’s father was a Newnan doctor). The school scenes were filmed at Newnan High School.

Buchanan plays the role of the grouchy science teacher. Cheerleaders from Chattahoochee High School played the cheerleaders in the movie.

Buchanan and Lang are now in high demand, speaking at anti-bullying events and conferences in Georgia and across the country.

Buchanan, who taught math in Georgia for 31 years, said while bullying isn’t new, technology helps magnify its impact.

“There’s more of a pack mentality,” he said. “They go on Facebook and stir things up and then it’s seven against one.”

Buchanan said he hopes the movie and book spark candid conversations between kids and parents.

He also wants kids to realize they can be “the driving force of their change.”

Put to the test

On a recent afternoon, hundreds of kids and their parents watched “The Fat Boy Chronicles” at a special screening in Alpharetta. Afterward, the kids answered a series of questions.

Who did you identify with in the movie? What is a step you will take to make a change?

Dee Friedman of Johns Creek was there with her ninth-grade daughter, Brooke. She didn’t love the movie. Like others, she felt like it was disjointed at times. Jimmy’s best friend’s obsession with a local murder didn’t seem to fit the movie. But she was glad she went. The movie led to a frank discussion about bullying with her kids, and that made it worth it, she said.

Brooke had already read the book in her health class at Johns Creek High School.

“Bullying does happen,” said Brooke. “And looks are the biggest reason. It’s an issue but not too big of an issue.”

Brooke has found herself in the bystander role, like many kids. She’s watched kids lob mean comments at other kids. She tries to stay out of it.

But she said the movie made her think about being a leader to curb bullying. She said she will ask friends to join her.

Better routine

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Brandon eats a healthy snack at home and heads to a gym less than a mile from his house. He now goes to the gym four to five days a week, most of the time with his dad, Joe Steiper.

The staff remark how different he looks. Not just the weight loss. He’s standing taller.

He no longer eats lunch the school provides; his mom packs a lunch that includes a sandwich and fruit.

One of six children, Brandon is the only one in his family struggling with obesity. His younger brother, Kevin, who is 13, weighs 95 pounds.

Brandon was born a normal weight, but by the time he was 2, he was always bigger than other kids his age. The bigger he got, the more embarrassed he was to play sports. Until recently, he dreaded PE every day.

Now that he’s lost weight, Brandon has noticed the taunting has started to abate. It’s shifted to other big kids, he said.

Sometimes he tells them to “knock it off.”

Brandon no longer fears school and has started to think he might one day play football.

He also recently asked a girl at school to a movie. She said, “Yes.”

Excerpts from ‘The Fat Boy Chronicles’

Sunday 1-14

Lord of the Flies

I like the book, but kids from our class make oinking noises in the hall when they see me. Or yell, “Piggy! There goes Piggy! Get his glasses!” It makes me sick when they do that. None of the teachers hear them, so they never get in trouble. The kid who sits behind me in math wrote “Piggy” in pen on the back of my good shirt. My mom was really mad about it and wanted to go to the principal. I begged her not to. It would only make things worse.

I sent a note to Mr. L asking if I could move. He read it but didn’t do anything.

Tuesday 2-20

Please Don’t Read This Page

I finally told my dad about the soccer players and what they did to me. He was upset at first, but then told me to pray. He said to pray for Spencer, because he must feel pretty bad about what he did.

Dad told me God would help me through the rest of the year and that I must focus on what’s important, like family, my friends and grades. “You need to be strong Jimmy, and get on with your life. Focus on the things that matter and forget about the things that don’t. You’ll be fine son.”

I’m taking Dad’s advice. I’m focusing on my schoolwork and my youth group. ... And the Total Gym. And maybe Sable.