A free movie can be a great thing, especially when you get to sit in the comfortable movie theater chairs and look up at a very large screen. So the Monday, Jan. 16 showing of "The Fat Boy Chronicles" should be welcomed.

The YMCA is hosting the free, 4:30 p.m. screening at Studio Movie Grill, but you must RSVP by today, Friday, Jan. 13 for your family. Once the final credits play, families will discuss the problems of childhood obesity and how to deal with them.

"The Fat Boy Chronicles" is based on a book by Lang Buchanan. It was inspired by an obese 8th grader in Cincinnati. It views life through the journal of a bullied overweight ninth grader.

Lang Buchanan (Diane Lang and Michael Buchanan), authors of the book, began writing together during the University of Iowa’s Writer Workshops in the summer of 2000.