ContemporaryAThon: read a book with a peach-coloured cover.


content warnings: fatphobia, homophobia, vomitting
representation: fat protagonist, Mexican main and side characters, gay main character, Black main and side characters, wlw side character, Chinese side character


I need Julie Murphy to know that I love her and would die for her prickly female protagonists. This is the second book I've read of hers (though I have seen the film adaptation of Dumplin') and this one was also a complete slam dunk with me!

This book follows thirteen year-old Sweet Pea as she approaches the end of seventh grade. After her dad came out as gay her parents got divorced and her dad is finally moving into a new house, which happens to be only one house away from where Sweet Pea's mum still lives. While trying to adjust to her new living situation, Miss Flora Mae, the town eccentric/advice columnist, entrusts Sweet Pea with helping her with her advice column while she's off to see her sister.

As I said, I adore Julie Murphy's prickly female protagonist, and Sweet Pea is no difference. She does things that will make you tear your hair out and scream "WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?", but all of her actions are incredibly understandable. She's a thirteen year-old who's dealing with lots of confusing things in her life and she feels like she can't really talk to anyone about it. She also feels so bad for doing mean things after she does them, and it's hard not to immediately forgive her.

As with all her other books, Julie Murphy sprinkles in some important discussions throughout this, too. Sweet Pea is fat and has grown up feeling mostly comfortable in her own skin because of the support of her parents, but those little insecurities are still there and they're heartbreaking to read about (one scene in particular where she describes being in 3rd grade and all the girls comparing their stomachs made me nearly start crying). With Sweet Pea's dad being gay, there's also discussions of homophobia in their town, highlighted with the discussions around him and one of his old friends who hasn't accepted him.

This book in general just has great diversity throughout. Most of the main characters in Sweet Pea's class are people of colour, their teacher is queer and has a wife, one of the other girls is also fat, and Sweet Pea thinks her best friend, Oscar, might like boys. All of this is extremely casual, even when it's used to further a larger discussion, and I love that Julie Murphy was able to incorporate her usual themes into a book written for a different age range.

I think people underestimate how hard it is to write for a different age range than you're used to, and Julie Murphy does it pretty expertly here. Her writing style never feels pandering, just simplified and clearly from the eyes of a younger girl. Something I think is especially impressive is how funny this is. A lot of authors, but especially YA/Adult authors, really struggle with making middle grade funny because they don't really seem to understand the sense of humour that pre-teens have, but Julie Murphy nails the dorky sincerity of thirteen year-olds making jokes.

This was extremely short and sweet, and I adored it. Julie Murphy's middle grade debut is an absolute success, and I now want to force this into the hands of every child I know.