Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

After finishing Dumplin', I felt like my normally nonexistent Texas accent was just a little stronger.  I might have started droppin' some gs from the ends of words and speakin' just a little more slowly.   From the nuances of small-town Texas life, to our obnoxious Homecoming traditions of mums so big they're liable to swallow you whole, to the unspoken serenity that comes with settlin' down on a hot day with a large glass of iced tea, author Julie Murphy gets it right.  She also gets right the creation of her main character, the overweight Willowdean Dickson, whose outward confidence masks deep insecurities. 

Willowdean is a Dolly Parton-loving high schooler, still reeling a year later from the death of her beloved aunt.  Her mother heads up the annual Texas Blue Bonnet Beauty Pageant, something Willowdean has always stayed as far away from as possible.  However, hurt that her mother has never once suggested that Willowdean might consider entering the pageant, she decides on a whim to enter.  What she doesn't expect is for her best friend and three other girls (who all suffer ridicule from their classmates for various reasons) to sign up as well.

Let me just say here y'all: I love to hate me some beauty pageants.  I think they are, really, The Worst.  But I would LOVE for a girl like Willowdean to show up just once, curves and all.  People throughout the book tell Willowdean that she's brave for entering the pageant.  "I don't want it to be brave," she says.  "I just want it to be normal."

Added to the mix are a couple of scenes where Willowdean and her oddball fellow contestants seek pageant tips from a local drag queen (a plot twist that is funny and sweet, but also a bit unrealistic.  I mean, out of the middle of west Texas is a gay bar that just happens to put on a Dolly Parton drag show?  Sure...). 

So much of Willowdean's journey was authentic and should resonate with teen readers.  Although mostly comfortable in her own skin, she still feels insecure about her body when it comes to boys and intimacy.  Even when presented with the chance to have it all with the boy she really likes, Willowdean nearly throws it all away because she can't imagine going to school every day and facing the other students.  Because no one would ever believe that a hot guy like that would possibly go for a girl like her, right?

Dumplin's a winner.  Toss your head back and throw your arms to the sky for this one.