Puddin'

Starred review from February 19, 2018
Clover City High School in Texas has a clear social hierarchy: football on top, dance team members next, then everyone else. Junior Millie Michalchuk, who also appeared in Murphy’s Dumplin’, may be a lifer at fat camp, but that doesn’t mean she buys into how the world sees her. Callie Reyes dates a football player and is on course to become dance team captain. The girls’ paths rarely cross. Then the dance team loses its funder, a gym owned by Millie’s uncle, and its members break in and trash the business. When a sulky Callie starts working at the gym, Millie models not just friendship and forgiveness, but also tough-love examples of how to treat people. Through the girls’ alternating perspectives, Murphy develops their aspirations and struggles: Millie isn’t sure how to pursue her dream of being a TV anchor; Mexican-American Callie experiences stereotyping and yearns for friends, not frenemies. Murphy convincingly and satisfyingly portrays how their one-step-forward-two-steps-back bonding process helps them go for what they want rather than what others think is possible. Ages 13–up. Agent: John M. Cusick, Folio Literary Management.

Narrator Erin Mallon's raspy timbre adds an edge to the humorous sarcasm of Millie Michalchuk, a returning character from Julie Murphy's debut novel, DUMPLIN'. Millie's view of herself as a fat girl diminishes her hopes for her future as a newscaster. But things change when she unexpectedly becomes friends with a popular girl named Callie. There's history between the two. Callie is the one girl Millie was able to identify of those who vandalized her uncle's gym. Kyla Garcia's portrayal of Callie also has shades of cynicism. Garcia captures Callie's initial tones of superiority and then adds notes of vulnerability when her arrest leads to disgrace. Both narrators provide believable renditions of how the girls' grudging acceptance of each other grows into mutual respect and support. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine