You and Me and Him

May 4, 2015
By junior year Maggie is resigned to being the overweight girl who will never be an A-lister. But she doesn’t dwell on it (“I don’t sit alone in my bedroom playing Billie Holiday albums while drowning my sorrows in a carton of ice cream. Okay, once—maybe twice—a year, but not every weekend” she says as the book opens), and she has a great job at a record store. She also has a faithful best friend in Nash, who shares her taste in “teachers, music, art, literature, and boys.” Conflicts emerge when “new guy” Tom enters the scene, making Maggie’s and Nash’s hearts flutter. Maggie wants to stay loyal to Nash, but is it too much of a sacrifice? In this compassionate first novel, Dinnison adeptly portrays the rising and falling hopes within an unconventional love triangle. Maggie suffers some tough blows, causing her to take a hard look at herself and question the stereotyped image of a “fat” girl created by other people. Readers will follow her eagerly as she finds her voice and identity. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency.