Dumplin... Can't wait to read the next one Puddin.... Here's why!

Dumplin by Julie Murphy
Free Choice
September 2015

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Dumplin is the nickname of a girl named Willowdean given by her mom who happens to be the winner of the Clover City Beauty queen of her time. Willow's mom is the person known around town as having it all together and runs the beauty paegent every year. Willowdean is an overweight teenager that struggles with her weight and the way she looks. She has a best friend named Ellen who is by her side through out life and all the ups and downs. The beautiful part about this story is the love of the relationship between Willowdean and her aunt who died years ago from a heart attack. Her name was Lucy who also suffered from being very large. As the story unfolds, Willowdean tries to stay her confident self with losing her best friend Ellen from wanting to be in the pageant to her love of her co worker Bo who really likes Willow but she doesn't believe it. In the end, Dumplin learns to love herself and love her mom through being  a part of her pageant world and finding that it is okay to love someone as handsome as Bo.
I would love to use this for my girls through her teen years and suggest them reading this to find the theme of this story. I loved this book and would have never thought about reading this as my first choice due to my love of biographies.

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