Dumplin' by Murphy,Julie
Dear Reader:
Willowdean Dickson is one of the most fearless and unforgettable teen protagonists you will ever meet.
Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body.
Her response to a bully? Let’s just say, he is incapable of speaking at the moment. . . .
Reading this book is like falling in love all over again. It’s being up all night talking with your best friend, who completely and utterly gets you. It’s sitting in a pickup truck with a boy under a starry Texas sky. It’s belting out “Jolene” onstage in front of a huge crowd.
Julie Murphy’s first book was the acclaimed Side Effects May Vary. What she’s done now is what every editor dreams of: she has taken her already remarkable talent to a whole new stratosphere with this novel. There are the textured, beautifully nuanced characters; a group of underdogs you’ll root and cry for; poignant, real friendships; an evocative sense of place; goose bump–inducing romantic chemistry; a flawed, incredibly moving mother/daughter relationship; and perhaps best of all, a message about loving yourself at any size.
I have yet to meet anyone who has read this book who hasn’t declared their love for it. I hope you’ll join the growing number of Dumplin’ fans and help us spread the word about this bighearted, captivating novel. I recommend putting on Dolly Parton, pouring yourself a cold glass of iced tea, and settling in for one of the best novels you’ll read all year.
Yours,
Alessandra Balzer Vice President, Co-Publisher Balzer + Bray
DEDICATION
For all the fat bottomed girls.
Find out who you are and do it on purpose.
—Dolly Parton
ONE
All the best things in my life have started with a Dolly Parton song. Including my friendship with Ellen Dryver.
The song that sealed the deal was “Dumb Blonde” from her 1967 debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly. During the summer before first grade, my aunt Lucy bonded with Mrs. Dryver over their mutual devotion to Dolly. While they sipped sweet tea in the dining room, Ellen and I would sit on the couch watching cartoons, unsure what to make of each other. But then one afternoon that song came on over Mrs. Dryver’s stereo. Ellen tapped her foot as I hummed along, and before Dolly had even hit the chorus, we were spinning in circles and singing at the top of our lungs. Thankfully, our love for each other and Dolly turned out to run deeper than one song.
I wait for Ellen in front of her boyfriend’s Jeep as the sun pushes my feet further into the hot blacktop of the school parking lot. Trying not to cringe, I watch as she skips through the exit, weaving in and out of after-school traffic.
El is everything I am not. Tall, blond, and with this impossible goofy yet sexy paradox going on that only seems to exist in romantic comedies. She’s always been at home in her own skin.
I can’t see Tim, her boyfriend, but I have no doubt that he’s a few steps behind her with his nose in his cell phone as he catches up on all the games he’s missed during school.
The first thing I ever noticed about Tim was that he was at least three inches shorter than El, but she never gave a shit. When I mentioned their vertical differential, she smiled, the blush in her cheeks spreading to her neck, and said, “Yeah, it’s kinda cute, isn’t it?”
El skids to a stop in front of me, panting. “You’re working tonight, right?”
I clear my throat. “Yeah.”
“It’s never too late to find a summer job working at the mall, Will.” She leans against the Jeep, and nudges me with her shoulder. “With me.”
I shake my head. “I like it at Harpy’s.”
A huge truck on lifts speeds down the lane in front of us toward the exit.
“Tim!” yells Ellen.
He stops in his tracks and waves at us as the truck brushes right past him, only inches from flattening him into roadkill.