Pumpkin by Julie Murphy

 

Summary from Goodreads:

Waylon Russell Brewer is a fat, openly gay boy stuck in the small West Texas town of Clover City. His plan is to bide his time until he can graduate, move to Austin with his twin sister, Clementine, and finally go Full Waylon, so that he can live his Julie-the-hills-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music-Andrews truth.

So when Clementine deviates from their master plan right after Waylon gets dumped, he throws caution to the wind and creates an audition tape for his favorite TV drag show, Fiercest of Them All. What he doesn’t count on is the tape accidentally getting shared with the entire school. . . . As a result, Waylon is nominated for prom queen as a joke. Clem’s girlfriend, Hannah Perez, also receives a joke nomination for prom king.

Waylon and Hannah decide there’s only one thing to do: run—and leave high school with a bang. A very glittery bang. Along the way, Waylon discovers that there is a lot more to running for prom court than campaign posters and plastic crowns, especially when he has to spend so much time with the very cute and infuriating prom king nominee Tucker Watson.

Waylon will need to learn that the best plan for tomorrow is living for today . . . especially with the help of some fellow queens. . . .

Review:

I enjoyed reading this book. I usually fly through Julie Murphy novels, particularly the ones in this series. Her characters are just so relatable. And how can your heart not break for a kid who’s drag video accidentally gets seen by the whole school? And then he runs with it and goes for prom queen. I loved the premise. I loved Waylon. I related to everything he felt about being overweight too..

But, and there’s a “but” coming…I’m starting to feel like I’ve been reading the same story over and over again. I recently watched a very similar story on Netflix. And while a HUGE part of me is just mainly so excited that there is more representation out there, another part of me was hoping for a little bit of something new. Maybe I’m finally just getting past the point where I’m entertained by things that involve prom? Except I also just watched “He’s all That” and I was totally engrossed in it….I don’t know. I guess maybe I just wanted a little bit more from this author who I’ve come to totally respect and adore. I expected more.

I still did enjoy this book. I loved Waylon. I never fully loved any of the other characters (like I have in past Murphy novels). I never loved his twin or his crush that much. There were some things that baffled me that were never fully explained.  Why did their parents keep a certain secret? Why would Tucker keep a promise to an ex, and then pick prom night to make a big reveal to her (in front of everyone)?  And is it really believable that a teen would not have any plans yet made at this point?

I did love watching Waylon grow and come into himself as the book went on. I loved the support group seems and the projects the kids had to work on. It was more school work than you normally see in these books. I loved the drama, and the crushing. All in all, this was a quick fun read with drag moments, parties, dramatic prom reveals, and lots of things to cheer for. There wasn’t a lot of anything new, and there were some definite flaws. But, it was still fun to read. I give it an 8/10.