{"id":6537,"date":"2015-09-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-15T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=6537"},"modified":"2020-06-03T10:15:33","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T15:15:33","slug":"dumplin-by-julie-murphy-book-review-big-heart-big-boned-beauty-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=6537","title":{"rendered":"Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy (book review) – big heart, big-boned, beauty queen?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"book<\/a>Beauty pageants<\/a> are for Barbies,
\nOnly perfection allowed –
\nsays who?!<\/p>\n

Happy book birthday to Dumplin’<\/em> as Willowdean decides that the size of her heart matters more than the size of her thighs when pageant season arrives.<\/p>\n

Glad that the author finally made it to Texas herself, although breaking the name of our state flower<\/a> into two piece for the pageant title is dang near treasonous.<\/p>\n

Today is also “Sing It Out Day” – how appropriate! Dolly Parton<\/a>‘s 40 albums and self-acceptance inspire Willowdean to “go big or go home” – what inspires you?
\n**kmm<\/p>\n

Book info<\/strong>: Dumplin’ \/ Julie Murphy. Balzer + Bray, 2015.   [author site<\/a>]  [publisher site<\/a>]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.<\/p>\n

My book talk<\/strong>: A small Texas town beauty pageant gets a big shake-up as non-traditional contestants enter, led by sizeable and sassy Willowdean who’s ready for new things and her share of love.<\/p>\n

Mom relives her Miss Texas Blue Bonnet days each year, helping slim cheerleaders prepare for the pageant as her own daughter enjoys being fat and almost happy.<\/p>\n

Dumplin’ (oh, Mom, drop that nickname, please!) moons over handsome Bo at work and wonders if she’ll get stuck in this small town like recently deceased young Aunt Lucy whose size finally kept her housebound.<\/p>\n

Willowdean and Lucy loved Dolly Parton’s songs and self-acceptance, so when classmates say the pageant isn’t for her, the teen decides it’s time to challenge the system – and so do other not-gorgeous girls from school!<\/p>\n

Hone your talent? Time for a roadtrip to Aunt Lucy’s favorite music venue!
\nFind the perfect dress? Hello, vintage stores!
\nGet an escort for the pageant? Oh… maybe Bo?<\/p>\n

She’s not entering the pageant to piss off Mom, but this sassy sweetheart and her new friends have read all the rules and know it’s their right to try – in front of the whole town.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beauty pageants are for Barbies, Only perfection allowed – says who?! Happy book birthday to Dumplin’ as Willowdean decides that the size of her heart matters more than the size of her thighs when pageant season arrives. Glad that the author finally made it to Texas herself, although breaking the name of our state flower […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[90,22,7,4,11,45,20,16,196,18,44,46,43,187,39,27,49,86,15,9,21,73,35,3,173,6,8],"class_list":["post-6537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-abandonment","tag-behavior","tag-beliefs","tag-belonging","tag-communication","tag-competition","tag-conflict","tag-determination","tag-disability","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-funny","tag-growing-up","tag-lgbtq","tag-love","tag-medical","tag-memories","tag-music","tag-relationships","tag-school","tag-self-image","tag-summer","tag-surprises","tag-teens","tag-texas","tag-travel","tag-us-author"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6537"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11379,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6537\/revisions\/11379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}