Pumpkin

By: Julie Murphy

Narrated by: Chad Burris

Return to the beloved world of Julie Murphy’s number one New York Times best-selling Dumplin’ - now a popular Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Aniston - in this fabulously joyful, final companion novel about drag, prom, and embracing your inner Queen. This audio edition is performed by Chad Burris (Broadway’s Mean Girls, Frozen, and The Book of Mormon).

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 getting accidentally 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....

©2021 Julie Murphy (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Wonderful!

I loved this book and the narrator so much that I finished it in one day 👑 yas!

Sweet, light story

In the vein of Dumplin', Pumpkin has a lighthearted, well-paced story. It's straightforward (lol, straight), but worth a multitasking listen.

Fun and uplifting story

Pumpkin is a fun, uplifting and light-hearted story that weaves in some important themes like body image. It's such a pleasure to read an LGBTQ+ story that makes you smile. The narration was great too!

Modern Look at High School

I liked all the characters and their families. I enjoyed learning what the characters were thinking to themselves and their ability to communicate.

Great voice acting, fun story!

I loved listening to this book because it flowed so well. It's like a friend giving you a life update over lunch, the story was entertaining and the acting made it perfect. I'd love to see the narrator in a film because it worked so well. Really sweet story and great ending.

Authentic, Diverse, & Inclusive

The perfect body positive, LGBTQIA-affirming, feel-good read. As with every book in this series Murphy explores deep themes and emotions with rich characters and a fast-paced story that kept me reading. Well-written and authentic.

I love Pumpkin.

This story was absolutely adorable, and now my favorite in the series. I loved getting to hear more about Willowdean and no, and especially Hannah. But Pumpkin stole the show, and he had every right to since this was his story. I hope this series continues!

Wonderful!

This was really wonderful- I loved everything about it! Wayland is awesome, I adore him and enjoyed his journey of self-discovery.
I loved all the representation and how a seemingly random group of students ended up becoming such good friends.

Chad Burris's performance of Wayland was great, definitely age appropriate sounding and I appreciated that so much. Some of the secondary voices weren't easily distinguishable, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the narration. I will be checking to see what other books this narrator has done, for sure!

Well done, Julie Murphy

Sensitive and poignant treatment of a young man who dreams of becoming a drag queen. Murphy brings her characters to life in a way that makes you feel you know them and what to be on their team. Waylen shines as a struggling gay teenager trying to find his way without depending on anyone but himself. Though he has the unwavering support of his family, he finally realizes he needs to break free of being dependent on his twin sister. They both navigate trying to be free of each other while redefining their relationship into something deeper and more meaningful.

Mixed Feelings

I wish this sweet, simple teenage story did not revolve around how the main character experiences every aspect of his life through his fatness. I wish it were just an incidental aspect of his existence, like his eye color or left-handedness. But our society won't let that happen for fat people, who are reminded every moment of people's pathologizing judgments about the body.