Although Puddin’ had been on my TBR list for a while, I did not even realize this sequel by Julie Murphy existed until I went searching for Puddin’ a month or two ago. Since my goal this year is to finish all the series I’ve started and abandoned, I decided that included this series, even though the books are only loosely connected to each other (you can read just one or two without feeling like you’re missing anything).
Like Dumplin’ and Puddin’, Pumpkin takes place in Clover City, about one year after the events of Puddin’. The main character, Waylon Brewer, is a redheaded, freckled, fat gay kid just trying to make it out of high school alive. He has a twin sister, Clementine (Clem), also a redhead, and also gay, but skinny. Clem is dating Hannah, who was a minor character in both Dumplin’ and Puddin’, but gets more page time in this book.
Waylon used to be friends with another gay kid in school, Kyle, until Kyle lost a bunch of weight and kept talking about his former fat self as something awful and disgusting that needed a “lifestyle makeover.” So Waylon has distanced himself from Kyle, although Kyle has no idea why.
When the book starts, Waylon has a thing going with a guy who works at the gas station who’s a little older than Wayon, but still in the closet, so their relationship is secret and purely physical. Waylon realizes he deserves better when his booty call starts talking about another guy at his school that he’s crushing on.
Then Waylon finds out that, despite having plans with his sister for the two of them to move to Austin together after high school, she applied to an engineering school in Georgia and will be going there instead, leaving Waylon to figure out what he wants on his own. Waylon isn’t sure what hurts more: that she changed plans, or that she didn’t tell him she changed plans, especially when it comes out that she told pretty much everyone but Waylon.
Stinging from multiple rejections, Waylon comes across a call for auditions for his favorite drag competition show, “Fiercest of Them All.” He records an audition video with no intention of sending it in, but he shows it to Clem, who shares it with one person (Kyle), and the next thing you know it’s all over school.
To be fair, Kyle had no intention of showing the video to the whole school. He meant to share it to a private Facebook group, accidentally posted it to his profile page, and the internet took it from there. He took it down once he realized his mistake, but you know how the internet is. It becomes just another reason for Waylon to dislike and mistrust Kyle.
When prom court nominations are announced, Waylon is surprised to find himself nominated for prom queen, and Hannah is equally surprised to find herself nominated for prom king. They both get called into the principal’s office because the principal wants to make sure the nominations were not intentional (watching adults struggle with changing gender identities throughout this book was pretty funny. All the good adults get points for trying, even if they don’t always get it right).
Hannah and Waylon both confirmed they did not put themselves forward for prom court, but when Hannah says, “Let’s do it anyway,” Waylon decides to join in.
Tucker Carlson is also nominated for prom king and he and Waylon get paired up to work on prom court projects together (one staff appreciation project and one legacy project to improve the school). Waylon is less than thrilled about this because he and Tucker were assigned a school project a few years ago and Tucker bailed, and then requested a new seat assignment when he was seated next to Waylon a few months later. In typical self-centered Waylon fashion, he assumes all this was about him and his gayness.
Turns out, not so much. Throughout the book, Waylon learns about some of the serious shit Tucker has been dealing with at home, as well as how Kyle’s fatphobic comments had more to do with his own self-loathing than anything else. Waylon learns that not everything is about him and that he’s been going through high school with a chip on his shoulder that has probably done him more harm than good.
At the beginning of the book, Waylon has no plans to go to prom, but by the time the night arrives, he and Hannah have been working so hard that they’ve come to really want their crowns. I won’t spoil who gets crowned at prom, but having seen a number of high school shows where the students act like being named prom queen (or homecoming queen) is the be-all end-all of their lives, I appreciated a YA book in which the characters gave it the weight it deserves and no more. Yes, the crown symbolizes acceptance from their peers, but there are a lot of other ways their peers (the ones who count anyway) show their love and support of their queer classmates. And, yes, dancing the night away with a plastic crown on your head is a great way to end your high school career, but they have their whole lives ahead of them, and they’re still figuring out who they are. Regardless of how prom goes, they know the best is yet to come.