QBR: Pumpkin by Julie Murphy

Queer Book Review #5

Today’s queer book review is for Pumpkin by Julie Murphy.

Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction

CWs: Homophobia; alcoholism; bullying; body image issues; internalized fatphobia

Queer rep: Fat, gay MC and many queer side characters

Summary: If you read Julie Murphy’s Dumplin’ (or watched the movie), Pumpkin is the third book set in that universe. At the center of the narrative is Waylon Russell Brewer: a fat, gay, teen boy obsessed with drag who is counting down the days until he and his twin sister Clementine graduate from high school in their small West Texas town and move to Austin together. When Clementine changes her mind about moving to the Texas capital, Waylon decides to create an audition tape for his favorite drag competition show. Unfortunately, the video gets shared with the whole school, which leads to Waylon getting nominated for prom queen as a cruel joke. To show his classmates the joke’s on them, Waylon decides to stay in the running for prom court and has to figure out his future—including his feelings for prom king nominee Tucker Watson—along the way.