Pumpkin

Cute, queer, prom story. WillowDean and the crew from Dumplin' are tertiary characters, so you get a few updates on their stories. Everyone gets their romantic happy ending, there's a little intro to drag, and the hardship stakes are very low, so read if you want a sweet little teen uplift.

yess I was stoked to get an ARC of this! I love Julie Murphy's funny, warmhearted, fat-positive books. I love that this opens with Waylon's love of a clear analogue of RuPaul's Drag Race and a clear call-out of RuPaul's ongoing fatphobia (among other issues). That show is popular with a lot of teens (LGBTQ+ and otherwise) who I think will love reading about it and relate to Waylon's feelings about it. I also love that it shows teen ambivalence toward college and acknowledges that that doesn't need to be the path for everyone. It just rang true to a lot of Big Feelings that high school seniors particularly face, but plus also cute prom romance and elder drag queens mentoring queer youth.

Just an overall delightful spot of joy in my reading week!