Skip to main content

YA Lit.: Dumplin' Part 2



This past weekend, I was eager to curl up with some hot chocolate and finish the last few chapters of Julie Murphy's Dumplin'. Since my last post about the novel, some serious drama had developed in all aspects of Willowdean's life, and I was curious to find out how Murphy would resolve the different conflicts her protagonist faced. As I closed the back cover, I admit I was happier with the book's ending than I had originally thought I would be. However, while the story was heart-warming and humorous, there were less reasons to recommend the book for classroom use than there were to offer it as a casual read outside of school.

While Murphy is able to deliver her narrative in a way that resembles a typical teen's thinking and speech, I found several places in the novel that lacked depth and insight from Willowdean. Murphy tries to balance a lot of concepts in one storyline: friendships, relationships, loss, self-image, homosexuality, family life, and community, just to name a few. The presence of these concepts in the story is not enough, however, to paint a realistic picture of an adolescent's struggle in trying to find their place within them. Furthermore, Murphy's protagonist does little beyond acknowledging the factors in her life causing significant stress, undercutting the themes which would otherwise portray Willowdean in a more realistic light. I am tempted to say that Murphy tried to balance too many concepts that universally impact teens, posing a lot of societal questions without offering a lot of insight or answers.

And then, there is Bo. I had so much hope that Bo would redeem the realistic portrayal of troubled teens, but the reader is still left wondering What's up with the love interest?  at the end of the book. Mysterious and somewhat aggressive, Bo tells Willowdean very little about his past; he was a jerk to his friends, especially his ex-girlfriend, which left me wondering whether or not his pursuit of Willowdean is really just an act of charity for personal redemption. The interactions between several of the characters, particularly Bo and Willowdean, seem to defy societal norms in ways that adolescents would strategically avoid. During a time in development when social connections are so important, adolescents thrive on peer acceptance and comfortably fitting into established norms. While bold and inspiring, I do not think Willowdean's quest is one many teens would embark on.

Dumplin' provides the reader with a witty narrative of an adolescent's battles with self-love. Light and fun to read, I thought the social concepts Murphy incorporated (however briefly) were essential to the reader's ability to relate to her characters. However, the lack of depth and involvement with the social concepts and norms mentioned in the story made it hard to become invested in the characters, their struggles, and their growth. While an enjoyable read for its overarching plot and humor, I would not recommend Dumplin' for classroom use because of its surface level examination of problems students would benefit from the deeper analysis and emotional processing of.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teaching Alternatives: Book Reports

As a part of my elementary school's annual community-building program, students in all grades (which, for us, meant Kindergarten through 5th Grade) were asked to read the same short novel at home. Now, I know that sounds odd, considering the average kindergartener is likely at a lower reading level than the average fifth grader. However, with the option to have your parent or guardian read the story with you at home, I assure you that I was able to make it through some higher level reading with little trouble. By participating in year-round activities as a whole school, students were able to relate to each other across grade levels, all because they had read the same book and had followed the same characters. I will never forget how excited I was when I won a dictionary (Yes, a dictionary... I'd be less excited now, too) for answering the most trivia questions correctly about The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs . Though, if I had one complaint about the school- wide
1 comment
Read more

Place-Based Learning: Museums and the Importance of Physical Space in Middle School Education

Before there were formalized schools, there were living rooms, church halls, back steps, battlefields, and the great outdoors. Education came in all shapes and sizes, from the modern understanding of “traditional” study through the analysis of past writings and artifacts to the natural signals one learned to recognize on the farm before an approaching storm. Students were not just young people hunched over a book shielded from the world behind brick walls. They were citizens learning how to manage a family business, reading and printing newspapers, planting seeds, plowing land, and striving to better prepare themselves for the future, whatever it held for them. Today’s students aim to do the same. Yet their education seems to have restricted itself to the boundaries of school property, or perhaps it occasionally wanders beyond county lines. What happened to learning about your environment— and all the life that lived and lives within it— by experiencing everything it has to offer fir
7 comments
Read more

Troublemakers, by Carla Shalaby

Out of any word in the English language, I think I am most intimidated by “power.” It is full of contradictions: Power provokes a sense of accomplishment while implying the achievement and maintenance of power requires competition, hierarchy, and domination. Power is given and taken easily, and it yields to external factors beyond its control. Some people fear power, others are generous with it, and still more meet their doom when pride becomes its companion. Power allows for advancement. It provides a sense of order and control, but it can also create and fuel chaos. Individuals, groups, small islands, and large nations all possess a certain degree of power. As a future educator, the environment of my classroom will depend entirely on how I and my students handle the power we are given in our teacher-student relationships. More importantly, my power as a potential change-maker in their lives— through traditional lessons, personal relationships, worldly guidance, and honest compassion
4 comments
Read more