Dear Sweet Pea (2019)

by Julie Murphy

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Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
205	15	133,304	(3.88)	10
Juvenile Fiction. Juvenile Literature. HTML: The first middle grade novel from Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin' (now a popular Netflix film), is a funny, heartwarming story perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead, Ali Benjamin, and Holly Goldberg Sloan. Patricia "Sweet Pea" DiMarco wasn't sure what to expect when her parents announced they were getting a divorce. She never could have imagined that they would have the "brilliant" idea of living in nearly identical houses on the same street. In the one house between them lives their eccentric neighbor Miss Flora Mae, the famed local advice columnist behind "Miss Flora Mae I?" Dividing her time between two homes is not easy. And it doesn't help that at school, Sweet Pea is now sitting right next to her ex�??best friend, Kiera, a daily reminder of the friendship that once was. Things might be unbearable if Sweet Pea didn't have Oscar�??her new best friend�??and her fifteen-pound cat, Cheese. Then one day Flora leaves for a trip and asks Sweet Pea to forward her the letters for the column. And Sweet Pea happens to recognize the handwriting on one of the envelopes. What she decides to do with that letter sets off a chain of events that will forever change the lives of Sweet Pea DiMarco, her family, and many of the readers of "Miss Flora Mae… (more)

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Story: the experience of being split between friends old and new
Diversity of experience: Gay father, fat positive family, multiracial friends.
Friends: Best friend a boy, older next door neighbor, cat, old best friend had split years before.
Family relationships: divorced parents. Loving, friendly relationships. Some sass, based on tumultous feelings re: divorce
embarrassment: barfing at a crashed birthday party
Sad: divorce. (

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mslibrarynerd | Jan 13, 2024 |

Oh, well done, Julie Murphy. Well done. What a great tale of how challenging friendships can be and how we all make mistakes at the most basic level. Loved the letter writing aspect of this especially. (

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whakaora | Mar 5, 2023 |

Such a shame. She writes good stories but as soon as she wrote about Sweet Pea's mom taking her anger out on innocent store people, who have no control over inventory lost me. Sweet Pea shouldn't be a size 18 anyways, and her mom saying "You have only one body" is funny because you think you would like to take care of it.

Yes, I use to be obese by the way. Childhood obesity SUCKS and should be considered child abuse and not because of stupid politics. (

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Summer345456 | Jan 25, 2023 |

Man, growing up as a fat kid in Texas -- that was me, with no hope of fitting into Junior department clothing or finding things that didn't read as frumpy grandma. I love this version, though, where her family is divorcing but caring deeply for each other, and where Sweet Pea is surrounded by friend, frenemy, family, a gay dad and an advice writing next door neighbor. It's quirky, kind, and doesn't pull punched about what is needed to be a true friend. This is a great book. (

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jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |

*reviewed from uncorrected ARC*

diverse children's middlegrade fiction (7th grade girl with different body type deals with school and changes in her life with amicably divorced parents and other responsibilities and decisions; her dad is gay and her BFF may be queer)
sweetly told story of a young tween/teen trying to do the right thing and making a few mistakes as well. Loved it, and will definitely recommend. (

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reader1009 | Jul 3, 2021 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Julie Murphy	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Strole, Phoebe	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Awards

Notable Lists

The Best Children's Books of the Year (2020)

Evanston Public Library 101 Great Books for Kids (Fiction – 2019)

Texas Lone Star Reading List (2020)

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2019

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Texas, USA

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Balzer, Alessandra

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Juvenile Fiction. Juvenile Literature. HTML:

The first middle grade novel from Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin' (now a popular Netflix film), is a funny, heartwarming story perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead, Ali Benjamin, and Holly Goldberg Sloan.

Patricia "Sweet Pea" DiMarco wasn't sure what to expect when her parents announced they were getting a divorce. She never could have imagined that they would have the "brilliant" idea of living in nearly identical houses on the same street. In the one house between them lives their eccentric neighbor Miss Flora Mae, the famed local advice columnist behind "Miss Flora Mae I?"

Dividing her time between two homes is not easy. And it doesn't help that at school, Sweet Pea is now sitting right next to her ex�??best friend, Kiera, a daily reminder of the friendship that once was. Things might be unbearable if Sweet Pea didn't have Oscar�??her new best friend�??and her fifteen-pound cat, Cheese.

Then one day Flora leaves for a trip and asks Sweet Pea to forward her the letters for the column. And Sweet Pea happens to recognize the handwriting on one of the envelopes.

What she decides to do with that letter sets off a chain of events that will forever change the lives of Sweet Pea DiMarco, her family, and many of the readers of "Miss Flora Mae

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