Occasionally, this seventeen-year-old girl’s speech sounds like it was pulled directly off of social justice Twitter, such as checking her privilege because she’s white and Callie is half Mexican-American. Yet, I felt like Millie was presented as too “woke” in some places. It makes a difference to readers when people are represented accurately. Both fit well with their characters, and I was pleased that the publisher found a Latina voice narrator to play Callie Reyes. Callie’s narrator is brash, speaking with confidence and emphasizing words the way know-it-all popular girls do. Millie’s narrator has a nervous but determined delivery, which fit with Millie’s meticulous, organized personality. My husband and I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by two women: Erin Mallon (voice of Millie) and Kyla Garcia (voice of Callie).
Callie’s punishment is she’s kicked off the dance team and must pay her debt to the business by working there for free.
Millie is able to identify one person in the video - Callie - thanks to a one-of-a-kind necklace Callie was wearing. Millie’s uncle owns that business, and when she gets to work the next morning and finds the place trashed, she calls the police. When the dance team’s only sponsor pulls funding because the business is struggling, Callie and the team vandalize the business to get revenge. Callie is a member of the high school dance team, a team that wins championships but is financially neglected in favor of the always-losing football team. Yes, Callie, the “horrible human” who stole Willowdean’s best friend in Dumplin’. The chapters alternate between Millie Michaelchuck and Callie Reyes (though Callie’s chapters are always longer). Another fat girl and one of my favorite characters in Dumplin’, the focus is now Millie Michalchuck. However, Puddin’ takes place after the end of Dumplin’ and we’ve switched narrators.
It was my impression that a companion novel is one in which we get the same time period from a different perspective. I’ve heard Puddin’ by Julie Murphy described as a companion novel to Dumplin’.
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