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    Dear Sweet Pea
    Dear Sweet Pea
    Dear Sweet Pea
    Audiobook6 hours

    Dear Sweet Pea

    Written by Julie Murphy

    Narrated by Phoebe Strole

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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 I?”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 1, 2019
    ISBN9780062965202
    Author

    Julie Murphy

    Julie Murphy lives in North Texas with her husband, who loves her, and her cats, who tolerate her. When Julie isn’t writing, she can be found watching movies so bad they're good, hunting for the perfect slice of cheese pizza, or planning her next great travel adventure. She is the author of the middle grade novels Dear Sweet Pea and Camp Sylvania as well as the young adult novels Ramona Blue, Side Effects May Vary, the Faith series, Pumpkin, Puddin’, and Dumplin’ (now a Netflix original film). You can visit Julie at imjuliemurphy.com.

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    Reviews for Dear Sweet Pea

    4/5

    87 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This was such a cute little heartwarming middle grade book ❤️
    • 4/5
      This book is something I could have done with when I was a young teen. I always felt really alone with being the only fat person that I know and reading about a fat girl who's life was more interesting than just her body would have changed things for me. I'm glad that kids now have this book. Another top tier read from Julie Murphy! Definitely is a middle-grade novel and it reads younger than her other young adult books.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      *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.
    • 4/5
      This charming story focuses on Sweet Pea, trying to adjust to her parents' recent divorce. Her parents decide to try to keep things as normal for her as possible and get a house for her dad and try to make it as close as possible to the family's house. This seems to just kick the problems down the road. Between the two houses lives the local eccentric, who also happens to be an advice columnist. She serves as a mentor/fairy godmother in some ways to Sweet Pea. Friendship drama abounds as Sweet Pea navigates the end of seventh grade and changing relationships.
    • 4/5
      The situation with the advice column didn’t seem all that plausible, still I love seeing characters of all ages featured in books, especially if it means generations intermingling so I did enjoy the interactions between Sweet Pea and Miss Flora Mae. In addition to generational representation, there’s an array of representation here as far as race, sexuality, and body type, too, none of which is delved into all that deeply since those things weren’t the main focus of the plot, nonetheless it’s good to see the world of books looking more and more like the actual world. Sweet Pea has a cute tongue-tied crush on a boy and I very much liked their moments especially where things left off with them, but it doesn’t play a huge part in the story, it should be noted for readers who don’t enjoy romance there really isn’t a romance here this centers much more on friendship and family. While I did feel like Sweet Pea’s issues with one friend resolved a little too easily given that friend’s unrelenting bullying, it seemed like maybe that character should have had to work a bit harder to make amends, still, I do think second chances and forgiveness are important concepts that seem to be put into practice less and less these days, so I was mostly good with how that worked out. Overall, the concerns in both of Sweet Pea’s friendships about growing and changing and taking each other for granted, it’s realistic stuff that pretty much everyone experiences at some point in their friendships. Scenes between Sweet Pea and her parents were easily my favorite in the book, so part of me wishes the story had taken place right when Sweet Pea first learned about the divorce and about her dad, when she and her parents would have been at their most emotional, but even some time removed from that moment, this kid is still dealing with a lot and her parents are still struggling with how to navigate this new iteration of their family and I thought Julie Murphy handled that with honesty and warmth.
    • 3/5
      Sweet Pea is a big fan of her neighbor Miss Flora Mae's advice column in the local newspaper. When Miss Flora Mae needs to leave town to take care of her ailing sister, she asks Sweet Pea to coordinate delivery of the letters between her and the editor. Sweet Pea ends up answering a couple of the letters herself, including one from her former best friend Kiera and another from her current best friend Oscar. The results are unexpected. Author Julie Murphy has a way with dialogue, a turn of phrase, and self-deprecating humor that makes Sweet Pea an appealing character.
    • 4/5
      Did you love Dumplin'?

      Me too!


      Patricia “Sweet Pea” DiMarco is having a bit of a rough year. Her parents are getting divorced, she's got friend drama in middle school and on top of all that she starts answering letters written to her neighbor's advice column. (without permission)

      Highlights:

      I'm a sucker for a cute cat and her cat Cheese and all his antics made me smile.

      I Love how hard her parents try to make things okay for her when they just can't fix the way things have to be now.
      Giggled at her parents' attempt to keep things "normal" by living in twin houses on the same street. Weird, yet endearing.

      This is a quick, easy read for the middle school reader in your world. As always, Julie models lots of body positivity and her characters have authentic reactions to their circumstances which is always awesome for this age of readers to see and hopefully emulate.

      Two thumbs way up! You'll have to wait a while for this one as right now I see the publish date as October 1, 2019.
    • 4/5
      This book was precious. Patricia (known to everyone as Sweet Pea) is having a rough end to seventh grade. Her parents are divorced and living on the same street in nearly identical houses. They're trying to be real chill about it, splitting their time with her; but it's making it more confusing for Sweet Pea. Why can't they just be together as a family? To make matters more confusing she's having mixed feelings about her frenemy Kiera (maybe she's not all that bad?) and her best friend Oscar is upset that she's not telling him everything. The thing is though, Sweet Pea made a promise to her neighbor (the advice columnist) to keep a secret but it may blow up in her face. Cute, charming, and dealing with lots of issues that middle school teens face: bullying, weight, divorce, friendship, and trying to fit in. The reason it's not a 5 star book to me, is that at times, Sweet Pea sounds far too mature for her age, sometimes her voice just seemed to be "too much" for her age and it lost it's believability factor. Other than that it was great!
    • 4/5
      Julie Murphy has written a realistic novel for middle school, Dear Sweet Pea. It's a time of a great deal of change for little Miss Sweet Pea!One change is her home life. Her parents are now divorced and her father moves only two doors down, which is handy, but..... She, obviously, doesn't want her parents to be divorced, but did he have to create almost the EXACT SAME HOUSE! There's so little difference that it's harder to change! Why didn't he just stay in their own house; after all, her parents could live like roommates. He hardly moved at all--location or style. The divorce has been very amicable as well, so--again--why move? Sweet Pea's logic seems sound based on these facts. Sweet Pea,however, becomes suspicious that her father is hiding information from her because he mentions mail from Connecticut. She fears that he's planning on moving there, so she chooses to not give him the mail. Sweet Pea's social life goes through some changes as well. Her best friend Oscar ALWAYS supports her. She supports him as well, but she becomes a bit distracted with life for a while which tests their friendship. Her enemy (her ex-bestfriend) treats her with disdain. These relationships are about to collide. Sweet Pea's neighbor is the advice columnist in the local paper. Miss Flora Mae has to leave for a short time and asks Sweet Pea to water her plants and play music for them. She also wants Sweet Pea to send the letters left by the editor to her. Sweet Pea is happy to do this for Miss Flora Mae. It's when she notices one letter and recognizes the handwriting. It's by her ex-bestfriend, Kiera. Sweet Pea sees her opportunity to get even. She writes back as Miss Flora Mae, but when Kiera is nice to her, Sweet Pea rushes to fix the mistake. She writes another letter that is actually good advice. Sweet Pea decides that she likes hanging out at Miss Flora Mae's house, reading letters and writing responses while listening to Aretha Franklin, drinking ginger ale, and wearing "bright red cat-eyed glasses." She has found her calling!Sweet Pea discovers that life isn't easy for anyone. She also finds out that bringing the "enemy" into her relationship with Oscar creates problems. Miss Flora Mae will also be returning soon. Her dad seems more and more anxious about that letter from Connecticut and her mom has started dating! What! She has secrets that will come out and friendships to repair and truths to accept as she grows up and learns more about herself, her friends, her neighbors, and her family.I thought this was a really cute novel with some hilarious parts that will make you cringe and pray you are never in her situation. It drove me crazy that she didn't give the mail to her father. Does she ever give the mail to him? I like her exuberance and energy and that she forgives. She generally isn't mean, but she does make some poor decisions that I wouldn't call particularly nice. They are definitely regrettable and cause her to grow. The message is to treat people, no matter what, with respect. There are also messages about size, for Sweet Pea is a larger girl and has trouble finding clothing that fits, but size is not the focus of the novel. Overall, it's a novel about change, growing up, accepting others, and finding your own path. It's worth one's time.
    • 4/5
      When Sweet Pea's eccentric old neighbor Miss Flora Mae goes on vacation, she leaves Sweet Pea in charge of handling her mail -- a very important task, since Miss Flora Mae is the town's advice columnist. Sweet Pea can't help peeking at some of the letters, but when she finds on from her ex-best-friend, she realizes she has a chance to exact revenge for the mean treatment she's experienced over the past year since her friend dumped her.This is a fun read, very much in line with Murphy's YA novels, but focused more on middle-grade concerns. Sweet Pea is a great character, as are her parents and friends. If you enjoy realistic middle-grade fiction, don't miss this one!