Synopses & Reviews
Judy Lohden is your above-average sixteen-year-old—sarcastic and vulnerable, talented and uncertain, full of big dreams for a big future. With a singing voice that can shake an auditorium, she should be the star of Darcy Academy, the local performing arts high school. So why is a girl this promising hiding out in a seedy motel room on the edge of town?
The fact that the national media is on her trail after a controversy that might bring down the whole school could have something to do with it. And that scandal has something—but not everything—to do with the fact that Judy is three feet nine inches tall.
Rachel DeWoskin remembers everything about high school: the auditions (painful), the parents (hovering), the dissection projects (compelling), the friends (outcasts), the boys (crushable), and the girls (complicated), and she lays it all out with a wit and wistfulness that is half Holden Caulfield, half Lee Fiora, Preps ironic heroine. Big Girl Small is a scathingly funny and moving book about dreams and reality, at once light on its feet and unwaveringly serious.
Review
“The voice of Judy Lohden will ring in my head for weeks to come. A first page so funny and fierce I read it aloud to my teenagers—in public. Judy stuffs Holden Caulfield right back into his dusty museum case and shows us the rawness and the dark humor of todays coming-of-age experience. Judy Lohden speaks for all young people facing the unspeakable ignorance of others. Yet Rachel DeWoskin handles the story with the sensitivity of a scalpel and a humor that leaves the reader howling. I was delighted and moved.” —Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrews Last Stand
“Big Girl Small is the most engaging novel Ive read in many years. DeWoskin has aimed the book at all the pleasure centers: its sad, funny, quirkily suspenseful, and—most of all—beautiful. I cant imagine a more satisfying read. A book for anyone, anywhere, whos ever felt alien or different. That is, a book for everyone.” —Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng and More Than It Hurts You
“I loved reading Big Girl Small as much as I loved watching The Breakfast Club for the first time. Is Rachel DeWoskin our new John Hughes?” —Isabel Gillies, author of Happens Every Day
“This is what Rachel Dewoskin wants to know: how do you go on living in a world that exalts creativity yet stifles difference? DeWoskin describes exactly what high school kids are like: the smart ones, and the sensitive ones, and the okay ones, and the happy ones, and the fake ones, and the twisty artists, and the true talents, and in the middle of it all, her exuberant creation Judy Lohden—a stellar phenomenon growing like a poppy towards the sun. Witty, intuitive, and moving, Big Girl Small examines the crucial moment when we either listen to what the world says and stay small, or dare to sing out at the top of our lungs.” —Nicola Keegan, author of Swimming
“DeWoskin deftly captures the often vicious dynamics of adolescents, which mask their fragility, and creates in Judy an unforgettable character, one who is, by turns, sardonic and heartbreakingly vulnerable.” —Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist (starred review)
“DeWoskins daring third book takes on sexual politics, physical beauty, pity, and violence, and succeeds in giving readers a nuanced and provocative treatment without descending into pedantics or hysteria . . . Its a rare author who is willing to subject her protagonist to the extreme ranges of degradation and redemption to which DeWoskin subjects Judy; thankfully, she manages it beautifully.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“DeWoskin creates a compelling voice for Judy and performs neat literary magic, confronting the stereotypes of teen fiction even as she uses them to pull the readers heartstrings.” —Kirkus Reviews“The wisecracking 16-year-old dwarf at the center of DeWoskins darkly comic coming-of-age novel narrates a thoroughly modern tale of humiliation and resilience ... DeWoskin gives us an irresistible heroine—one who rises above misfortune with grit and grace.” —Marion Winik, More “As if adolescence isnt freaky enough, the charmingly sassy teen dwarf in Rachel DeWoskins Big Girl Small becomes the victim of a cruel and compromising prank.” —Vanity Fair “This wonderfully engaging novel captures the way adolescence renders ones own identity somehow unknowable, perhaps because ‘we contain various versions of ourselves, and high school is the time of maximum pressure to choose just one.” —Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe “Its worth the read to spend nine days with Judy as she hides out in the Manor Motel and reflects upon her life and events that propelled her into hiding and finds her way back into life, a little older and much wiser. The layering in of what it feels like to be seen as disabled gives an old story line new depth. Sure to appeal to fans of coming-of-age fiction and readers who enjoyed DeWoskins acclaimed memoir, Foreign Babes in Beijing, and her debut novel, Repeat After Me.” —Jan Blodgett, Davidson Coll. Lib., NC, Library Journal
Review
"Wonderfully engaging…captures the way adolescence renders ones own identity somehow unknowable, perhaps because ‘we contain various versions of ourselves, and high school is the time of maximum pressure to choose just one."---
The Boston Globe "Amusing, hypnotic...Like a contemporary version of The Wizard of Oz or its coming-of-age antecedent, Alice in Wonderland, Judys experiences of adolescence are exhilarating, terrifying, and almost uniformly surreal."---Time Out (New York)"Compelling...Big Girl Small brings back high school in raw, oozing detail, like a psychic skinned knee."---Maureen Corrigan, NPRs Fresh Air"A fine novel…The desire to find out precisely what [happened to Judy] will keep you reading as fast as you can."---The Dallas Morning News "The most engaging novel Ive read in many years…Its sad, funny, quirkily suspenseful, and---most of all---beautiful. I cant imagine a more satisfying read….A book for everyone."---Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng and More Than It Hurts You
Synopsis
Judy Lohden is your above-average sixteen-year-old, with a voice that can shake an auditorium. She should be the star of Darcy Arts Academy, so why is she hiding in a seedy motel room? Perhaps it has something to do with a devastating scandal---and the fact that Judy is three feet nine inches tall. Big Girl Small is a scathingly funny book about dreams and reality, at once light on its feet and profound.
About the Author
Rachel DeWoskin is the author of Foreign Babes in Beijing, a memoir about her inadvertent notoriety as the star of a Chinese soap opera, and a novel, Repeat After Me. She lives in New York City and Beijing and is at work on her fourth book, Statutory.
Reading Group Guide
1. Discuss Judys attitude about life as an LP? Did her attitude surprise you? Have you ever personally known an LP?
2. Judy comes to the conclusion that “suffering isnt relative.” What does this mean to you, and do you agree?
3. Is Judy a reliable narrator? In what ways might her perception of reality be slightly distorted? What do you make of her assessment of Kyle, before and after his actions are revealed?
4. Judy faces many adolescent hardships throughout the novel, but also the thrill of many “firsts”. Is Judy perhaps afraid to grow up? What do you make of Sarahs assertion that the brain becomes less “exuberant” in adulthood?
5. When Judy hears that Ginger may have spread a nasty rumor, she muses: “Can you really define a whole person by one cruel thing she does?” What do you think?
6. Ginger is an enigmatic character, she defies categorization. Why do you think Sarah and Judys mother dislike her? How do you feel about her, did she ultimately surprising you?
7. Does Judys musical talent draw attention away from her physical stature? Along those lines, why is there such a difference between feeling different and feeling special?
8. Sarah is incredibly loyal to Judy, even though Judy does not always appreciate it. Have you ever had a friend like that, or ever been a friend like that to someone?
9. Judy never discovers who initiated the scandalous videotaping, nor who was responsible for leaking it. Would you want to know if you were in the same situation? Would you have prosecuted?
10. How do you think Judys family handled the scandal and its fall-out? Which part of it do you think was the most difficult for them?
11. How do lessons from Ms. Domans English class help Judy to cope with her experience?
12. What makes Bill such an ideal friend for Judy at the motel?