In Dear Sweet Pea--Julie Murphy's first middle-grade endeavor following her acclaimed young adult novels Dumplin' and Puddin'--Murphy introduces the lucky reading world to 13-year-old Patricia "Sweet Pea" DiMarco. Sweet Pea's loving parents have recently decided to make their brand-new divorce easier on their daughter by choosing to live on the same street, in almost identical homes, with only one house separating them. Her therapist mother calls this situation "mindful division." Sweet Pea calls it a "twinning-parent-freak-show." So, when her eccentric in-between neighbor, the local advice columnist Miss Flora Mae, asks Sweet Pea to forward her correspondence while she's away for a couple weeks, then to send her returning responses to the newspaper editor, Sweet Pea is happy for the distraction. What she does not anticipate is the temptation to respond to the letters herself, especially after recognizing the handwriting of her ex-best friend/now nemesis, Kiera. What ensues is what you might expect when a seventh grader secretly takes over (a portion of) the town's advice column. Sweet Pea finds herself sinking under the weight of her ever-expanding deceptions. Soon everyone in town, including her current best friend Oscar, has become inadvertent victims--and occasional beneficiaries--of her mess of secrets.
Anyone whose parents' divorce has made them want to take their cat and "slink away into a cave" will understand how Sweet Pea finds herself doing things she might never otherwise do. But they'll also appreciate being by her side as she learns that "sometimes seeing something from a distance or from a different point of view is all it takes to figure out what you should have seen all along." --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor