From Publishers Weekly
Thirteen-year-old Peter Paddington suffers through a year of eighth grade in this entertaining debut novel, set in Sarnia, Canada, in 1984. In some ways Peter is an average awkward teenager—hair sprouting in unexpected places, a lack of friends, curiosity about religion. But in other ways he's different—he weighs 204 pounds, and swollen nipples ("two small cherries") have just surfaced on his doughy chest. Soon these nipples take on a life of their own, actually speaking to Peter and giving him unsolicited advice. A vividly drawn dysfunctional family fills out the novel's landscape; most of this dysfunction revolves around food and weight and Peter's menopausal, smothering mother, Beth. Peter's long-suffering father, Henry, works a factory job in Chemical Valley, his thin sister Christine does her best not to associate with her family, his sister Nancy dumps her fat boyfriend to discover her "new" self, and his Uncle Ed is an overweight, closeted homosexual. The fluid, lively narrative is punctuated with a series of "Bedtime Movies," fantasies in which Peter is loved, popular and famous, propelled out of his fat, sad existence. Despite its fantastical twists, the novel hews closely to familiar coming-of-age formulas, but its hapless narrator is a winning hero. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
"How was I going to make it without anyone finding out my terrible secret?" Peter knows there are plenty of things wrong with his body. He is planning to start his diet any day so that he will be thin and normal by high school. But it's his deformed nipples, suddenly big and swollen as two cherries, that really scare him. He tries to strap them down. He even goes Catholic for a while and prays to the Virgin in his closet to shrink them--and to make the most gorgeous guy in his class give him a call. The time is 1984, but the dream of being "normal" is universal. Both hilarious and gentle, the young teen's voice is pitch-perfect, capturing not only his self-obsession and bedtime fantasies about being Brooke Shields in a shiny pink dress but also his family problems and his generous friendship with the foul-mouthed girl across the street. Without a didactic word, this first novel tells a funny, honest gay coming-of-age story about a boy who finally confronts his secret self. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review from Discover Great New Writers
In this wry coming-of-age story, 13-year-old Peter Paddington, overweight and under-loved, is faced with a most embarrassing situation: his nipples have swelled to female proportions, forcing him to duct-tape them into submission. In addition, the hated nipples have begun speaking to him, threatening to lay bare his most shameful secrets before the cruel scrutiny of his junior-high classmates, from whom he already feels alienated.

Life at home isn't so great, either. Peter's mother encourages his deplorable eating habits, and his two sisters shrug him off as the socially inept teenager he seems ever more certain to become. His primary solace comes at night, when "The Bedtime Movies," comforting adolescent and hormone-induced fantasies, soothe him to sleep.

Bright and insightful, Peter manages to form a life plan -- to lose lots of weight and find a "boy friend" to replace his tempestuous alliance with a precociously foul-mouthed Italian girl, Daniela, who conveniently lives next door. But Peter's kindhearted efforts to help the wayward Daniela illustrate his ability to be a true friend to those willing to accept him.

First-time novelist Francis displays his skill as a writer who has managed to craft Peter's touching plight into a laugh-out-loud story of endurance, spirit, and hope. (Holiday 2004 Selection)

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