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Slider
Competitive eating vies with family expectations in a funny, heartfelt novel for middle-grade readers by National Book Award winner Pete Hautman.
David can eat an entire sixteen-inch pepperoni pizza in four minutes and thirty-six seconds. Not bad. But he knows he can do better. In fact, he'll have to do better: he's going to compete in the Super Pigorino Bowl, the world's greatest pizza-eating contest, and he has to win it, because he borrowed his mom's credit card and accidentally spent $2,000 on it. So he really needs that prize money. Like, yesterday. As if training to be a competitive eater weren't enough, he's also got to keep an eye on his little brother, Mal (who, if the family believed in labels, would be labeled autistic, but they don't, so they just label him Mal). And don't even get started on the new weirdness going on between his two best friends, Cyn and HeyMan. Master talent Pete Hautman has cooked up a rich narrative shot through with equal parts humor and tenderness, and the result is a middle-grade novel too delicious to put down.
David can eat an entire sixteen-inch pepperoni pizza in four minutes and thirty-six seconds. Not bad. But he knows he can do better. In fact, he'll have to do better: he's going to compete in the Super Pigorino Bowl, the world's greatest pizza-eating contest, and he has to win it, because he borrowed his mom's credit card and accidentally spent $2,000 on it. So he really needs that prize money. Like, yesterday. As if training to be a competitive eater weren't enough, he's also got to keep an eye on his little brother, Mal (who, if the family believed in labels, would be labeled autistic, but they don't, so they just label him Mal). And don't even get started on the new weirdness going on between his two best friends, Cyn and HeyMan. Master talent Pete Hautman has cooked up a rich narrative shot through with equal parts humor and tenderness, and the result is a middle-grade novel too delicious to put down.
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2017
382 people are currently reading
2237 people want to read
About the author
Pete Hautman
60 books357 followersPeter Murray Hautman is an American author best known for his novels for young adults. One of them, Godless, won the 2004 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The National Book Foundation summary is, "A teenage boy decides to invent a new religion with a new god."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 501 reviews
May 5, 2024
In Slider (which is an engaging and fast paced 2017 novel about competitive eating, families and friendship), yes, fourteen year old first person narrator, competitive eating aficionado (as well as the quintessential middle child, caught between his college age and majorly into learning older sister Bridgette and his younger autistic brother Mal, and often feeling a bit ignored by his parents) David Alan Miller only meant to bid twenty and not two thousand dollars on the featured for online auction half-eaten hot dog from one of his favourite competitive eating hero's many triumphs (but it did happen, David won the hot dog and unfortunately used his mother's credit card to place the bid). And instead of fessing up, instead of telling his parents what happened, David in Slider is shown by author Pete Hartman as deciding to turn his own competitive eating interests into cash and to compete in a local pizza eating contest (and if David Miller wins the eating competition to earn enough money to cover the cost of charging his mother's credit card without her knowledge and for a rather trivial and also at least in my opinion rather grotesque and strange object).
Now Slider textually shows how right from square one so to speak David absolutely loves to eat (and never seems to put on excess weight either), that he can basically quasi inhale an entire pizza in under five minutes, but that he will indeed have to train to do a lot better than that in order to win the pizza eating competition. Therefore, much of Slider is actually and of course about David Miller trying to stretch his stomach by consuming huge amounts of raw cabbage and other grotesque amounts of food, food and more food, which I kind of was expecting seeing that Slider is specifically about competitive eating, but which still rather turns my stomach a bit and that I also tend to find that Hartman does kind of overdo and exaggerate the verbal descriptions of both the competitive eating training and the pizza eating competition itself (and with David using ipecac in order to win not only rather funny since the person being doused was cheating with that very same ipecac but also pretty weirdly horrible) and making me in fact almost wanting to stop with Slider at times and actually only persevering because reading about David's friendship with HeyMan (boy) and Cyn (girl) and how David handles them starting to date, as well as David's loving and encouraging relationship with his autistic younger brother Mal reads sweetly, tenderly and very much delightfully approachably.
A relatable and nicely penned story about family, friends, siblings and the ups and downs of being a teenager is Slider, rated three stars from me and definitely recommended, my gross-out issues regarding the competitive eating depictions quite notwithstanding. But well and finally, I do have to point out that while I have very much found how Pete Hartman is describing the way in which the Millers and in particular David approach Mal's autism and do not like using labels encouraging, I do rather find it annoying and more than a bit problematic that David's father is described by Hartman as calling Mal developmentally disabled instead of developmentally challenged and that when David in Slider describes Mal using large sunglasses to prevent and to mitigate melt-downs while out and about with him, that David by saying that Mal looks like a "normal" rap star kind of implies that Mal with his autism is supposedly abnormal (and yes, that wording does sound a bit ableist to me, probably inadvertently so on Hartman's part, but still making in particular my older adult reading self cringe a bit regarding certain textual aspects of Slider).
Now Slider textually shows how right from square one so to speak David absolutely loves to eat (and never seems to put on excess weight either), that he can basically quasi inhale an entire pizza in under five minutes, but that he will indeed have to train to do a lot better than that in order to win the pizza eating competition. Therefore, much of Slider is actually and of course about David Miller trying to stretch his stomach by consuming huge amounts of raw cabbage and other grotesque amounts of food, food and more food, which I kind of was expecting seeing that Slider is specifically about competitive eating, but which still rather turns my stomach a bit and that I also tend to find that Hartman does kind of overdo and exaggerate the verbal descriptions of both the competitive eating training and the pizza eating competition itself (and with David using ipecac in order to win not only rather funny since the person being doused was cheating with that very same ipecac but also pretty weirdly horrible) and making me in fact almost wanting to stop with Slider at times and actually only persevering because reading about David's friendship with HeyMan (boy) and Cyn (girl) and how David handles them starting to date, as well as David's loving and encouraging relationship with his autistic younger brother Mal reads sweetly, tenderly and very much delightfully approachably.
A relatable and nicely penned story about family, friends, siblings and the ups and downs of being a teenager is Slider, rated three stars from me and definitely recommended, my gross-out issues regarding the competitive eating depictions quite notwithstanding. But well and finally, I do have to point out that while I have very much found how Pete Hartman is describing the way in which the Millers and in particular David approach Mal's autism and do not like using labels encouraging, I do rather find it annoying and more than a bit problematic that David's father is described by Hartman as calling Mal developmentally disabled instead of developmentally challenged and that when David in Slider describes Mal using large sunglasses to prevent and to mitigate melt-downs while out and about with him, that David by saying that Mal looks like a "normal" rap star kind of implies that Mal with his autism is supposedly abnormal (and yes, that wording does sound a bit ableist to me, probably inadvertently so on Hartman's part, but still making in particular my older adult reading self cringe a bit regarding certain textual aspects of Slider).
February 3, 2019
*This is a reread but I didn't like the first review so I rewrote it.
Slider follows a David, a young boy who accidentally bids $2,000 using his Mom's credit card on a half eaten hotdog. David hides it from his mom and enters an eating contest in order to win the money to pay his mom back before she finds out.
This was a 2018-19 Washington Battle of the Books pick.
Slider is definitely one of a kind. I have never read nor stumbled across a book about competitive eating. But after I finished the book I was really curious and conducted a little bit of my own research about competitive eating... I don't know how they do it.
The story was easy and I had a lot of fun reading it.
I really enjoyed Mal and how David had to learn 'Mal's rules' I really liked everything with Mal. He was probably my favorite part of the book. I loved seeing Mal get better and make progress.
Overall 4 stars.
Slider follows a David, a young boy who accidentally bids $2,000 using his Mom's credit card on a half eaten hotdog. David hides it from his mom and enters an eating contest in order to win the money to pay his mom back before she finds out.
This was a 2018-19 Washington Battle of the Books pick.
Slider is definitely one of a kind. I have never read nor stumbled across a book about competitive eating. But after I finished the book I was really curious and conducted a little bit of my own research about competitive eating... I don't know how they do it.
The story was easy and I had a lot of fun reading it.
I really enjoyed Mal and how David had to learn 'Mal's rules' I really liked everything with Mal. He was probably my favorite part of the book. I loved seeing Mal get better and make progress.
Overall 4 stars.
Read
August 30, 2019The book Slider by Pete Hautman is a very exciting and good book. But it has an even better theme, if you are good at something, continue, no matter what anyone else says. The genre of the book Slider is realistic fiction. The setting starts out in an unknown town, but it seems like it could be in modern day. The main character, David, is a teenager who can’t control his appetite. He has always been obsessed with professional eating, and decides to buy a hotdog from an eating contest, and spends way too much. He tries to hide the bill, but then his parents find it. He’s tried winning some contests, but they only give gift cards. One final battle, him vs pizza. At Papa Pigorinos Pizza, there is a great prize, but will it be enough? I liked this book because it had very good detail. One part that did not make sense was when a middle schooler won a college eating contest. This seems very unrealistic to me. But, my opinion about this book got better and better as the book went on, it seemed to keep giving more and more. Every single chapter had even more excitement.
August 19, 2017
Slider Solid 3.75 stars
The MC, David, is the middle child with an older sister who is at college, extremely needy and always gets straight A's. The youngest, Mal, has autism and lives in a world of his own that no one seems to be able to break through. This leaves David stuck most of the time caring for Mal, with his Dad working long hours and his Mom volunteering for every charity in town. The one thing David is good at is eating...a lot...at one sitting. He can down a 16" pepperoni pizza in four minutes and thirty-six seconds. But that's not good enough.
He constantly follows the world's fastest "All You Can Eat" contest winners, with his hero being Jooky Garafalo, the winner of the Nathan's Famous hotdog eating contests. When he learns that Jooky has lost the last Nathan's contest to Joey Chestnut by one half a hotdog and that someone is selling that half of a hotdog, along with a certificate of authenticity, on an online bidding site, he bids $.50. He is soon outbid by $.50. So with his Mother screaming from downstairs to come help her with Mal, he sets his bidding on Autobuy, which lets a bidder set a limit to spend on an item and automatically will raise David's bids up to his input limit. He sets a limit of $20 and leaves the computer.
When he checks back a midnight, the ending time for all bidding, he is mortified to see that he has won...with a bid of #2,000.00! Having misplaced the decimal on his bid, he is now the not-so-proud owner of half of a half eaten hotdog over a year old.
And to make matters worse, he used his Mother's Visa card to place his bid, and now he knows that this huge amount will show up on it in a few weeks. He has to come up with the money to cover the bill, but has know idea how; the only thing he is good at is eating...a lot...at one sitting. Then he goes to town pizzeria, Pigorino's, and notices a poster announcing a pizza eating contest with a prize of $5,000 for the winner. He decides to enter to pay his Mother back the $2,000.
David begins training for the contest buy contest buy eating whole cabbage heads in one sitting to expand his stomach and two pizzas in 7 minutes and 32 seconds. Not good enough to win...yet. More days of practice before the qualifier his town, then, if he wins that, he is in the national contest for the $5,000.
His training includes going to SooperSlider, a restaurant that makes sliders similar to White Castle sliders. He orders 50 Sliders and 2 SooperSlurps. He downs them all in 10 minutes and 50 seconds, and it's not good enough; Joey Chestnut ate 123 Sliders in 8 minutes. Time for more training.
The day of the qualifier, David is nervous but ready to win. The day before, his Mother's Visa bill came in the mail, and David lets it fall behind the hallway bureau. To David's horror, the pizzas he must eat are called BLDs, and contain all three meals in one pizza; breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is two and a half inches thick with double thick crust and topped with a hash-brown nest and a sunny-side-up egg with a sprig of parsley on top.
The contest starts, and David gets into his "zone." At the end, he has tied with another contestant, Egon Belt, another legendary eater. They are both on to the finals at the Iowa State Fair on the 4th of July.
David's parent's discover his $2,000 charge on his Mother's Visa bill and forbid him from going to the Fair. Early the next morning, he leaves them a note saying he is sorry, but he has to go to the contest to win the prize money to pay back his Mother. His two best friend go with him to cheer him on, but upon registering, he runs into the best, and most dishonest, champion eater in the world, The Gurgitator. The guy who sold him, by deception, the $2,000 half-mummified hotdog. And Egon Belt is there, too.
Papa Pigorino calls for all contestants to take their assigned seats. David is next to The Gurgitator and then sits Egon. The contest starts, with cheese pizzas this time. David finishes his first eight slice pizza in just over two minutes; but he's still behind The Gurgitator and Egon. At the five minute mark, all three have finished with pizza three. It is then that David notices The Gurgitator taking a squeeze bottle and squirting a liquid onto Egon's pizza. Within second, Egon is doing a "Reversal of Fortune," or puking his pizzas buck up.
The Gurgitator continues chowing down at an extraordinary rate, but David now has the squeeze bottle. David distracts The Gurgitator and squirts his pizza with the bottles contents. A few seconds later, The Gurgitator is also having a "Reversal of Fortune" and is out of the contest. It is then that David hears from the back of the crowd "David! Go!" It's his autistic brother, Mal using words he has never spoken before. This gets David back into his rhythm of marathon eating, all the while Mal is cheering him on from the back of the crowd.
David wins the contest, eating 50 slices of pizza. As he steps off the stage, he sees The Gurgitator laying on the ground, moaning and holding his stomach. David tosses the empty bottle onto his chest and says "You dropped this," and leaves with his family. His friend, Cyn, tells him that The Gurgitator used Ipecac to induce vomiting in Egon.
But now that he has won, what will be his parent's punishment for him for creating the whole mess to begin with? Will he be able to keep the $5,000? Will he be grounded until he's 18 (he's only 14 now)? Will his parents make him stop entering contests? This reader knows, but if you want to discover the consequences that David is dealt, read this excellent book about taking responsibility for your actions, growing up, and learning life's lessons the hard way.
I found this work a fun, smooth and satisfying read. I'm sure you will too.
The MC, David, is the middle child with an older sister who is at college, extremely needy and always gets straight A's. The youngest, Mal, has autism and lives in a world of his own that no one seems to be able to break through. This leaves David stuck most of the time caring for Mal, with his Dad working long hours and his Mom volunteering for every charity in town. The one thing David is good at is eating...a lot...at one sitting. He can down a 16" pepperoni pizza in four minutes and thirty-six seconds. But that's not good enough.
He constantly follows the world's fastest "All You Can Eat" contest winners, with his hero being Jooky Garafalo, the winner of the Nathan's Famous hotdog eating contests. When he learns that Jooky has lost the last Nathan's contest to Joey Chestnut by one half a hotdog and that someone is selling that half of a hotdog, along with a certificate of authenticity, on an online bidding site, he bids $.50. He is soon outbid by $.50. So with his Mother screaming from downstairs to come help her with Mal, he sets his bidding on Autobuy, which lets a bidder set a limit to spend on an item and automatically will raise David's bids up to his input limit. He sets a limit of $20 and leaves the computer.
When he checks back a midnight, the ending time for all bidding, he is mortified to see that he has won...with a bid of #2,000.00! Having misplaced the decimal on his bid, he is now the not-so-proud owner of half of a half eaten hotdog over a year old.
And to make matters worse, he used his Mother's Visa card to place his bid, and now he knows that this huge amount will show up on it in a few weeks. He has to come up with the money to cover the bill, but has know idea how; the only thing he is good at is eating...a lot...at one sitting. Then he goes to town pizzeria, Pigorino's, and notices a poster announcing a pizza eating contest with a prize of $5,000 for the winner. He decides to enter to pay his Mother back the $2,000.
David begins training for the contest buy contest buy eating whole cabbage heads in one sitting to expand his stomach and two pizzas in 7 minutes and 32 seconds. Not good enough to win...yet. More days of practice before the qualifier his town, then, if he wins that, he is in the national contest for the $5,000.
His training includes going to SooperSlider, a restaurant that makes sliders similar to White Castle sliders. He orders 50 Sliders and 2 SooperSlurps. He downs them all in 10 minutes and 50 seconds, and it's not good enough; Joey Chestnut ate 123 Sliders in 8 minutes. Time for more training.
The day of the qualifier, David is nervous but ready to win. The day before, his Mother's Visa bill came in the mail, and David lets it fall behind the hallway bureau. To David's horror, the pizzas he must eat are called BLDs, and contain all three meals in one pizza; breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is two and a half inches thick with double thick crust and topped with a hash-brown nest and a sunny-side-up egg with a sprig of parsley on top.
The contest starts, and David gets into his "zone." At the end, he has tied with another contestant, Egon Belt, another legendary eater. They are both on to the finals at the Iowa State Fair on the 4th of July.
David's parent's discover his $2,000 charge on his Mother's Visa bill and forbid him from going to the Fair. Early the next morning, he leaves them a note saying he is sorry, but he has to go to the contest to win the prize money to pay back his Mother. His two best friend go with him to cheer him on, but upon registering, he runs into the best, and most dishonest, champion eater in the world, The Gurgitator. The guy who sold him, by deception, the $2,000 half-mummified hotdog. And Egon Belt is there, too.
Papa Pigorino calls for all contestants to take their assigned seats. David is next to The Gurgitator and then sits Egon. The contest starts, with cheese pizzas this time. David finishes his first eight slice pizza in just over two minutes; but he's still behind The Gurgitator and Egon. At the five minute mark, all three have finished with pizza three. It is then that David notices The Gurgitator taking a squeeze bottle and squirting a liquid onto Egon's pizza. Within second, Egon is doing a "Reversal of Fortune," or puking his pizzas buck up.
The Gurgitator continues chowing down at an extraordinary rate, but David now has the squeeze bottle. David distracts The Gurgitator and squirts his pizza with the bottles contents. A few seconds later, The Gurgitator is also having a "Reversal of Fortune" and is out of the contest. It is then that David hears from the back of the crowd "David! Go!" It's his autistic brother, Mal using words he has never spoken before. This gets David back into his rhythm of marathon eating, all the while Mal is cheering him on from the back of the crowd.
David wins the contest, eating 50 slices of pizza. As he steps off the stage, he sees The Gurgitator laying on the ground, moaning and holding his stomach. David tosses the empty bottle onto his chest and says "You dropped this," and leaves with his family. His friend, Cyn, tells him that The Gurgitator used Ipecac to induce vomiting in Egon.
But now that he has won, what will be his parent's punishment for him for creating the whole mess to begin with? Will he be able to keep the $5,000? Will he be grounded until he's 18 (he's only 14 now)? Will his parents make him stop entering contests? This reader knows, but if you want to discover the consequences that David is dealt, read this excellent book about taking responsibility for your actions, growing up, and learning life's lessons the hard way.
I found this work a fun, smooth and satisfying read. I'm sure you will too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2019
Just a good book--so funny I laughed out loud. David is the middle child of the family and thinks he is only good at competitive eating...he uses his mother's credit card to buy a fake half hot dog thinking it is a relic from the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating championship. A mistake finds him owing his mother $2000. The only way David sees to pay her back is by winning a pizza-eating contest. David "trains" and watches his younger brother who is autistic. Along the way he learns that he is good at many things. Heartwarming but funny enough for some high school students. One of the rare YA novels that is devoid of sex, violence, crime, drugs, abuse, etc...
March 9, 2018
Slider is about a kid named David, who is training to be a competitive eater. He accidentally spent $2,000 on his moms credit card, and he has not told her yet. So he is entering a pizza eating competition, to earn some money. At the same time he has to take care of his bother, Mal, who is autistic. His friends are acting kind of weird too.
Theme: Tell the truth, and everything will be okay.
Theme: Tell the truth, and everything will be okay.
July 3, 2018
Don’t read this one a full stomach. It is so well written I had to stop reading a few times; too much information in what goes into an eating contest! These two things I know: I will never enter such an event - and my students are going to love this book!
May 29, 2019
The descriptions of how the people eat made me want to gag. I consider it a personal accomplishment to have actually finished this book.
Read
October 30, 2019One thing I found interesting in this book, is that the reason why he is under all this stress and pressure is because of the thing he loves most, speed-eating. He got into all the trouble because he wanted to buy something related to speed-eating, and in the end, he makes up for his mistake by getting better and winning at speed-eating.
November 25, 2017
David, our winning narrator, is the middle and ignored child in a family that is barely hanging on. He feels he's in the shadow of his "perfect" sister, who is away at college and relied on a bit too much to handle his younger brother, who is on the autism spectrum. The only thing he is good at is eating. He is a huge fan of eating contests and follows the big winners. He also has two best friends, who may or may not be dating.
While this is a humorous novel, it really doesn't go for the gags. It's a lot deeper than it appears and it's totally unique.
While this is a humorous novel, it really doesn't go for the gags. It's a lot deeper than it appears and it's totally unique.
September 25, 2019
I never knew reading about eating contests could be so fun!
June 24, 2024
Honestly a solid 3 ⭐️ I was reading this book for a book report and I didn’t expect it to be good at all but I found my self pretty interested in it. Wasn’t that bad 👌🏽
September 8, 2020
** Books 103 - 2020 **
3 of 5 stars!
Light read, books about friendship and family! :D
Thankyou Libby!
3 of 5 stars!
Light read, books about friendship and family! :D
Thankyou Libby!
February 23, 2023
I read this like in 5th grade and it was my favorite book back then lmao
May 31, 2023
Got me out of a slump so woah
June 16, 2025
i read this book back in 2018, a long 7 years ago.. so the dates might be a bit scrambled but i know that i read it in 18’ 💀.
anyway i remember LOVING this book but never being able to find it after i read it (!) and i searched and searched.
I probably talked my mom’s ear off about this book, but it was my infatuation for monthsss AND i was so excited because i didn’t like reading.. like at all. So it was a rare moment for me, and i couldn’t get it off of my mind for a long time and even now (the only reason im writing this review) im thinking about it.
Want to reread badly, see if ‘young me’ knew if books were worth it.
If you like reading kids books or if you have a kid OR if you’re just plain bored GO RUN and find this book and read it.
(5/5)⭐️🍔
anyway i remember LOVING this book but never being able to find it after i read it (!) and i searched and searched.
I probably talked my mom’s ear off about this book, but it was my infatuation for monthsss AND i was so excited because i didn’t like reading.. like at all. So it was a rare moment for me, and i couldn’t get it off of my mind for a long time and even now (the only reason im writing this review) im thinking about it.
Want to reread badly, see if ‘young me’ knew if books were worth it.
If you like reading kids books or if you have a kid OR if you’re just plain bored GO RUN and find this book and read it.
(5/5)⭐️🍔
September 22, 2023
What it’s about: David is a freshman, and a middle child, and he's nothing like his older sister (who is super-smart and perfect) or his younger brother (who is autistic and needs constant supervision). But David, too, has his quirks - he is fascinated by the world of competitive eating. In fact, David is pretty proud of the fact that he can eat an entire large pizza in just over four minutes.
His family doesn't share David's interest, finding competitive eating more gross than impressive. That's pretty much fine by David - he mostly just wants to be left alone to hang out with his best friends, Cyn and HeyMan.
When David finds the remains of a half-eaten hot dog from one of his favorite competitive eaters on an online auction site, he figures he'd be crazy not to bid on it - after all, it's part of history, and the bidding starts at fifty cents! David just happens to have his mother's credit card information handy. He's surprised when someone else immediately starts bidding against him. But David finds a feature that allows him to enter a maximum amount he's willing to bid, and the computer will do the rest for him. He enters $20, figuring he can pay his mom back easily enough. But something goes wrong, and David ends up being charged $2,000.
David is sure his mother is going to end his life when she gets her next credit card statement. In a panic to figure out how to raise the money, he is recruited to enter a fraternity eating contest with a prize of $200. David figures this is his chance to use his one skill to get himself out of this mess. Unfortunately, things don't quite work out as he'd hoped.
But luck is on David's side, as his local pizza place decides to host a pizza eating contest with a grand prize of $5,000. David figures he's guaranteed to win - the pizza contest is happening the same weekend as the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, which will draw all the big names in competitive eating, leaving David going up against local talents he's confident he can beat.
Unfortunately for David, entering the contest has some costs, requiring him to take on "investors". And David discovers, to his great displeasure, that a retired competitive eater happens to live in the next town over - and he's feeling hungry once again. But the greatest problem of all appears on the day of the contest in the form of David's ultimate nemesis.
It's a dog-eat-hot-dog world, and David finds himself suddenly feeling nauseous...
What I thought: This was a really fun, engaging, quick read. David is a little weird, but he's a nice guy, and his misadventures are funny. There are lots of serious moments in the story, too; David has to take care of his autistic younger brother, which is not easy. But in babysitting Mal, David learns more about his brother, and they start to connect in ways David never thought possible. It's sweet to see how their bond deepens over the course of the book.
Why I chose those shelves:
Content Warnings
Family issues: There are lots of tension between David and his other family members (mostly due to a lack of sincere communication); self harm, violence: at one point, Mal self-harms (banging his head against a wall) and he hits, bites, and kicks people.
Characters
Korean: David is a white male 9th grader, but one of his best friends is a girl of Korean heritage; neurodiverse: David's younger brother is autistic
Genres
humor: The story is realistic fiction, but told with a bit of a humorous slant - it's not laugh-out-loud funny, but I smiled quite a few times; coming of age: David is very immature, particularly at the start of the story, but he experiences growth and increased maturity toward the end of the story
Style
Topics
sports: This book is all about competitive eating
Why I rated it like I did: This is an enjoyable story about a middle child who does not value himself, but slowly learns that he is valuable. He is a fan of competitive eating, and decided to pursue it himself when he is scammed out of $2,000 (which he got via his mom's credit card).
His family doesn't share David's interest, finding competitive eating more gross than impressive. That's pretty much fine by David - he mostly just wants to be left alone to hang out with his best friends, Cyn and HeyMan.
When David finds the remains of a half-eaten hot dog from one of his favorite competitive eaters on an online auction site, he figures he'd be crazy not to bid on it - after all, it's part of history, and the bidding starts at fifty cents! David just happens to have his mother's credit card information handy. He's surprised when someone else immediately starts bidding against him. But David finds a feature that allows him to enter a maximum amount he's willing to bid, and the computer will do the rest for him. He enters $20, figuring he can pay his mom back easily enough. But something goes wrong, and David ends up being charged $2,000.
David is sure his mother is going to end his life when she gets her next credit card statement. In a panic to figure out how to raise the money, he is recruited to enter a fraternity eating contest with a prize of $200. David figures this is his chance to use his one skill to get himself out of this mess. Unfortunately, things don't quite work out as he'd hoped.
But luck is on David's side, as his local pizza place decides to host a pizza eating contest with a grand prize of $5,000. David figures he's guaranteed to win - the pizza contest is happening the same weekend as the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, which will draw all the big names in competitive eating, leaving David going up against local talents he's confident he can beat.
Unfortunately for David, entering the contest has some costs, requiring him to take on "investors". And David discovers, to his great displeasure, that a retired competitive eater happens to live in the next town over - and he's feeling hungry once again. But the greatest problem of all appears on the day of the contest in the form of David's ultimate nemesis.
It's a dog-eat-hot-dog world, and David finds himself suddenly feeling nauseous...
What I thought: This was a really fun, engaging, quick read. David is a little weird, but he's a nice guy, and his misadventures are funny. There are lots of serious moments in the story, too; David has to take care of his autistic younger brother, which is not easy. But in babysitting Mal, David learns more about his brother, and they start to connect in ways David never thought possible. It's sweet to see how their bond deepens over the course of the book.
Why I chose those shelves:
Content Warnings
Family issues: There are lots of tension between David and his other family members (mostly due to a lack of sincere communication); self harm, violence: at one point, Mal self-harms (banging his head against a wall) and he hits, bites, and kicks people.
Characters
Korean: David is a white male 9th grader, but one of his best friends is a girl of Korean heritage; neurodiverse: David's younger brother is autistic
Genres
humor: The story is realistic fiction, but told with a bit of a humorous slant - it's not laugh-out-loud funny, but I smiled quite a few times; coming of age: David is very immature, particularly at the start of the story, but he experiences growth and increased maturity toward the end of the story
Style
Topics
sports: This book is all about competitive eating
Why I rated it like I did: This is an enjoyable story about a middle child who does not value himself, but slowly learns that he is valuable. He is a fan of competitive eating, and decided to pursue it himself when he is scammed out of $2,000 (which he got via his mom's credit card).
August 30, 2019
“An infectious tale.” as quoted by Booklist in a starred review. Slider is a novel written by Pete Hautman. It is an enjoyably laid-back read full of laughs and jokes; but between the quirkiness of it lies a heartfelt, warm and compelling story ultimately about how family can bring out the best of us. A message which generally all can connect with at least a little. And at the end of the day, aren’t relatable books the ones which are conclusively the most moving. We may pick up books for the plot, but we stay for the story.
Slider is a realistic fiction novel about David, a young boy who has a peculiar talent for consuming massive amounts of food in miniscule amounts of time. The book doesn’t wait to introduce the reader into David’s hectic life. He has his two sarcastic best friends Cyn and Heyman as well as his family: an egotistical older sister who longs for attention, two loving parents and an autistic younger brother Mal. One night he comes across a half eaten hotdog online; but this isn’t any ordinary half-eaten hotdog, it was eaten by Jooky, a professional speed eater and David’s idol. As quoted in the book, “I click on it, and I can’t believe what pops up: a photo of half a hot dog sitting on a plate.” In the end David decides to buy the hotdog for $20, but due to a devastating typo buys it at the price $2,000. David has to find a way to raise enough money to pay off his debts before his parents find out, or risk a mountain of trouble even bigger than his, as Heyman puts it, “really freaky metabolism.”
I found Slider to be an ultimately well-rounded read which is a nice break from the dark, grueling and arduous storylines dominating much of written media. To realize this one has to look no further than page 17 where it states, “‘How was I supposed to know that?” Derek says. “Sorry. I guess I should have added a smiley face.” Derek nods, agreeing with her. As if she was serious.” Notice the warm tone and touch of sarcasm the author uses to show that in the end this book is not a dreary book but rather the opposite. Compared to page 17 of the Hunger Games where it enunciates, “Anyway, Gale and I agree that if we have to choose between dying of hunger and a bullet in the head, the bullet would be much quicker.” and the mere idea that both these books are of the same type of media is mind-blowing. The contrast between the two novels writing styles alone are astronomical, just going to show how varied the entire being of Slider is to many other types of literature. I’ve personally only ever read one book which even resembles Slider in the slightest, Wonder, a critically acclaimed novel by R.J. Palacio which was praised so highly even the The New York Times Book Review critiqued it as “Rich and memorable.” And that’s not even mentioning the well crafted characters Pete Hautman created. Cyn and Heyman’s trust in their friend is powerfully felt throughout the entire storyline and the relationship between Derek and Bridgette is an always intriguing plot-divergence to follow. That’s still yet to mention my personal favorite, Mal. Mal’s character arc is beautiful and instantly pulls at one’s heartstrings.
I would recommend Slider to late-elementary to early middle school adolescents. I consider it a true gem among many books recommended around this age as it contains the rare quality of lightheartedness which is missing from many books. I for one am a strong believer that readers often choose a preferred genre around this age; often gravitating towards classics like the Hunger Games trilogy or any of the thousands of romantic and sport themed books. Yet Slider shows readers of this age that other genres do exist and it's perfectly within reason they will enjoy them. And at the end of the day, we may pick up a book because of a recommendation, but we stay for the story. And I believe Slider has just that kind of story.
Slider is a realistic fiction novel about David, a young boy who has a peculiar talent for consuming massive amounts of food in miniscule amounts of time. The book doesn’t wait to introduce the reader into David’s hectic life. He has his two sarcastic best friends Cyn and Heyman as well as his family: an egotistical older sister who longs for attention, two loving parents and an autistic younger brother Mal. One night he comes across a half eaten hotdog online; but this isn’t any ordinary half-eaten hotdog, it was eaten by Jooky, a professional speed eater and David’s idol. As quoted in the book, “I click on it, and I can’t believe what pops up: a photo of half a hot dog sitting on a plate.” In the end David decides to buy the hotdog for $20, but due to a devastating typo buys it at the price $2,000. David has to find a way to raise enough money to pay off his debts before his parents find out, or risk a mountain of trouble even bigger than his, as Heyman puts it, “really freaky metabolism.”
I found Slider to be an ultimately well-rounded read which is a nice break from the dark, grueling and arduous storylines dominating much of written media. To realize this one has to look no further than page 17 where it states, “‘How was I supposed to know that?” Derek says. “Sorry. I guess I should have added a smiley face.” Derek nods, agreeing with her. As if she was serious.” Notice the warm tone and touch of sarcasm the author uses to show that in the end this book is not a dreary book but rather the opposite. Compared to page 17 of the Hunger Games where it enunciates, “Anyway, Gale and I agree that if we have to choose between dying of hunger and a bullet in the head, the bullet would be much quicker.” and the mere idea that both these books are of the same type of media is mind-blowing. The contrast between the two novels writing styles alone are astronomical, just going to show how varied the entire being of Slider is to many other types of literature. I’ve personally only ever read one book which even resembles Slider in the slightest, Wonder, a critically acclaimed novel by R.J. Palacio which was praised so highly even the The New York Times Book Review critiqued it as “Rich and memorable.” And that’s not even mentioning the well crafted characters Pete Hautman created. Cyn and Heyman’s trust in their friend is powerfully felt throughout the entire storyline and the relationship between Derek and Bridgette is an always intriguing plot-divergence to follow. That’s still yet to mention my personal favorite, Mal. Mal’s character arc is beautiful and instantly pulls at one’s heartstrings.
I would recommend Slider to late-elementary to early middle school adolescents. I consider it a true gem among many books recommended around this age as it contains the rare quality of lightheartedness which is missing from many books. I for one am a strong believer that readers often choose a preferred genre around this age; often gravitating towards classics like the Hunger Games trilogy or any of the thousands of romantic and sport themed books. Yet Slider shows readers of this age that other genres do exist and it's perfectly within reason they will enjoy them. And at the end of the day, we may pick up a book because of a recommendation, but we stay for the story. And I believe Slider has just that kind of story.
August 1, 2017
Originally posted at Log Cabin Library
Slider begins with three friends playing a friendly game of who can eat a pizza the fastest, with David trying to come closest to his favorite competitive eaters, Joey Chestnut and Jooky Garafalo's time. Then a simple online search leads David to an auction for the infamous half hotdog that caused Jooky to lose the World Famous Nathan's Hotdog Eating Contest. David can't believe the half hotdog hasn't even received one bid, so he places a small bid, which quickly grows. Fearing he might lose the auction, David borrows his mother's credit card and sets an auto-buy with a limit of twenty dollars hoping to snag himself a piece of history. But when there's a mishap with the auction system, David lands himself with a $2000.00 charge. To cover the cost of his mistake, David plans to enter as many contests as he can to raise the money to pay his mom before she finds the charge on her credit card. What ensues is a lot of competitive eating. Everything from SooperSlider's to pizza's, to heads of cabbage to stretch out David's stomach. Training is tough and at first, David's parents aren't supportive of the idea, but then they come to an agreement where David will take care of his younger brother Mal and they agree to sign his application to participate in the Pigorino Pizza Eating Contest where hopefully he can win the $5000.00 grand prize.
So, I'm new to the idea of competitive eating and I'll admit I had a similar reaction as David's mom, thinking of all the damage that eating so much can potentially do to your body, but Hautman kept things light and funny. Slider is about much more than just competitive eating, it's also about David's relationship with his younger brother Mal. Mal has autism, which for him includes difficulty socializing, communicating, and behavioral challenges, but to his family, who don't use labels, he's just Mal. Mal may keep a wall of his things and occasionally have an outburst, but his family loves him and David's attempts to help Mal's socialization were both clever and really sweet. David is such a wonderful character and one I believe middle graders will easily relate to. He's searching for his place as the middle in his family, describing it as "...being the beef in a SooperSlider-you're just there to weld the bun together." In a lot of ways, the middle kid gets overlooked, and in David's case, this is pretty true too. His older sister gets all the positive attention from doing well in school and Mal requires lots of attention from everyone in the family, which leaves little attention for David. Somehow, David takes this in stride and I found myself rooting for him the entire story. Slider also delves into how relationships change between friends, as Cyn and HeyMan begin to show an interest in one another. Overall, this was a unique, humorous story that has plenty of kid appeal.
*I received an ARC from Candlewick Press as a part of a giveaway sponsored by ArmChair Book Expo*
Slider begins with three friends playing a friendly game of who can eat a pizza the fastest, with David trying to come closest to his favorite competitive eaters, Joey Chestnut and Jooky Garafalo's time. Then a simple online search leads David to an auction for the infamous half hotdog that caused Jooky to lose the World Famous Nathan's Hotdog Eating Contest. David can't believe the half hotdog hasn't even received one bid, so he places a small bid, which quickly grows. Fearing he might lose the auction, David borrows his mother's credit card and sets an auto-buy with a limit of twenty dollars hoping to snag himself a piece of history. But when there's a mishap with the auction system, David lands himself with a $2000.00 charge. To cover the cost of his mistake, David plans to enter as many contests as he can to raise the money to pay his mom before she finds the charge on her credit card. What ensues is a lot of competitive eating. Everything from SooperSlider's to pizza's, to heads of cabbage to stretch out David's stomach. Training is tough and at first, David's parents aren't supportive of the idea, but then they come to an agreement where David will take care of his younger brother Mal and they agree to sign his application to participate in the Pigorino Pizza Eating Contest where hopefully he can win the $5000.00 grand prize.
So, I'm new to the idea of competitive eating and I'll admit I had a similar reaction as David's mom, thinking of all the damage that eating so much can potentially do to your body, but Hautman kept things light and funny. Slider is about much more than just competitive eating, it's also about David's relationship with his younger brother Mal. Mal has autism, which for him includes difficulty socializing, communicating, and behavioral challenges, but to his family, who don't use labels, he's just Mal. Mal may keep a wall of his things and occasionally have an outburst, but his family loves him and David's attempts to help Mal's socialization were both clever and really sweet. David is such a wonderful character and one I believe middle graders will easily relate to. He's searching for his place as the middle in his family, describing it as "...being the beef in a SooperSlider-you're just there to weld the bun together." In a lot of ways, the middle kid gets overlooked, and in David's case, this is pretty true too. His older sister gets all the positive attention from doing well in school and Mal requires lots of attention from everyone in the family, which leaves little attention for David. Somehow, David takes this in stride and I found myself rooting for him the entire story. Slider also delves into how relationships change between friends, as Cyn and HeyMan begin to show an interest in one another. Overall, this was a unique, humorous story that has plenty of kid appeal.
*I received an ARC from Candlewick Press as a part of a giveaway sponsored by ArmChair Book Expo*
October 4, 2017
Thanks to Kid Lit Exchange for the review copy of this book-all opinions are my own.
David is a kid stuck in the middle. He is sandwiched between an older sister who excels in college and a younger brother who requires round-the-clock supervision due to Autism. Like most middle children he feels overlooked and underappreciated. To top it all off, his two best friends are wrapped up in each other, making David feel like a third wheel. Luckily, David has discovered that he has a talent for eating large quantities of food in small spans of time. He prides himself on being an amateur competitive eater and looks up to the pros including Jooky Garafalo, winner of the famous Nathan's hot dog eating competition. When David finds himself in some hot water after deceiving his parents to nab a particularly awesome piece of Jooky memorabilia, he decides to enter a pizza eating competition.
This book is an easy read with a perfect story line for drawing in young readers. To me, this book felt old school. It was comforting and easy to relate to (think Ramona and Beezus). The primary theme is larger than life and funny and gross and juvenile but the underlying themes are incredibly heartfelt and touching. David puts into words what it feels like to be a middle child on the brink of high school. His decisions aren't trusted and yet he is heavily depended on at home. As boys his age are wont to do he makes mistake after mistake for everyone to see and all of his many triumphs are behind the scenes. I fell in love with the character and the realistically flawed family dynamic.
Author, Pete Hautman (winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature), does a great job of writing the voice of a young boy. This book is a great choice for readers from 6th-8th grade or possibly younger. The book contains no bad language or sexual content. There are several mentions of vomit which is all the more attractive to the age group it is written for.
Follow me on instagram @yourbluebookworm for more reviews of kid lit titles.
David is a kid stuck in the middle. He is sandwiched between an older sister who excels in college and a younger brother who requires round-the-clock supervision due to Autism. Like most middle children he feels overlooked and underappreciated. To top it all off, his two best friends are wrapped up in each other, making David feel like a third wheel. Luckily, David has discovered that he has a talent for eating large quantities of food in small spans of time. He prides himself on being an amateur competitive eater and looks up to the pros including Jooky Garafalo, winner of the famous Nathan's hot dog eating competition. When David finds himself in some hot water after deceiving his parents to nab a particularly awesome piece of Jooky memorabilia, he decides to enter a pizza eating competition.
This book is an easy read with a perfect story line for drawing in young readers. To me, this book felt old school. It was comforting and easy to relate to (think Ramona and Beezus). The primary theme is larger than life and funny and gross and juvenile but the underlying themes are incredibly heartfelt and touching. David puts into words what it feels like to be a middle child on the brink of high school. His decisions aren't trusted and yet he is heavily depended on at home. As boys his age are wont to do he makes mistake after mistake for everyone to see and all of his many triumphs are behind the scenes. I fell in love with the character and the realistically flawed family dynamic.
Author, Pete Hautman (winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature), does a great job of writing the voice of a young boy. This book is a great choice for readers from 6th-8th grade or possibly younger. The book contains no bad language or sexual content. There are several mentions of vomit which is all the more attractive to the age group it is written for.
Follow me on instagram @yourbluebookworm for more reviews of kid lit titles.
May 31, 2019
This story is hilarious, heartwarming and will constantly make the readers grow hungry by the way the author explained the food that features almost in every page. This is a story about a boy who is in a state of desperate need and would do anything to earn the money that he accidentally used but the journey that got to where he wants to be is the most important aspect of it all.
I love that it narrates about a middle child whose parents have such huge expectations of him. Apart from the food, I love the interaction between David and Mal—of how they're slowly making progress with one another and the love that is poured between them. Though I know Mal cannot say nor explain how much his brother means to him, when they showed up at the eating contest towards the end and how he shouted in encouragement for his brother, it shows and says a lot.
I find Mal so adorable everytime he says, "Okay" and everytime he says it my heart sort of melts a bit. I think that the author has tackled the A word, autism in such a positive light because David and his family is learning through a lot and is catering to his needs, his own rules instead of just guiding it with their own way.
I'm not sure if I'm really about to say this but the food isn't really my favourite part of this story. Yes, of course I went ahead with this book mainly because of it but reading about David and Mal makes me root for them more instead. This book really is an amazing read and I absolutely recommend it to everyone looking for a book that will make you go hungry and feel some miniscule of hope about brotherly love.
I love that it narrates about a middle child whose parents have such huge expectations of him. Apart from the food, I love the interaction between David and Mal—of how they're slowly making progress with one another and the love that is poured between them. Though I know Mal cannot say nor explain how much his brother means to him, when they showed up at the eating contest towards the end and how he shouted in encouragement for his brother, it shows and says a lot.
I find Mal so adorable everytime he says, "Okay" and everytime he says it my heart sort of melts a bit. I think that the author has tackled the A word, autism in such a positive light because David and his family is learning through a lot and is catering to his needs, his own rules instead of just guiding it with their own way.
I'm not sure if I'm really about to say this but the food isn't really my favourite part of this story. Yes, of course I went ahead with this book mainly because of it but reading about David and Mal makes me root for them more instead. This book really is an amazing read and I absolutely recommend it to everyone looking for a book that will make you go hungry and feel some miniscule of hope about brotherly love.
August 14, 2017
ARC provided by the publisher.
This book caught my attention immediately with its main character--a boy "obsessively" focused on competitive eating. David is enjoying the summer before high school and doing what most kids do: hanging out with his friends, watching a sibling when his parents are busy, and killing time on the internet. In David's case, he likes looking up famous competitive eaters. After he accidentally charges $2000 instead of $20 onto his mom's credit card without permission (you won't believe what he bought), he is determined to get that money back by any means possible. What is he good at? Eating! A lot! After a failed attempt to win money at an eating contest at his sister's boyfriend's frat house, David continues to look for ways to make that money to avoid disappointing his parents and revealing his error in judgement. Yes, this book features many detailed descriptions of David eating gross amounts of food, but it also shares so much more. It also focuses on David dealing with the changing relationships he has with his parents, his friends, and his siblings. I think the author captured his feelings so well and made them incredibly relatable to the readers. I don't even HAVE siblings, and I was commiserating with many of his frustrations. I can see middle-grade readers getting sucked in and thinking, "Yeah, my parents are totally like that, too!" A mix of likeable characters, humor, and heart make for an engrossing story. After a quick succession of "big" events while the story was wrapping up, I wished there was even more to read at the end.
This book caught my attention immediately with its main character--a boy "obsessively" focused on competitive eating. David is enjoying the summer before high school and doing what most kids do: hanging out with his friends, watching a sibling when his parents are busy, and killing time on the internet. In David's case, he likes looking up famous competitive eaters. After he accidentally charges $2000 instead of $20 onto his mom's credit card without permission (you won't believe what he bought), he is determined to get that money back by any means possible. What is he good at? Eating! A lot! After a failed attempt to win money at an eating contest at his sister's boyfriend's frat house, David continues to look for ways to make that money to avoid disappointing his parents and revealing his error in judgement. Yes, this book features many detailed descriptions of David eating gross amounts of food, but it also shares so much more. It also focuses on David dealing with the changing relationships he has with his parents, his friends, and his siblings. I think the author captured his feelings so well and made them incredibly relatable to the readers. I don't even HAVE siblings, and I was commiserating with many of his frustrations. I can see middle-grade readers getting sucked in and thinking, "Yeah, my parents are totally like that, too!" A mix of likeable characters, humor, and heart make for an engrossing story. After a quick succession of "big" events while the story was wrapping up, I wished there was even more to read at the end.
August 8, 2018
In an online auction, big eater David accidentally bids $2000 on the half-eaten hot dog touted as the last bite his favorite competitive eater couldn't finish. Worse, he uses his mom's credit card on the sly. Now he needs to make money fast, and the only thing he knows how to do is eat. So with the help of his two best friend, he starts training for a local pizza eating contest. Unfortunately, two pros are also competing, and one fights dirty. With this on his shoulders, David must also deal with his overbearing family, his too-perfect overachieving sister, his low-functioning autistic brother Mal, and the burgeoning (and confusing) romance between his two best friends.
This is a funny book with an original premise. The somewhat silly nature of David's problem is belied by the serious circumstances that a boy his age might feel overwhelmed by: being dishonest with his parents, being caught between two siblings as the "nothing special" middle kid, feeling the confusing jealousy of watching a first romance among your peers. It is true that Hautman gives the story, in the end, a somewhat deus ex machina happy ending (espcially when it comes to Mal; the problems that an autistic family member might bring are detailed far more realistically in Al Capone Does My Shirts). However, young readers will enjoy the way David takes charge of his life and ties up loose ends on his own. Altogether a fun story.
This is a funny book with an original premise. The somewhat silly nature of David's problem is belied by the serious circumstances that a boy his age might feel overwhelmed by: being dishonest with his parents, being caught between two siblings as the "nothing special" middle kid, feeling the confusing jealousy of watching a first romance among your peers. It is true that Hautman gives the story, in the end, a somewhat deus ex machina happy ending (espcially when it comes to Mal; the problems that an autistic family member might bring are detailed far more realistically in Al Capone Does My Shirts). However, young readers will enjoy the way David takes charge of his life and ties up loose ends on his own. Altogether a fun story.
December 12, 2017
David, the main character in this middle grade novel, has a great voice, and his reflections on everything from competitive eating to his younger brother Mal's autism, make for very quick, easy, and compelling reading. Each time I got to the end of a chapter, I wanted to go right on to the next one, and no matter what was happening, I was interested because I was rooting for this character so strongly. The book does a nice job of handling such issues as David's dishonest spending of his parents' money without their permission, the budding romance between David's two best friends, Cyn and HeyMan, and the unscrupulous behavior of some of David's eating contest opponents. For a short book, it covers a lot of ground, and each subplot really complements the main plot quite well.
This is one of those middle grade novels that is truly perfect for middle schoolers - and therefore not as appropriate for the lower end of the middle grade spectrum. Hautman has previously written YA novels, and this book did feel very teen-friendly, just without a lot of the more mature content I typically associate with young adult novels. I won this book as a prize from Armchair BEA without really knowing much about it or the author, but it was such a joy to read that I would definitely call it one of the best books of 2017, and I look forward to exploring more books by Hautman.
This is one of those middle grade novels that is truly perfect for middle schoolers - and therefore not as appropriate for the lower end of the middle grade spectrum. Hautman has previously written YA novels, and this book did feel very teen-friendly, just without a lot of the more mature content I typically associate with young adult novels. I won this book as a prize from Armchair BEA without really knowing much about it or the author, but it was such a joy to read that I would definitely call it one of the best books of 2017, and I look forward to exploring more books by Hautman.
February 25, 2018
This is a story of gluttony. David is a fan of eating contests, so much so that he feels compelled to make an online purchase of a half eaten hot dog leftover from his hero Jooky Garafalo's loss at the previous year's Nathan's Famous Hot Dog contest. The only problem is, David accidentally misses a few decimal places when entering his online maximum bid, and he gets that hot dog for $2000.00.... using his mom's credit card.
David begins entering eating contests and hopes to qualify for the Super Pigorino contest at the state fair, which has a grand prize of $5000.00, so he can pay back his mom. (Side note: I love that this story is set in Iowa and makes multiple mentions of loose meat sandwiches, which were featured in Cook's Country Magazine as an Iowa specialty last year and I really hope to try them someday). There are many descriptions of David stuffing his face in various eating contests, and some of them even gross me out a little bit.
Besides the money issue, David seems to be suffering from Middle Child Syndrome. He feels ignored while his overachieving older sister and autistic younger brother claim most of his parents' attention. Also, his two best friends since childhood seem to be spending a lot of time hanging out without him... what's up with that?
David begins entering eating contests and hopes to qualify for the Super Pigorino contest at the state fair, which has a grand prize of $5000.00, so he can pay back his mom. (Side note: I love that this story is set in Iowa and makes multiple mentions of loose meat sandwiches, which were featured in Cook's Country Magazine as an Iowa specialty last year and I really hope to try them someday). There are many descriptions of David stuffing his face in various eating contests, and some of them even gross me out a little bit.
Besides the money issue, David seems to be suffering from Middle Child Syndrome. He feels ignored while his overachieving older sister and autistic younger brother claim most of his parents' attention. Also, his two best friends since childhood seem to be spending a lot of time hanging out without him... what's up with that?
December 27, 2019
Audience: Middle School
Format: Hardcover/Library
A sixteen-inch pizza, fresh from the oven, is a thing of beauty.
- first sentence
So, that opening line tells you a great deal about this book, but not the heart of it. David loves competitive eating, both watching it as a sport and doing it himself. He bids on and accidentally buys (for $2,000, on his mom's credit card) a leftover piece of hotdog from his favorite competitive eater. David must find a way to earn the money to pay his mom back before she discovers what he did. David feels like a failure and thinks the only thing he is good at is competitive eating. On top of training for the big eating competition, David has to take care of his brother Mal (who has autism). David is very good at finding ways to help his brother deal with the world and their relationship is one of the best parts of this book.
The competitive eating parts of the book are rather gross at times, but young readers will probably enjoy that. At the beginning of the book, David goes to a frat house (he sees a bunch of college students drinking) and participates in an eating contest. Overall, it's a fun book with some heartwarming moments, if you can get past some vomiting and gross overeating. :)
Format: Hardcover/Library
A sixteen-inch pizza, fresh from the oven, is a thing of beauty.
- first sentence
So, that opening line tells you a great deal about this book, but not the heart of it. David loves competitive eating, both watching it as a sport and doing it himself. He bids on and accidentally buys (for $2,000, on his mom's credit card) a leftover piece of hotdog from his favorite competitive eater. David must find a way to earn the money to pay his mom back before she discovers what he did. David feels like a failure and thinks the only thing he is good at is competitive eating. On top of training for the big eating competition, David has to take care of his brother Mal (who has autism). David is very good at finding ways to help his brother deal with the world and their relationship is one of the best parts of this book.
The competitive eating parts of the book are rather gross at times, but young readers will probably enjoy that. At the beginning of the book, David goes to a frat house (he sees a bunch of college students drinking) and participates in an eating contest. Overall, it's a fun book with some heartwarming moments, if you can get past some vomiting and gross overeating. :)
March 8, 2019
If you are looking for a fun, light-hearted read, then you have come to the right place. Slider is a story about David Miller, a regular kid with a very special talent: he can eat and he can eat fast! Being a huge fan of competitive eating stars such as Joey Chestnut, David will see just how many cheeseburgers, pieces of pizzas, or even heads of cabbage he can eat in as short a time possible. David's friends love it, but his parents just rolls their eyes and shake their heads.
David gets himself into a bit of a bind, however, when he attempts to bid on a famous half of a hot dog left over from a past competition. His bid wins, but that's a bad thing because he doesn't have the money to pay for it. His solution, to enter a pizza eating contest to pay it off before anyone finds out about his mistake! What can possibly go wrong with that?
The book is not just about eating though. It's about family, friends, understanding, and well, yes, food too. Kids will absolutely eat this up (I couldn't resist the pun!) Slider is definitely deserving of being on the 2020 list of nominees for the Rebecca Caudill Award.
David gets himself into a bit of a bind, however, when he attempts to bid on a famous half of a hot dog left over from a past competition. His bid wins, but that's a bad thing because he doesn't have the money to pay for it. His solution, to enter a pizza eating contest to pay it off before anyone finds out about his mistake! What can possibly go wrong with that?
The book is not just about eating though. It's about family, friends, understanding, and well, yes, food too. Kids will absolutely eat this up (I couldn't resist the pun!) Slider is definitely deserving of being on the 2020 list of nominees for the Rebecca Caudill Award.
August 20, 2018
14 year old David Miller makes a $2000 mistake and the only hope he has of not being grounded for life is to win $5000 in a pizza eating contest. Seems like eating is the only thing he feels like he's good at. A middle child-caught between a perfectionist older sister and an autistic younger brother, David feels invisible to his hyper-busy parents. His friends Hayden and Cyn sponsor his entry into the contest and also discover he was cheated out of his $2000 by a corrupt professional food eater. I had a hard time with this book because eating for sport seems so grotesque when so many face food insecurities. Couldn't help but think of the waste of money and gluttony when so many readers I know are struggling financially. However, I appreciate the complex family dynamics and empathetic story line, which reminded me a bit of Rules by Cynthia Lord. An MSBA nominee for 2018-19.
August 22, 2019
I think in the book slider, the most character I'm alike is David.
1. He has flaws and is some times sneaky this I can relate to because I do have some flaws ( but doesn't everyone?!) I'm also sneaky some times at home but never in school.
2. David also has a whole other personality when he has to take care of his little brother with disorders. When David is taking care of him, he is kind, patient and helpful. I can kind of relate to him because in class, I'm usually patient and helpful at home and school. I try and stay calm in groups to make sure that we don't have disagreements. At home, I help out my mom and feed the cat.
3. Since David is a competitive eater, I can relate to him in a way (no, I am not a competitive eater ) I competitively act and sing. So in a way we have some things in common.
1. He has flaws and is some times sneaky this I can relate to because I do have some flaws ( but doesn't everyone?!) I'm also sneaky some times at home but never in school.
2. David also has a whole other personality when he has to take care of his little brother with disorders. When David is taking care of him, he is kind, patient and helpful. I can kind of relate to him because in class, I'm usually patient and helpful at home and school. I try and stay calm in groups to make sure that we don't have disagreements. At home, I help out my mom and feed the cat.
3. Since David is a competitive eater, I can relate to him in a way (no, I am not a competitive eater ) I competitively act and sing. So in a way we have some things in common.
December 16, 2022
Reread this one as a family read aloud… we couldn’t stop laughing out loud!!
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I really didn’t think I was going to like this book, and there were definitely times when I found myself thinking “okay, this is pretty gross”… But I couldn’t put it down! After David accidentally charges $2000 to his mom’s credit card, he decides the only way he can pay her back before she finds out is to win a competitive eating contest. Yes, this book talks quite a bit about competitive eating, but the relationships in this story were what kept me reading. David’s younger brother Mal, who is autistic, was definitely my favorite character, and his best friends Cyn and HeyMan round this story out to be a great middle grade read. Ages 10 and up.
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I really didn’t think I was going to like this book, and there were definitely times when I found myself thinking “okay, this is pretty gross”… But I couldn’t put it down! After David accidentally charges $2000 to his mom’s credit card, he decides the only way he can pay her back before she finds out is to win a competitive eating contest. Yes, this book talks quite a bit about competitive eating, but the relationships in this story were what kept me reading. David’s younger brother Mal, who is autistic, was definitely my favorite character, and his best friends Cyn and HeyMan round this story out to be a great middle grade read. Ages 10 and up.
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