My Rating: 
Author: Rachel DeWoskin
Narrator: Tai Sammons
Length: 9 hrs., 57 mins.
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Publisher’s Summary: Judy Lohden is your above-average 16-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 Arts 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, Prep’s 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.
©2011 Rachel DeWoskin (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
My Review: Rachel DeWoskin has created such a memorable character in Judy Lohden. She isn’t your average 16-year-old and she’s so much more than her three foot 9 inch tall frame.
Judy has achondroplasia (a form of dwarfism) but she doesn’t let that define her. She has a gorgeous singing voice that landed her a seat at her local performing-arts high school and finds a small group of friends who look past her height. Judy lives a normal life with her overprotective parents and little brother.
Okay, you’ve got enough history about Judy but let me tell ya, you’ll be so surprised how this audiobook twists and turns. Judy tells her entire story from a sketchy motel room just days after an awful “event”. The fun part in this was trying to figure out what the heck she had done or not done! DeWoskin keeps things on the D.L. until the last few hours and when she brings you to this climatic peak, you’ll be shocked.
This is a solidly written book that gives listeners insight into the world of a 16-year-old girl with more than your average struggles. I enjoyed listening and would recommend this to any young adult listener. I’m 29 and I’m thinking folks around my age and younger would really love Judy’s story.
Narrator Review: Once again, a narrator surprised me! When Tai Sammons started reading Big Girl Small I was nervous… I thought really? This voice for a achondroplasia 16-year-old girl? It was soooo perfect! It’s one of those things where you can imagine the inner monologue and think “yea… that fits!” Great job on some tough narration Tai!
Disclosure: I purchased this audiobook from Audible.com. That said, all opinions above are mine and mine alone.
