14-year-old David Miller loves to eat. A lot. Of food. So when he makes a terrible bid on a famous half-eaten hot dog, he finds the perfect fix. Right? The Super Pigorino Bowl is full of competitive eaters, and it seems impossible for David to win. Especially with the famous Egon Belt in town. With Mal, his autistic brother to babysit, drifting away from his friends HayMan and Cyn, and getting in trouble with his parents, you'd think that David already has enough on his plate. It'll take more than a cheater and his parents to stop David from winning that money. Because, he really needs it.
Slider
By Pete Hautman
| Interest Level | Reading Level | Reading A-Z | ATOS | Word Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grades 4 - 8 | Grades 3 - 5 | n/a | 4.3 | 50283 |
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.
Publisher: Candlewick
ISBN-13: 9781536204322
ISBN-10: 1536204323
Published on 3/12/2019
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 288
Book Reviews (4)
If you like eating contests this is your book
SO far so good
David has just made a huge mistake. He accidentally spent $2,000 on a half eaten hot dog, which may even be fake. Not only did he spend $2,000, he spent it on his mom’s credit card without her even knowing!!! He has to find a way to earn $2,000, and fast. David realizes he can use his skill of eating food fast to win money. Slowly he trains for small prizes, then finds out about the Super Pigorino bowl pizza-eating contest, with a $5,000 prize. On top of training without telling his parents, he has to take care of his brother Mal, who is autistic and only says “Okay.” Can David hide from his parents forever? Can he win the pizza-eating contest? To find out, read Slider, which I give 5 stars and recommend to anyone looking for a good comedy.