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An Unlikely Friendship is at the Heart of Jennifer Weiner’s The Littlest Bigfoot
When I was in the sixth grade, David Ruddell stood on the hot blacktop of the school’s playground and told the entire class that I wasn’t wearing a bra. It was a day I’ll never forget because it was the first real moment in my life when I felt like a complete outcast. And there is nothing worse for a middle schooler than feeling isolated and different from their peers.
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No matter where you are from or how you were raised, you have at one point or another been the teenager who longs to fit in. Jennifer Weiner’s first foray into middle grade writing, The Littlest Bigfoot, will bring you back to that awkward and painful time in adolescence with disarming realism and a hint of whimsy. Fans of Weiner’s smart, well-crafted, and relatable adult novels, from the uplifting Good in Bed, to All Fall Down, with its darker themes of addiction, will be delighted to find that her storytelling is just as adept and pleasurable when aimed at a younger audience.
The Littlest Bigfoot tells the story of the friendship between twelve-year-old Alice Mayfair and young Bigfoot clan member Millie Maximus. Alice is a larger than most pre-teens, and has spent the first seven years of her educational career jumping from school to school due to an array of hilarious and unfortunate mishaps. From landing on top of the school’s music teacher after falling off the stage, to accidentally freeing the class turtle but sitting on the guinea pig, Alice can’t seem to find a place that suits her unique personality. But more than that, she can’t seem to find a friend she can truly relate to.
But she’s not the only one struggling to find a kindred spirit. Millie Maximus belongs to the secretive Bigfoot clan—yes, those Bigfoots; the hairy and elusive beasts that have long been depicted as terrifying and cruel to humans. Except Millie doesn’t have a problem with humans at all. Actually, she’s quite curious about them and can’t stop spying on the “No-Furs,” as they are known, much to the chagrin of her parents and fellow tribe members, who warn her against such dangerous actions.
When these two finally do meet, after Alice rescues Millie from drowning in a lake, a friendship blossoms that goes far beyond the fur on Millie’s body or the largeness of Alice’s frame. A friendship that just might stand up to those bullying Alice, as well as the hunters out to prove that Bigfoots really do exist.
It’s not just Alice and Millie’s story that Weiner so wonderfully weaves together. Secondary characters, including a lonely boy named Jeremy, and two friends, Taley and Riya, who all are searching for their places in the world around them, help to create a full picture of what life for a pre-teen really looks like. There’s also an underlying message of acceptance that will resonate with both kids and adults—the realization that that to a certain extent we are all “freaks” in this world, and that it is often the things that makes us the most self-conscious, which actually show how wonderfully unique we are.
The Littlest Bigfoot is a terrific book for readers of all ages to share together; if not for the glimpse into a fantastical world of Bigfoots and the adventures of Alice and her classmates, then for the message that we can all use reminding of from time to time: That friendships come in all sizes, shapes, colors…and even creatures.
The Littlest Bigfoot is on B&N shelves now.