What a fun read! Unique topic for a story, competitive eating. David mistakenly bids $2000 non a half eaten hot dog and must now try to earn enough money in completive eating contests to be able to pay for his mistake. I think young teens will enjoy this book.

This was a great book. I can see students in middle school, grades 5-8 really enjoying everything about this book. Many will get a kick out of all of the food, eating and reversal of eating talk. Many will enjoy reading about the relationship between David and Mal. And everyone will enjoy reading about the predicament David gets himself into at the very beginning of the book and how he tries to get himself out of it.

This was a good read. I really enjoyed David as a main character, and I learned a lot about competitive eating. I liked the family dynamics in the book, and I especially liked how the parents talked to David in the final family meeting.

Opening line:
"A sixteen-inch pizza, fresh from the over, is a thing of beauty."

This was a fun young-adult-ish story about family, friends and eating. Lots of eating.

David is obsessed with eating contest, so obsessed that he bids $2000 on an half-eaten hot dog from one of his heroes. He meant to bid only $20 but add a couple of extra zeroes. accidentally. Now, he needs to figure out a way to pay his mom back without her knowing he used her credit card. But how to accomplish this seeming insurmountable feat? By eating his way to it and winning the prize.
I liked this sweet cast of characters! David's family is by no means perfect but I did love that he had a mom, dad, sister and brother. David also has two best friends who are always there for him.
David is the middle child and often asked to look after his special needs brother, which David doesn't resent by does when everyone assumes he will watch over Mal. David is pretty proud of the fact that he is able to teach Mal and help him, but David feels he is overlooked or that no one really cares.

David's journey to fixing his mistakes takes him on a road of discovery, love, family and doing the right thing.

There are a couple of swear words.

Thanks to netgalley for the read!!

SLIDER was a fun, enjoyable read. A book about a teen, in this case, David, entering a food eating contest isn't one that I've read before. Major points for a unique premise. I know SLIDER will appeal to the students at my school, so I added it to my end of the year order. I cannot wait to book talk it and hear what their opinions are. Aside from the main focus of the contest, the story also has a serious side. David's younger brother, Mal, has autism and David seems to be the one both parents rely on to watch over/care for Mal. I really liked the scenes when it was just David and Mal.

Must have for any school library. Would make a good read aloud with plenty to discuss.

eARC provided by NetGalley for honest review.

The following review was published on my blog (blogginboutbooks.com) on 1.30.18:

There's only one thing David Miller is really good at: eating. As a growing 14-year-old boy, he's constantly hungry, which means he's always shoveling food down his hatch. He's never dreamed, however, that his talent for fast eating could actually earn him money. Not until he accidentally spends $2000 on a non-returnable item using his mom's credit card. Suddenly, he has to come up with some serious dough—and he has to do it before his parents get the bill.

While he's stressing about the upcoming eating contests he's entering, David also has to worry about his brother. As the unnoticed/ignored middle child, he's always stuck watching 10-year-old Mal, who's severely autistic. Plus, his two best friends are acting ... weird. Like lovey-dovey. It's almost as if they're trying to be a couple or something. Creepy.

With all the tension in his life, David's having a hard time concentrating on his main goal—winning enough money to pay his mom back before she realizes what he's done. Can he do it? It's time to put his stomach of steel to the test ...

Slider, a middle grade novel by Pete Hautman, is a warm, funny story about friendship, family, and, of course, food. Despite its lighthearted vibe, the novel deals with some serious issues and teaches valuable lessons about loyalty, acceptance, and appreciating perspectives that differ from your own. I've never read a book about competitive eating before, so that aspect of the story feels original to me. Slider is, overall, a fun story that will especially appeal to boys and reluctant readers. I'm neither, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as well.

(Readalikes: Um, I can't think of anything. Can you?)

Grade: B

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for brief, mild language (no F-bombs) and vague references to sex

To the FTC, with love: I received an e-galley of Slider from the generous folks at Candlewick via those at NetGalley. Thank you!

David loves the sport of competitive eating and he is pretty good at it himself. It's the one thing he has. Bring the middle child between a perfectionist older sister and an autistic younger brother makes him feel unappreciated. But he can eat. When he accidentally bids on half a hot dog for $2000 (long story) he decides to enter a pizza eating contest to pay his mom back.
This story had a lot of heart. David was a good kid trying to navigate the life he has been given. I wish the cover was a bit more kid friendly and appealing.

I did not expect to really enjoy a book about competitive eating, but I really liked this one. The character s likable and the situation was unique. Good for grades 5-7.

Pete Hautman has about 40 books out either as author or contributor. A few of them have hit my radar, but until this one I had not taken the plunge and read one. That will definitely change since reading this book. I have already added two of his other books into my reading pile, that currently sits at 166 titles. I picked up this book based on a recommendation from author Barry Lyga.

This is the story of David a young man who made a mistake and is trying to find a way to fix it. He was bidding on an online auction and added an extra space before the decimal space. Now he is trying to find a way to make the money before his parents find out about his mistake. In this book, competitive eating, family life, and a brother on the autism spectrum collide. David is trying to fix a wrong. But is trying to do so on his own.

David's only real skill and quick way to make money is to enter and win the Super Pigorino Bowl, the world's greatest pizza-eating contest. To do so he enlists the help of two friends as sponsors, loaning him money so he can go into training mode. But he also needs to spend time looking after his brother Mal. Mal is on the autism spectrum, and because of David's need to train, we start seeing some changes in Mal as he accompanies David to the pizza shop in town. And David is learning about the consequences of his actions.

This story does have a lot of humor in it. And is very entertaining. And yet it goes much deeper than the story of a kid trying to eat his way out of trouble. I was surprised a number of times while reading the story. Watching David grow and mature through the book was well written. David as a middle child who feels ignored, because of a brilliant older sister and a special needs younger brother. Watching his friendship with his two best friends Cyn and HeyMan, who are developing a relationship of their own. Made it a wonderful read.

As the oldest of three siblings, and the father of three children, this book helped me see birth order dynamics in a new light. Hautman has captured the family dynamic wonderfully and written a very entertaining novel in the process. I am glad I read the book and look forward to reading more by Hautman.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Slider, a YA novel centered on the world of competitive eating. Fortunately, though that's the main pot-driver, the book is about much more than that. David is in a bind, and he sees competitive eating, the one thing he thinks he's good at, as the answer. But he has to look after his autistic brother Mal while his mom is off finding herself, his dad works non-stop, and his sister enjoys college life. Or so it seems, anyway. Ultimately this book is about finding your strengths, dealing with different -- in the case of Mal, extremely different -- people, honesty, trust, and a good bit of growing up for everyone. I'm glad I read it.

This story is everything! It is about family, siblings, friends, honesty, responsibility, autism, and food... so many descriptions of food! This reads like a Middle Grade and is about finding your place in one's family, not coming of age, so even though the MC is fourteen years old I am considering this MG reading.

This quick read is chockfull of relatable characters including tight friendships and a caring family. While David's story appears to center around competitive eating and a glimpse of what that entails, it really brings out the caring relationship that David has with his autistic brother. In many ways, he deals better with his brother than his parents. David has a big heart, a responsible ethic combined with a great sense of humor that makes this read so very enjoyable. Highly recommend.

This is a story about David, who feels like no one notices him. His older sister is an overachiever and his little brother is profoundly autistic. David thinks he can make a name for himself with competitive eating but makes a tiny mistake with some decimal points trying to get a souvenir from his hero. In effort to keep this mistake a secret, he enters several eating contests. It's a good story that touches on themes of family and loyalty and being noticed.

Slider is a feel good middle grade novel about family, friendship, integrity, and responsibility. David is a 9th grade boy who enjoys hanging out with his two best friends, HeyMan and Cyn, and entering eating contests. He has an older sister in college who gets perfect grades and a younger brother who has autism. As the middle child, David feel slighted. "Because Bridgette is perfect and Mal is Mal, and I will always be a disappointment." David makes a mistake involving his mom's credit card and needs to get big cash fast. He enters a pizza eating contest and is on the hook to pay back not only his mom, but his friends too. Along the way, he spends a lot of time hanging out with his brother and learning about "Mal's Rules". Perhaps it's not them teaching his brother, his brother is teaching them. This book has tons of laughs and a few lessons. It show family imperfectness with lots of love, "There is no college degree in parenting." Great Read!

Everyone in the family has a "thing" and David's "thing" is competitive eating. This is a sweet and funny 'coming of age' story with a male protagonist that highlights relatable family and friendship dramas. I really liked seeing David as the kind and tender big brother to the severely autistic Mal as well as the mutually annoyed relationship he has with his big sister. The competitive eating storyline was surprisingly engaging and funny. Enough plot twists and turns to keep me turning the pages very quickly. I'll definitely share this with boys and girls in my middle school book club.

David Miller is a fan of competitive eating. But after a misplaced decimal point on a Buy Buy bid, David becomes a competitor. As David trains for the Pizza Bowl, his brother Mal “coaches” him. Ultimately–through pizza–David learns the meaning of family and commitment. If you liked Rules of Out of My Mind, you’ll like this.

This is an entertaining look at the world of professional eating through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy from Iowa. When David inadvertently charges his mother's credit card with $2000, he decides to enter a pizza-eating contest to repay her. My favorite parts of the story involved Mal, David's autistic brother who is homeschooled, and how patient and accepting he is in his care.

I can't even watch competitive eating contests, so I'm happily surprised by how much I enjoyed reading about them in Slider.

David is a likable 8th grader who happens to be really talented at competitive eating. He uses some very poor judgment one night and kind of runs up his mom's credit card, which leads him to searching for a way to raise some serious cash. So, of course he enters an eating contest to win the money, because why not? This book has humor, a realistic look at family life with a special needs sibling, and a couple of best friends who also aren't perfect, but are loyal and awesome friends to David. A fun read that was hard to put down, perfect for my middle schoolers.

This book was a lot of fun, but still had very touching moments. A warning to kids everywhere: Don't try this at home!

Sliders will have you laughing out loud from start to finish! Hand this book to any middle school boy and he will devour it!