Best Friends

Hale, Shannon. Best Friends. Book 2 of the Real Friends series. 2019. 256p. ISBN 9781250317452. 

Now that she is in sixth grade, Shannon fully expects life to be better. She's part of the in crowd, and her best friend Jen is the most popular girl in school. But all of the rules that Shannon thought she knew about how to behave at school turn out to be wrong! One's level of coolness is always one incident away from cratering, and the simplest mistake can make you an outcast forever. Well, at least for the day!

With so many things changing, it's now not cool to talk to some people. But Shannon like her friends, even if they are considered not cool by the it crowd. Shannon desperately want to be part of the it crowd, but she also doesn't want to lose her friends. So Shannon sets out to learn who sets the rules, and what can she do to change them!

A hilarious look at entering middle school, Shannon's daily discovery of new rules and the constant change that is swirling through her school makes for funny situations and many lessons learned. In the end, Shannon will need to find her own path and not rely on the cool crowd for guidance!

I Am America (And So Can You!)

Colbert, Stephen. I Am America (And So Can You!). 2007. 230p. ISBN 9780446580502. 

Having developed the persona of a right-wing conservative commentator, comedian Stephen Colbert mashes up strongly-held conservative views on several topics to present an hilarious look at what America should be. From strong nuclear families (because, in this age of possible nuclear war, any other type of family would be weird) to conservative views on sex (don't have any, at all. Unless it's to procreate. And then only once, twice, or maybe even three times, though that's pushing it, no one needs that many babies).

Knowing he is right, because his guts tell him that he is, Colbert expounds his views on topics such as race, religion, sports, Hollywood, and alternative media. Written almost a decade before Trump ran for President, Colbert anticipates fake news, and shows that the comedic opinions he holds metastasized into gospel for others who, fifteen years later, are mired to the wishes of a conservative America that never truly existed.

Ray vs. the Meaning of Life

Stewart, Michael F. Ray Vs. the Meaning of Life. The Publishing House, 2018. 275p. 978-1-989-13300-2. Available at FIC STE on the library shelves.

When seventeen-year-old Ray’s grandmother is killed by a grizzly, Ray has one month to discover the meaning of life so he can inherit a million dollars and Sunny Day, the campground where he’s lived his entire life. If he can’t, both his mother and his uncle Jamie will get everything. His mother wants him gone. His twenty-five-year-old sister, Crystal, an avid hunter, wants him dead. Tina, the girl he likes and the daughter of Salminder, the one person who acts like a father, has bigger issues to contend with than helping Ray in his quest. The summer guests have begun to arrive, and there’s still an iceberg floating in the pool. Fortunately Grandmother left some help for Ray through a paid contract with Dalen, a celebrity motivational speaker. Armed with platitudes and an infectious positivity, Dalen sets to assist Ray in not only finding what the meaning of life is, but also truly discover who the real Ray is, and in the process help the entire campground community. But will one month be enough?

Filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, Ray’s struggles are realistic and are told with humor. Containing much of the “wise” sayings from countless Internet memes, the wisdom disgorged by Dalen still represents the fundamental building blocks of philosophy, and through them Ray eventually figures out that one person’s meaning of life is not necessarily another person’s. Every reader will empathize with Ray’s heartfelt struggles to discover the meaning of life, and by extension himself. A brief attempt at awkward sexual activity makes this better read for older students searching for themselves as well as those looking for a humorous book.

100 Sideways Miles

Smith, Andrew. 100 Sideways Miles. 2014. 277p. 420 mins. ISBN 9781442444959. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

When he was a young boy, Finn Easton and his mother were walking below a bridge when a dead horse, poorly strapped to a flatbed truck and destined for the glue factory, fell off and crushed both of them, killing her and severely injuring Finn. Finn has no recollections of the time before the accident, and he feels no physical sequels except for the epilepsy attacks he frequently suffers from. When he’s about to pass out, Finn first begins experiencing different smells, then he loses control of his body before forgetting even words and thoughts. When he invariably comes back to, he’s usually hurt (an unprotected fall will do that), has been gone for hours, and is in an angry mood. Finn does not measure time, but rather distance, with the Earth traveling about 20 miles in space every second, the fall of the horse lasted 5 seconds, or 100 sideway miles.

Now a junior in high school and living in the San Francisquito Canyon, below the site of the collapse of St. Francis Dam, California’s biggest engineering disaster, Finn spends most of his time with his best friend, Cade Hernandez. Born to Argentinian immigrants, Cade and Finn look very similar, but Cade is everything Finn is not: popular with girls, charismatic, a leader of his class, the captain of the baseball team, an inveterate tobacco chewer and beer drinker. Cade keeps an eye on Finn for his crises, even though Finn’s dad hates him. Finn’s father, Mike Easton, is a writer and he wrote a famous book about aliens looking like angels coming to Earth through small doors and killing and eating humans. One of the main characters was inspired by Finn.

With the school year only weeks away, Finn is asked to introduce new junior student Julia Bishop to the school. No one moves school this close to the end of the year, and Finn is immediately smitten with Julia. She seems interested as well, but finds him laying unconscious in a pool of his own urine by the open door of his house one evening, wearing only boxers. That’s when she notices the mark on his back, the same mark left when angels’ wings are cut in his father’s book. Julia instantly make the connection. Finn has never wanted to be a character in a book, and has sought to escape his fate. With Julia in town, however, and with Cade as his wing man, Finn attempts to rewrite his ending so that he can finally become his own man.

A raunchy and hilarious tale which combines actual history with a coming-of-age story, readers who enjoy Finn’s trials and tribulations should take a look at Grasshopper Jungle by the same author.

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora

Cartaya, Pablo. The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora. 2017. 256p. ISBN 9781101997239. Available at FIC CAR on the library shelves.

Thirteen-year-old Arturo’s family is intense. His grandmother owns one of the best restaurants in all of Canal Grove, a neighborhood in Miami. His mother now runs the restaurant, but Abuela visits often. Many of his relatives work here too, and they all live in the same apartment complex. The family would love to enlarge the restaurant, which sits on a city-owned property, by using the empty lot next door, also owned by the city. But William Pipo, a developer with deep pockets, wants to throw a large complex on the entire block.

At the same time, the daughter of Arturo’s mother’s best friend, and her father, come from Spain to spend a few months in Miami with the family following her death. Arturo remembers her as a lanky kid, but in the last few years she’s turned gorgeous. Arturo is pretty sure he’s in love with her, but even though she’s not related she feels like family.

So Arturo’s plan for the summer is simple. With his best friends away to camp and traveling, there’s only three things to do. He must save the restaurant. He must get Carmen. And he must make his Abuela proud of her favorite grandchild. Except that nothing is about to work out, and Arturo’s life is going to experience an epic fail. Refusing to let failure ruin him, however, Arturo is about to have the summer of his life!

Archie, Vol. 1

Waid, Mike & Fiona Staples. Archie, Vol. 1. 2016. 176p. ISBN 978-1-62738-880-1. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

Archie and Betty have been best friends since they were toddlers. They did everything together. Now juniors in high school, things continued apace until Betty’s friends tried to change her so she would become one of the girls, and not continue her pursuits of mechanics and video games. They wanted her to reveal her inner “hotness,” but the process undermined her relationship with Archie through the now infamous “lipstick” incident.

Now apart for the first time, Archie and Betty are trying to navigate life and high school. Jughead keeps a cool head and attempts to help his friends by not rushing them back together. Unfortunately Veronica Lodge moves to town and attends Riverdale High, her first experience of public school, and she is immediately smitten by Archie as he accidentally destroys her new house. Anything that makes her daddy mad is a good thing for Veronica. Reggie Mantle, meanwhile, plans on getting in Mr. Lodge’s good graces. When approached by Betty and Jughead to break up Archie and Veronica, Reggie is only too happy to oblige.

Archie’s band and universe is all back in this re-imagining of the town of Riverdale, updating it to today’s smartphones and contemporary clothes but retaining the essential elements of interpersonal conflicts and relationships. With crisp illustrations and smart dialogues, fans of graphic novels will appreciate this new take on a story 75 years in the making.

Dewey Fairchild: Parent Problem Solver

Horn, Lorri. Dewey Fairchild: Parent Problem Solver. 2017. 245p. ISBN 978-1-944995-16-4. Available at FIC HOR on the library shelves.

When you are in middle school, the behavior of your parents can be so embarassing. Dewey Fairchild has a knack for solving this mortifying behavior by addressing the parent’s issue at the root of this conduct. In fact, Dewey is so good that he has started his own business solving other people’s problems, and his business is so successful he has hired a secretary, Miss Clara who was his babysitter back in the day. An excellent counselor and baker, Clara really helps Dewey stay organized. She’s also a great alibi for when Dewey has to do long-term reconnaissance work at the house of his target. Plus, her baking abilities enhance both the smell of the office and his ability to regal his customers with ever shifting types of cookies,

No case is too small or too difficult for Dewey. His best friend’s mother is overprotective and will not let her do anything because she is worried she will get hurt. Solution? Spend as much time with her, even if this means get in the bathtub with her mother. Another student’s father constantly pick his nose, burps, and snores. After observations, Dewey realizes that he has a medical condition. Yet another student’s mother is extremely neat. A cat poop incident having caused this issue, a solution is to fake eating cat poop again.

Dewey might have met his match, however, when he overhears his parents discussing moving to Alaska. Dewey, his four-year-old sister, and his mother all want to stay here, but his father is looking for a better opportunity. Can a parent problem solver solve his own parent problem so that he can stay here?

The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories

Pratchett, Terry. The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories. 2017. 256p. 235 mins. ISBN 9780062653116. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

How annoyed would a witch be if her vacuum cleaner was mistaken for something other than her mode of transportation? What if small people build a submarine and ended up floating all the way to the sea? What if a random encounter for directions turned into an airship adventure of a lifetime? These tales and more fill the pages of this humorous book. A total of fourteen different stories, some of them featuring recurring characters, showcase the light fantasy settings Pratchett was well known for, including his exploration of the Old West … of Britain, meaning Wales, time travel both back a few hundred years and all the way to the time of dinosaurs, and the tales of fantastic creatures including trolls and gnomes.

At age seventeen, Terry Pratchett sold his first story. While a journalist for a local newspaper, he continued to write and improve his craft. The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner and Other Stories feature fourteen of his early tales, which have been experienced minor updates. The audio version is well engineered and feature sound effects that enhance the narrator’s delivery of voices and setting. Fans of Pratchett’s work as well as light fantasy will enjoy these tales of wizardry and magic.

Boy Meets Boy

Levithan, David. Boy Meets Boy. 2003. 185p. ISBN 0-375-82400-6. Available both at FIC LEV and as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Paul has always known he is gay. Even in kindergarten, Paul’s teacher knew and told his parents. Paul is fine with that, that’s just who he is. The kids at his high school are very accepting of Paul as well as of the other students with different gender identities. There is Kyle, who used to pine for Paul but their breakup left behind some scars. There’s Infinite Darlene, who is both the captain of the football team and homecoming queen (making many of the girls mad). There’s Jenny, who dates Chuck, much to Trevor’s dismay. And then there’s Noah. Gorgeous and smart Noah. Paul is immediately attracted to Noah when they first meet in a bookstore, and at first their relationship proceeds with caution.

Soon, however, the two of them become more involved, but one incident breaks up this relationship. Now Paul is devastated. To regain Noah’s trust, Paul will have to pull all the stops and cajole his friends in helping him achieve his goal of once again being part of Noah’s life.

An unrealistic school environment, the universe in which Paul and Noah operate nonetheless holds lessons in acceptance and understanding that apply everywhere, including in our own daily lives.

Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Eve and Adam

Tiller, Jerome. Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Eve and Adam. 2017. 66p. ISBN 9781939846136. Available at FIC TWA on the library shelves.

If Adam and Eve had kept diaries after their creation, this book shows what they might have said about each other. This book combines two of Mark Twain’s funnier short stories into a package where each individual’s thoughts are presented against what the other is doing. While Eve is busy naming everything, Adam is wondering why she bothers him with her speech all the time. Women being from Venus and Men from Mars, the two of them find it hard to agree on anything, but eventually they realize that they belong together. Illustrations add to the story and provide more details. Fans of humorous texts will find their fill with this short read!

The Frog Princess Returns

Baker, E. D. The Frog Princess Returns. Book 9 of the Tales of the Frog Princess series. 2017. 196p. ISBN 978-1-68119-137-9. Available at FIC BAK on the library shelves.

Previously, Princess Emma, the Green Witch had been turned into a frog and had met Prince Eadric, who had suffered the same fate. Now the two of them are humans again, and are spending time in Emma’s kingdom, Greater Greensward. The two lovebirds’ peace is disturbed, however, when Princess Adara arrives in the royal carriage of Eadric’s parents. Claiming to be a distant relative, it is clear to Emma that Adara is very attracted to Eadric.

At the same time, all is not right in the world of the fairies. Queen Willow, the fairy queen, has disappeared, and three fairies are standing for an election to choose the new ruler of the fairy world. Unfortunately, all three are deeply flawed characters that are not liked by a majority of the other fairies, and they offer drastically different programs towards their relationships with the humans. When local plants become afflicted by electoral logos, Emma is asked by the fairies to intervene.

Taking Eadric and Adara with her, Emma investigates who is behind the plants’ destruction and realizes that it will take quite a bit of effort and magic to track down Queen Willow and restore peace to the area.

Filled with dragons, fairies and magic, this light tale is a perfect read for fans of humorous fantasy.

Going Bovine

Bray, Libba. Going Bovine. 2009. 480p. ISBN 978-0-375-89376-6, Available at FIC BRA on the library shelves and as an eBook on Overdrive.

During a trip to Disney World when he was 5, Cameron Smith jumped out of the It’s a Small World ride to join the land of the Innuit. At the time, he and his twin sister Jenna were best friends and did everything together. That trip was the highlight of Cameron’s life. Now at sixteen, Cameron is a loser. He’s failing school, he’s high at least once a week, he has a lame job at Buddha Burger, he doesn’t have a girlfriend and he has no prospects whatsoever, and his sister Jenna hates him. She’s one of the popular and smart kids at school.

His parents are concerned about him, but the only thing that lights Cameron up is the Great Tremolo, a Portuguese singer who uses a recorder. The music is so bad Cameron can’t get enough of it. When Cameron begins to see hallucinations, he first ascribes it to the drugs he’s doing, but soon the fire giants that haunt him feel more real. A series of medical tests later, Cameron is discovered suffering from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, otherwise known as mad cow disease. Always fatal, Cameron now finds himself in a hospital bed with no hope.

That’s when Dulcie shows up. An angel he saw at Buddha Burger, Dulcie tells Cameron that he must leave the hospital and take a road trip to find Dr. X. Dr. X discovered how to travel to other realities, and he unwittingly unleashed the fire giants on this world. Only Dr. X can provide Cameron with a cure. Accompanied with Gonzo, a high school acquaintance who occupied the hospital bed next to him, Cameron must now cross the United States looking for random events that seem out of place. Chased by men of the United Snow Globe Corporation, Cameron and Gonzo will rescue a Nordic god named Balder currently caught in the body of a lawn gnome, discover great music, find religion, meet the love of their lives (at least, they think), all the while with the fire giants and the Wizard pursuing them. Can Cameron find Dr. X before it’s too late?

A humorous and sometimes confusing book, Cameron never seems to know whether he is still hallucinating in the hospital or whether he is in fact traveling on the road. Fans of King Dork will appreciate the musical references and the contemporary language Cameron uses to explain away his mediocrity and his disease.

Crows & Cards

Helgerson, Joseph. Crows & Cards. 2009. 348p. ISBN 9780618883950. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

In the 1830s on the bank of the Mississippi, Zebulon Crabtree is old enough to leave home and find himself a trade. At least, his parents think so. With many mouths to feed at home, they believe it’s time for the boy to go make something of himself. And since he’s afraid of water, of heights, of splinters, and of just about anything, Zeb is turning down every idea his father throws at him. Which is why Zeb finds himself on a riverboat on the Mississippi River heading south to St. Louis where he will be an apprentice to his uncle, who is a tanner. Being allergic to fur is just too bad for him.

Zeb doesn’t plan on following through with his parents’ plan, however. On board the boat he meets Chilly, a pure gentleman of the South. Hearing of Zeb’s unfortunate destiny, Chilly offers to take Zeb up as an apprentice in exchange for the $70 he was supposed to give to his uncle. Chilly is a gambler extraordinaire, and he tells Zeb he can introduce him to the life of the Brotherhood, a group that takes money from the rich and gives it to the poor orphans. Of course, none of that is true, but Zeb is enough of a rube to fall for it.

Soon Zeb finds himself the unwitting accomplice of a man bent on fleecing most of St. Louis in his gambling den. Zeb runs a telegraph, a wire that tells Chilly the cards his opponent has so that he can make the appropriate bets. But in this sea of denizens, Zeb also meets a slave cook who looks out for him, and old professor versed in the art of cheating, a con artist running a medicine show, as well as an ancient Indian chief and his pretty princess daughter. Though blind, the old man can see through the spirits, and Chilly is more than eager to try to win the gold crown he received from the King of Prussia. Zeb’s ride through St. Louis will be a memorable one!

This Is Just a Test

Rosenberg, Madelyn and Wendy Wan-Long Shang. This Is Just a Test. 2017. 244p. ISBN 978-1-338-03772-2. Available at FIC ROS on the library shelves.

As the only Chinese Jew he knows aside from his sister, David Da-Wei Horowitz feels very different from everyone else, especially as he’s preparing his bar mitzvah. David’s mother is Chinese, and her mother lives with them. David’s father is Jewish, and his mother lives a few blocks away from them in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Both grandmothers are always competing against each other to see who can cook the better dish, who can better care for the family, and who is loved more. David feels like a ping pong ball between the two of them, always trying to avoid offending either grandmother. Each grandmother endeavors to win David’s affection but rather successfully manage to embarrass him.

At school, David and best friend Hector are mostly ignored by the others, but when heartthrob Scott asks them to join his school trivia team, David jumps at the chance. He hopes to learn how to talk to the girl he likes, Kelli Ann. The three of them begin getting together to practice. Stressed about the upcoming school trivia tournament, David is also worried about his bar mitzvah, especially since both grandmothers are trying to plan it for him, and it has to top his cousin Jacob’s own celebration last year. However, looming larger in David’s mind is the possibility of nuclear annihilation. In this year 1983, both Americans and Soviets are facing each other in a Cold War, and each side has enough nuclear weapons to achieve mutually assured destruction. David is constantly worried that the bombs are about to fly, especially after watching a television special, The Day After. He decides to help Scott build a nuclear shelter in Scott’s back yard, where there will only be room for two, as Scott finds Hector weird. Can David reconcile his friends and manage to avoid dying of embarrassment at his bar mitzvah, or will the Soviets launch a nuclear attack and end it all?

The stress on children of living in the Cold War is palpable in this entertaining book. For other books representing life during the cold war, take a look either at A Night Divided, another historical book where an oppressive society, in this case East Germany, attempts to control the thoughts of its citizens and how a teenage girl fights back, or at The Enemy, taking place in the United States in the 1950s.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Kamkwamba, William and Bryan Mealer. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. 2009. 273p. ISBN 0-06-173032-7. Available at B KAM on the library shelves.

Located in the southeastern part of Africa, Malawi is a relatively poor country. William Kamkwamba’s parents were poor farmers who struggled to make ends meet, but when a famine struck their country they could no longer afford to send William to school. Always eager to learn, William decided to go to the local library instead. There he read a book that changed his life. Titled Using Energy, this book gave William a great idea: Why not build a wind generator to create electricity for his house?

Working hard and scrounging parts throughout the area, William was able in 2002 to erect his own power-generating windmill, and suddenly his family was the only one in the village to have electric light at night. With this plentiful power William could recharge phones and radios, and started making money. Using the same principles, he build a water pump for his mother so she wouldn’t have to make the long round trip every day carrying cans of water.

Though his neighbors all thought he was crazy, William’s dedication and drive to succeed helped him earn international fame through a TED talk and scholarship opportunities to study, first in Malawi, then at Dartmouth College. It also improved the lives of his village’s residents, and proved that it is possible to find solutions to problems that appear intractable.

Jake the Fake Keeps it Real

Robinson, Craig and Adam Mansbach. Jake the Fake Keeps it Real. 2017. 135p. 107 mins. ISBN 978-0-553-52351-5. Available at FIC ROB on the library shelves and as audiobook from Overdrive.

Jake is thrilled to have been accepted into the Music and Art Academy for the gifted and talented, a magnet middle and high school in his district that attracts the best and brightest musicians, artists, and creative students in the area. For his audition, he relentlessly practiced “Song for my Father” and performed it flawlessly. The only problem? Jake can’t play anything else. He can’t improvise on the piano. He can’t even read the notes. In fact, Jake is a complete fraud. He doesn’t belong in this school, since he believes he has no talent whatsoever. His sister, Lisa, is now a senior at the Music and Art Academy, and Jake plans on getting rides from Pierre, Lisa’s boyfriend. Lisa is the perfect daughter, perfect girlfriend, and perfect person. Like a unicorn, she’s one of a kind and it’s hard for Jake to follow in her footsteps.

Now that he’s in, however, Jake has a few weeks to figure out what his talent is before the school’s talent show exposes him as the untalented person he thinks he is. With his new friends Azure and the other students in Mr. Allen’s homeroom, Jake plans on re-inventing himself and figuring out what to do before the show. Should he perform the only song he knows again, or will Jake be able to joke his way out of this predicament?

Hilariously written with funny illustrations to boot, this short book will be appreciated by fans of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

The Hitch Hiker Guide’s to the Galaxy

Adam, Douglas. The Hitch Hiker Guide’s to the Galaxy. 2002. 216p. ISBN 0-345-45374-3. Available at FIC ADA on the library shelves.

Arthur Dent lives a miserable life. His house, he has just found out, is about to be demolished so that a road can be built. As the bulldozers start to crawl towards his house, he shaves, dresses, then leaves and lays down on the ground. The foreman attempts to convince him to get up, but Arthur refuses, holding up the project’s timetable. Passing by, his friend, Fort Prefect, convinces Arthur to follow him to the pub while the foreman lays down in the mud, taking his place.

At the pub, Ford announces loudly that the end of the world will happen in twelve minutes. He plies Arthur with drinks, telling him that he’ll feel better. Arthur is not sure what is happening, and when he hears the sounds of demolition he realizes his house has just been knocked down. Not of that matters, however, as the Earth itself is about to be destroyed by a Vogon construction fleet so that a galactic highway can be built in this sector.

Transported from Earth to the inside of a Vogon ship, Arthur and Ford barely escape the planet’s destruction.. Ford reveals that he’s an alien from Betelgeuse who has been conducting research for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the most comprehensive space encyclopedia. He’s been stuck on Earth for fifteen years, and now he’s pretty happy to be off.

Meanwhile, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Galactic President, steals the Heart of Gold, a ship that travels on improbabilities. When Ford and Arthur are ejected from the Vogon spaceship, they are, improbably, collected 1 second away from death by Zaphod, who turns out to be Ford’s cousin. Along with Trillian, a human female Arthur had met before, and Marvin, a depressed android, they set off on the quest to rediscover the planet Magrathea, which originally designed Earth. Riotous adventures take place as the crew learns to deal with one another.

Originally a radio show, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has been produced as a novel and as a movie, and continues to be popular both as a comedy and as a space opera novel.

As You Like It

Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. 2014. 120p. 148 mins. Available at 822.34 on the library shelves and as an eBook on Overdrive.

The Duchy is in turmoil after the Frederick has overthrown his older brother and taken his place as Duke. He has removed all of the previous occupant’s friends, except for his daughter, Rosalind. Frederick’s niece is allowed to stay at court since she is best friend with Frederick’s own daughter, Celia. The two of them flee court, however, and find refuge in the Arden forest with Touchstone, the court foul.

Meanwhile, Orlando had fallen in love with Rosalind at first sight back at court, but is treated very poorly by his brother Oliver. He also decides to leave his estate (really his brother’s), and arrives in the Arden forest. Rosalind and Celia have disguised themselves, one as a boy named Ganymede, the other as a poor woman.

Orlando rejoins the overthrown Duke’s entourage in the forest, and he is soon writing poems to Rosalind on the forest’s trees. Rosalind as Ganymede joins Orlando and helps him “act out” his desires for Rosalind with him and counsels him on the proper way to do so. And as the shepherdess Phoebe falls in love with Ganymede, they all find themselves hopelessly lost in a love polygon.

Ganymede decides to resolve this situation by untying all of the intrigues, and soon all main characters are married to their love. An announcement is made that Frederick has renounced the throne and is joining a religious order, and they all return to court.

A light and lively comedy, As You Like It is famous for one of Shakespeare’s most well known speeches, “all the world’s a stage,” and also features the sentence “too much of a good thing.”

King Dork

Portman, Frank. King Dork. 2006. 344p. ISBN 0-385-73291-0. Available at FIC POR on the library shelves.

Sophomore Tom Henderson refers to himself as King Dork, the dorkiest person at his school. For the last several years, Tom has had a hard life. His father, who worked for the police department, died in a hit and run years ago. His mother never recovered, and even though she remarried (to a man named Tom), she’s not very present in her children’s life. His little sister Amanda hates Tom (the new husband, nor her brother, although that is still up for debate). Tom doesn’t have many friends, and he spends most of his time with Sam Hellerman, a fellow dork. The two of them have been talking about forming a band for years, but they don’t have instruments so that’s a problem.

They are picked on at school, both by the hateful girls and the depraved jocks as well as by Mr. Teone, the assistant principal responsible for freshmen and sophomores. Tom and Sam do not have girlfriends, and are unlikely to ever find any. In brief, their lives are the stereotypical maladjusted teenager suffering from angst and a propensity for prescription medication (in Sam’s case). So, the beginning of their sophomore year is guaranteed to be terrible, with books like Siddhartha. And it is, when for the second year in a row they are assigned The Catcher in the Rye to read. Tom really hates the Catcher in the Rye, not necessarily because of the story but because all of the adults consider it a rite of passage and apparently have drunk the Holden Caulfield kool-aid.

But when Tom discovers his father’s book collection, everything changes. There are several notes, underlined passages, and secret codes that seem to indicate that his father and a character named Tit, were involved in something big. Was his father actually murdered? Did he commit suicide? Who is Tit? Tom will take steps to investigate this mystery but by doing so will find himself hopelessly entangled with the Hillmont High School community. Who knows, he might even get a girlfriend out of this terrible year.

Fans of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl will thoroughly enjoy Tom’s outlook on life and the coarse language and vulgar thoughts that populate his mind. This book doesn’t mince words but is also hilariously funny. Want to experience rock and roll, teen angst and sex, and discover a mystery at the same time? King Dork is the book for you.