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Summary
Summary
Mitchell Wells may not survive eleventh grade. He really only has one friend, his best friend, David. His normally decent grade point average is in limbo due to a slightly violent, somewhat inappropriate Claymation film. And girls . . . well, does hanging out with his sister count? When David tells Mitchell he's gay, Mitchell's okay with it-but it still seems to change things. Since David's not out to anyone else, the guys agree to be set up with prom dates. But then one of the most popular girls in school decides she must date Mitchell, and he goes from zero to two girlfriends in sixty seconds. From his pending English grade to his floundering friendship to his love life (the one thing that's taken a bizarre turn for the better), Mitchell is so confused, he'll be lucky if he lasts another week in high school. And then there's the prom . . .
With a wickedly funny voice and a colorful cast of characters, Steven Goldman has written a novel for every reader-even those who like high school!
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-A side-splitting slice of male adolescence, this novel turns the spotlight on the ridiculousness that is the average, contemporary American high school experience, much as Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower (MTV, 1999) did a decade ago, but with funnier results. Scrawny and slightly naive 17-year-old Mitchell's best friend comes out to him at lunch in the cafeteria, his younger sister railroads his not-so-social social life, he turns in a sort-of pornographic claymation film in lieu of an English paper, and somehow he finds popular Danielle encouraging him to go up her shirt. The plot takes a backseat to gems of dialogue ("virginity.... Keeps your wrist muscles supple") and inner voice ("I imagine every student in my English class. If I only have erections for the females, I'm straight. It's really the only way to tell"). Combined with gags about the school administration, it all adds up to a story that's so funny and yet so realistic. As in most high schools, there is a lot of talk about beer, butts, and banging, but in his blase cluelessness, Mitchell analyzes rather than glorifies such things (e.g., the make-out scene where he can't figure out where to put his hands). Readers should be prepared to laugh a lot, and to say "aw" at the tender resolution. A must-have for fiction collections.-Rhona Campbell, Washington, DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Take one nudity- and violence-filled claymation film, a suddenly gay best friend and plenty of dry wit. Add a dollop of creative chapter headings and enjoy. Mitch's junior year suddenly goes off the rails when best friend David comes out one day. Things spiral out of control from there, through believable angst and the absurdities of high-school politics. When Mitch turns in his arts film for an English paper (on a book he hasn't read), he finds himself accused of religious mockery, his teacher disappears and he acquires a popular girlfriend. But the heart of this story revolves around renegotiating a friendship that no longer works the same way: If David is gay and Mitch and David do everything together, what does this mean for Mitch? Mitch and David are nobodies in the school hierarchy, the perfect perspective for astute observations of their world, and Mitch's strangely flat affect enhances the subtle humor of his first-person narrative. Debut author Goldman, who clearly understands how teen boys think and speak, delivers an understated, genuine delight. (Fiction. 12-16) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.