Orange County, directed by Jake Kasdan

Orange County, Paramount Studios, directed by Jake Kasdan, written by Mike White, 2002, ISSN # 079217514X

Summary:

No, it’s not The O.C.!  No, it’s not Laguna Beach!  It’s Orange County, and it’s a rollicking  wish-fulfillment fantasy for the average teen.

Scholastic underachiever Shaun Brumder has been coasting through life until the surfing accident which killed one of his friends.  He becomes enamored of the work of Marcus Skinner, a novelist who teaches at Stanford, and suddenly his life has a purpose:  Get admitted to Stanford.  Unfortunately, the useless guidance counselor sent in the wrong student’s transcript, and class-president Shaun is left in the cold.  His estranged workaholic father and spacy mother, who needs Shaun to negotiate her life, are no help.  One of his classmates is related to a trustee, but Shaun’s crazy family puts on such a show that he might even be blackballed.

Cue the Stanford road trip with his sweet, civic-minded girlfriend and slacker, drugged-out older brother, where they accidentally give Shaun’s brother’s Ecstasy tablets to the dean of admissions.  While his estranged parents are bonding under the awfulness of Shaun, his brother is busy setting the admissions office on fire and getting the dean arrested.  Stanford is receding farther and farther in the distance… While attending a campus party, he learns that there is no magic bullet conferred upon Ivy League freshmen to separate them from high school seniors, and a meeting with his idol, Marcus Skinner, helps to show Shaun that artistic beauty can be found anywhere.

Critical Evaluation:

The movie is written by Mike White, one of the few screenwriters whose names might be known to teens due to his writing duties on Chuck and Buck and School of Rock, amongst others (he takes a small role in this movie).  This is an example of the subsection of teen movies where the son is parenting the parents, and is rather effective within that dynamic.  A lovely, supportive, charming girlfriend is a rarity in a teen movie, and we are refreshingly presented with one who is an average person, rather than one too smart for the room.  The two lead actors are not the most obnoxiously good-looking teens either, which helps to add to the quality of the movie.  Though having Shaun be a praiseworthy writer when he’s only been interested for a year and written one story may seem a bit implausible, it also sends an important lesson to teens that they should never be afraid to move in a new direction or change their minds about anything.

Viewer’s Annotation:

Everything has come easy to Shaun Brumder until senior year – great grades, wonderful girlfriend, and a surf-and-sun life of privileged ease.  That is, everything except his mess of a family, who just might keep him out of Stanford and ruin his future writing career before it starts.

Director’s Information:

From http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/jake-kasdan/:

Rather than make his name writing splashy blockbusters akin to his father Lawrence Kasdan’s breakthrough script for The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Jake Kasdan earned his prodigy stripes with the sly, low-budget film Zero Effect (1998) and his astute direction on several acclaimed TV series. Born in Detroit, Kasdan was immersed in filmmaking since his early childhood. Growing up on his father’s sets, Kasdan appeared onscreen in The Big Chill (1983), Silverado (1985), and The Accidental Tourist (1988), but he knew that he really wanted to direct. Becoming a playwright while still in high school, Kasdan also worked as a production assistant on his father’s mid-life crisis drama Grand Canyon (1991) and penned a behind-the-scenes book about the Western epic Wyatt Earp (1994). Though the book was scrapped after Wyatt Earp tanked at the box office, Kasdan established a positive relationship with cast member Bill Pullman that would soon help Kasdan’s nascent movie career.

Dropping out of college to focus on his writing full-time, Kasdan subsequently started directing with a stage production of one of his works at the Hollywood Playhouse. Ready to write and direct his first film, and publicly noting that nepotism didn’t guarantee him anything, Kasdan managed to sign Pullman to play the lead for his detective comedy Zero Effect. Featuring Pullman as brilliant, agoraphobic detective Daryl Zero and Ben Stiller as his edgy associate and public representative, Zero Effect’s clever, offbeat humor and excellent performances boded well for the then-24-year-old Kasdan, although more than one critic noted that the pacing was too low-key for the film’s good.

Genre:

Comedy/Coming of Age

Curriculum Ties:

None.

Challenge Issues:

Underage drinking/drugs, language, and sexual situations.  If challenged, I would have positive and negative reviews at hand to share with the challengers to show that the issues were indeed considered before the DVD was added to our collection.

Why Included:

I well remember the drudgery of high school, the mountains of homework, and how seriously (and early) college prep and “career choices” are taken into account.  I thought it would be refreshing for teens to take a look at the process from the point of view of a late bloomer who needs a catalyst to point him towards his life’s direction.

Easy A, directed by Will Gluck

Easy A, Screen Gems, directed by Will Gluck, 2010 (ISSN # 043396362796)

Summary:

Trying to evade an unwelcome social offer, pretty but otherwise non-noteworthy teen Olive Penderghast tells one small lie, which is soon blown out of all proportion.  Before Olive knows it, she is a slut in the eyes of nearly the entire school, and its resident devout Christian, Marianne, is out to make her life miserable.  Olive eventually decides that if she has the title she might as well… start accepting some gift cards?!

Yes, while Olive does not plan to rent herself out as male stud reputation-maker, this is what occurs.  And it’s – well, fun, to have an identity at long last, even if it’s a notorious one.  At first, Olive helps only boys who need her help – a closeted gay classmate, the socially awkward and/or homely, and so forth.  It seems as if everyone is getting what they want out of the deal… for a time.  After a while, the fine line between fake-prostitution and real starts to blur.  Eventually she discovers that the thing about a reputation is, once you get one, it’s not so easy to shake, and the people you love may become collateral damage.

Critical Evaluation:

Olive is a charming and intelligent protagonist not afraid to act like a gawky fool or to admit she doesn’t have all the answers, which should increase teen-girl-viewer identification.  While this look at the insidious and dangerous effects of gossip is appreciated, the weak point of the movie lies in Olive’s being pegged as a slut from one sexual encounter  – surely the female student body is not one amorphous mass of chastity.  (The film is loosely based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, also a featured plot point, and it is possible the screenwriter was too enamored of the parallel to Hester Prynne to exercise a little restraint.)  Olive’s parents and preteen adopted brother are sweet and supportive but not plugged into every single thing Olive does or that happens in the high school en masse, which is a nice change from the usual fictive mom-and-pop meddlers presented to us in film.  Olive’s chemistry with her grade school crush Todd is another note played subtly, as he pops in and out of frame at the most unexpected, but psychologically appropriate, moments.  The film’s wit and overall avoidance of many typical genre clichés makes the underlying moral go down easily.

Viewer’s Annotation:

Have you ever pretended to be something that you’re not, for what seems like a really good reason at the time, only to have it backfire on you in some stupendous way?  Just ask Olive – she’s now the trampiest virgin in (Northern) California!

Director’s Information:

From http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/will-gluck/biography.php:

A filmmaker with skills in a multitude of areas behind the camera, Will Gluck began his career as a writer on The John Larroquette Show in the mid-’90s. He moved on to write for shows like Working, Grosse Pointe, and The Loop, projects that also helped Gluck become a producer. In 2009, he added director to his resume, helming the comedy Fired Up, which he followed up the next year with Easy A, starring Emma Stone.

Genre:

Comedy/Romance

Curriculum Ties:

English (could function as a companion piece to The Scarlet Letter); peer groups.

Challenge Issues:

Rated PG-13, a fair bit of casual profanity is included, and some sexually suggestive situations.  A pivotal point in the movie also occurs when Olive realizes the gift cards changing hands is basically the equivalent of prostitution, which could spur an interesting family or classroom talk about this and other issues in the movie.  If challenged, I would have positive and negative reviews at hand to share with the challengers to show that the issues were indeed considered before the DVD was added to the collection.

Why Included:

The film is, on the surface, a light and bright treatment.   But a sneaky moral and some dark implications lurk, showing teens the power and danger inherent in glib gossip and rumor, as well as the pitfalls in attempting to regain lost credibility or reputation.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, directed by Edgar Wright

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, directed by Edgar Wright (based on the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley), 2010, ISBN # 025192035289

Summary:

Scott Pilgrim is still naïve, earnest, and sweet at the age of 22.  He dates a high school senior, who seems smart, polite, and demure, despite her given name of “Knives”.  He leads a pleasantly hipster life, playing in a band with his best friends, and he thought his life was fine – until he meets magenta-haired Ramona Flowers.  Laconic and sharp, Ramona seems a perfect fit into Scott’s life – until he meets her seventh-grade ex-boyfriend.

And suddenly, he starts feeling a lot less guilty about already having a girlfriend.

Evil Ex can hurl ten-ton flameballs from his fingertips, which is surprising enough.  Scott dispatches him very handily, but then discovers that there are… six more to come.  Yes, his girlfriend has A Past.  And the more we know about her, the less we like her.  At a Battle of the Bands, it becomes a real battle (of the funky monsters), when one of the fights with two of the exes (twins no less) takes place in stereo.  Unfortunately, the Seventh Ex Scott needs to defeat is also the person who could make his musical career.  Is Ramona worth the repeated pummelings and poundings, or will Scott surrender?

Critical Evaluation:

The camerawork is frenetic and filled with tricks like split screen designed to imitate comic book panels.  The art director has also had a lot of fun with this movie, as the color palette is full of darks and exaggerated brights akin to comic ink.  Editorial cuts occasionally move like turning the pages of a comic book, where you find yourself looking at a completely different scene.  The playing of actual video games are a motif, as well as stylistic “homages” to video games – in fight scenes, instead of blood and guts, when people are kicked or punched they “bleed” gold coins, like Super Mario Brothers; and “hits” are scored in progress bars and similar.  The dialogue is quirky and occasionally witty, and teens who have grown up via video games and read the comic series will enjoy this fast, fun ride.

Viewer’s Annotation:

Scott Pilgrim is a laid-back, slouchy hipster, living in a grungy apartment with his gay roommate and shaking it up in a power-punk band with some of his friends.  He doesn’t appear to have a job, but who has time for a job, when you’ve got seven Evil Exes to defeat (each one worse than the first) before you can get with the girl you love?

Director’s Information:

From director’s website (http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/):

Although he’s only in his mid-thirties, award winning filmmaker Edgar Wright’s list of credits reads like that of a seasoned veteran. With projects like the UK series turned international cult phenomenon Spaced, the rom-zom-com Shaun of the Dead, and action/comedy opus Hot Fuzz, he’s evolved from a young film geek wanting to prove himself into one of the most sought after geeks working in film today.

Raised in Somerset, England, Wright embarked on his first epic at age 14 with a Super 8 short entitled, Rolf Harris Saves the World. He continued to make many more shorts after he won a Video 8 camera in a Comic Relief contest for his film I Want to Get into the Movies, an animated allegory about wheelchair access.

The series served as a launching pad for Wright’s first feature film as well as his continued collaboration with Simon Pegg with Shaun of the Dead, which he directed and co-wrote with Pegg. The film gained attention and critical praise internationally and was nominated for two BAFTA awards. Named by TIME magazine as one of the top 25 horror films of all time, it earned an Empire Award for Best British Film and a British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay as well as a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. Original zombie master George Romero went as far as to proclaim it as his “favorite zombie film.”

Genre:

Action/Comedy/Fantasy

Curriculum Ties:

None

Challenge Issues:

Possibly – the film is rated PG13, with some light alcohol use, lingerie shots, and male-on-male, male-on-female kissing (the majority of profanities are bleeped – no, literally).  If challenged, I would have positive and negative reviews at hand to share with the challengers to show that the issues were indeed considered before the DVD was added to the collection.

Why Included:

Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Juno) is quite popular with teens and this movie will have an inherent interest.  Teen patrons who enjoy the movie may be interested in reading the graphic novel series as well.

Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones

Bibliographic Information:

Dark Lord of Derkholm, Diana Wynne Jones, Harper Trophy 1998  (ISBN #0575075368)

Plot Summary:

The members of the wizard University are fed up.  The as-yet-unexplained “Mr. Chesney” has driven them to distraction for as long as anyone can remember with his “Pilgrim Parties”, tours of non-magical human “pilgrims” from an unspecified neighboring universe.  High Chancellor Querida was elected to deal with this issue, and so far she has failed.  Mr. Chesney is making money, and every other inhabitant of the land is being inconvenienced or bankrupted.

Enter Wizard Derk and his son Blade.  They are the only people fool enough to accept the honor of Dark Lord and Wizard Tour Guide.  Derk is a nice man, and rather creative, but occasionally bumbling in the bargain – his orchids change into man-eaters, his pigs now have wings, and in addition to Blade and human daughter Shona, he has hatched five griffin-children:  Kit, Lydda, Callette, Don, and Elda.  Each of the family members, human and griffin, have a part to play in the tour-centered hijinks that ensue, which only gets worse when Derk is injured and unable to fulfill his duties, leaving his children scrambling to compensate.  Along the way we meet Beauty and Pretty, a pair of Pegasus created by Derk; a large dragon named Scales, first foe and then friend; and assorted kings, warriors, elves, dwarves, marshfolk, werewolves, and more.  Blade has to learn to control his magic, Shona her temper, and the entire family must band together to solve the mystery of Mr. Chesney before their lands have a hope of returning to normal.

Critical Evaluation:

The story commences where every excellent story should commence; directly in the thick of the action.  The reader doesn’t know everything; but then again, we do not need to know – the backstory unfolds via dialogue instead of holding us hostage to long lyrical sections of exposition.  The “Pilgrim Parties” are a highly creative use of a traditional story trope, and a delightful framework through which our story can progress.  If the story has a flaw, it is that there are a lot of plot threads to keep track of (this was actually my second time reading the book, and I felt as if I had understood it better the first time, but this may be because I was changing my mind as I went about the interpretation of events that took place during my first reading).  Ms. Wynne-Jones, now sadly deceased, knew her craft well, and readers with a love of language will gravitate towards this book (a sequel, The Year of the Griffin, is also available).

Reader’s Annotation:

Wizard Derk has a taste for invention and a whole horde of hybrid animals – his children are both humans and griffins, his pigs actually fly, his horses do too, and his orchids (and geese) sometimes rush at people and attempt to eat them.  Unfortunately, he also has a major problem – he’s supposed to be the Dark Lord but now has injured himself so badly that he can’t, his seventeen-year-old-successor-son has never been trained in magic, and watching his family attempt to fill in the gaps while his wife runs AWOL just may be the ruination of the entire wizarding world he had intended to save.

Author Information:

From author’s interview (http://www.leemac.freeserve.co.uk/interview.htm ):

Her first attempts at books didn’t get published. “It took about ten years. When my children where small I didn’t really do very much because you don’t have the use of your brain. When they started going to school I sat down and started trying. There were lots of things I wrote that got turned down; there were rules that publishers had in those days that were strict and rather strange. To some extent it was my fault because I was determined to break most of these rules.”

She didn’t specifically aim her books at a certain market. “It came out that way. It’s partly the kind of book that I particularly didn’t have as a small child.” Most people start their career with short stories but she doesn’t find short stories that easy to write. “They take as much in a slightly different way as writing a long book and I’ve always preferred to write long books. Usually a book sort of divides itself into chapters. It’s quite fascinating actually, some books demand short, crisp chapters and others, like ‘Fire and Hemlock’ most of the time, seem to want enormous chapters. And all grades in between. It really is the needs of the book.”

Some of her books, like ‘Wild Robert’ are more for younger children. “When you’re writing something, as a rule, it doesn’t sort of aim itself. When you’re finished you think, ‘Oh, yes, this is really for the younger end’. It doesn’t apply to real tiny’s who have not quite learnt to read yet. That’s different because you really to settle down and make sure that what you’re doing is in the kind of words that people can read when they’re just learning.”

Her children provided a ready-made audience while they were growing up. “They always demand copies and used to read the typescripts, except the youngest who wouldn’t read it until it was a proper book. He said typescripts – which is right actually – turn themselves inside out if you don’t watch it and he didn’t like that. They always gave me terribly good advice too. Now they’ve grown up it’s not so easy.”

Doesn’t she find her books as entertaining for an adult as for a child? “Yes, now this is what I’ve discovered, actually. In fact, tremendous numbers of adults turn out to read them. I think what happens is that they start at the age of about eleven and they go on. It really does seem to work that way and I was terribly surprised about six years ago when I discovered this.”

Genre:

Humorous Fantasy (Magic, Mythical Creatures)

Curriculum Ties:

None.

Booktalking Ideas:

Read the section of chapter 10 where Blade and Shona are disastrously required to wrangle the soldiers.

Reading Level/Interest Age:

14+

Challenge Issues:

None expected, as the world may be fanciful but I feel as if the grounding of the story in farce makes the magical aspects, oddly enough, more prosaic in a completely charming way.  If challenged, I would have positive and negative reviews at hand to share with the challengers to show that the issues were indeed considered before the book was added to our collection.

Why Included:

Ms. Wynne-Jones was celebrated in the humorous fantasy genre fairly late in her career, but once publishers discovered her, they couldn’t get enough.  Even her books that slant younger can be suggested to older readers with equal enjoyment (the skill with which she essayed the long metaphor of The Ogre Downstairs filled me with writerly jealousy).

Slot Machine by Chris Lynch

Bibliographic Information:

Slot Machine, Chris Lynch, HarperTrophy, 1996 (ISBN# 0064471403)

Plot Summary:

Elvin Bishop, who is anything but elven in build, is required to spend his transition year between junior high and high school, at the “Twenty-One Nights with the Knights” summer program.  Each incoming student is “slotted” into a sport, the act of team bonding presumably designed to help ease transitions for the students.  Unfortunately, Elvin is good at no sports at all, and quickly bounces from football (must be his niche, right, he’s big), to baseball, to wrestling (where he shows some talent and gives it his all, but it’s just not working), to the religion sector, and just when we think you can’t drop any further than the religious sector, then comes the “Arts and Crafts” sector.  While Elvin is struggling and Mike is coasting on his athletic talent, Frank has fallen in with the alpha males of the school, but it is no walk in the park either, and may almost be worse than Elvin’s own tribulations.  Will Elvin’s stellar failure blight his future high school career, or will he triumph?

Critical Evaluation:

Elvin is an inspired and hilarious narrator, and the book is told in first person, which is the perfect choice.  The book is told partially through side-splittingly funny and frank letters which he writes to his mother, and it is a little frustrating that when we meet his mother, she makes no reference to any of the things going on in the letters – admittedly, Elvin is exaggerating in some of them, but not by much.  It does, however, give us an excellent idea of what Elvin is up against in life, with even a mother who sees him as a sort of lovable clown.  The story is packed so full of events, and Elvin’s tribulations so well described, that it is difficult to remember that the story is supposed to take place over a skimpy three weeks – the reader feels as if they are caught in torture along with him for 4-6 months.  Readers will feel enormous empathy for Elvin and may even find themselves wanting to give him a hug.

Reader’s Annotation:

Fourteen-year-old Elvin “Big Booty” Bishop is going to a summer program before starting his high school career, and the casual-masochism-disguised-as-male-bonding ethos of the camp is of no great help.  Abandoned by his mother, he must lumber unsuccessfully through nearly every athletic division of the camp, dealing with rude and harassing fellow students and even the camp brothers, who are supposed to be part of the solution, but instead are part of Elvin’s problem.

Author Information:

From http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/100964.Chris_Lynch:

Chris Lynch is the Printz Honor Award-winning author of several highly acclaimed young adult novels, including KILL SWITCH, ANGRY YOUNG MAN, and INEXCUSABLE, which was a National Book Award finalist and the recipient of six starred reviews. He is also the author of FREEWILL, GOLD DUST, ICEMAN, GYPSY DAVY, and SHADOWBOXER, all ALA Best Books for Young Adults; EXTREME ELVIN, WHITECHURCH, and ALL THE OLD HAUNTS.

He holds an M.A. from the writing program at Emerson College. He mentors aspiring writers and continues to work on new literary projects. He lives in Boston and in Scotland.

Genre:

Realistic/Humor/Anti-sports

Curriculum Ties:

None

Booktalking Ideas:

Read pages 6-8 where Elvin and the camp are introduced.

Reading Level/Interest Age:

14+

Challenge Issues:

Possible – there are several instances of hazing and bullying, including both Elvin and his friend Frank, some of which are cringeworthy.  If challenged, I would have positive and negative reviews at hand to share with the challengers to show that the issues were indeed considered before the book was added to our collection.

Why Included:

Chris Lynch is a very fine author who has written several YA books, but none with a narrator quite as hilarious as Elvin.  The book has a sequel, Extreme Elvin, which will be welcomed by readers who enjoyed this one, and is a good way to coax in reluctant readers.

Son of Interflux by Gordon Korman

Bibliographic Information:

Son of Interflux, Gordon Korman, Scholastic 1986 (ISBN # 0590438670)

Plot Summary:

Simon Irving has only one dream:  to become a famous artist.  Unfortunately, this brings him right up against his father, CEO of Interflux.  The Interflux corporation (slogan:  “A Good Neighbor”) is the world’s largest manufacturer of the world’s most useless objects (the hinges that connect your toilet seat, the balls upon which your ballpoint pen’s nib rolls, and 94 and 4/10% of the world’s zipper teeth).

While Simon loves his father, he hates Interflux with every fiber of his being.  He also has other plans for his life – plans to become a great artist.  The Vishnik Prize is the most prestigious art prize around, and winning it would surely prove to his father that art is his direction.  The problem is, his brilliant teacher Querada, whom everyone else idolizes in spite of (or perhaps because of) his extravagant tantrums, appears to hate Simon on sight, as well as everything he paints.

As Simon tries to find his feet in the performing arts high school of his dreams, he discovers that the warehouse for the Interflux zipper teeth is going to be built right through a section of the Nassau Arts campus, taking away most of the creative and freewheeling students’ green space.  All seems lost… or is it?  Happily, a clerical error where the school has reversed his first and last name allows him to go through Nassau Arts life under the alter-ego “Irving Simon”.  This also provides him with an excellent platform for a little social activism.

Creating the entity “Antiflux” (slogan:  “A Bad Neighbor”), he and his best friends, Phil (who always shows a lot of potential, but fails to deliver), and Sotirios “Sam” Stavrinidis (the distractingly handsomest boy in school), arrange to buy up an overlooked portion of land that will block the Interflux bulldozers from any conceivable way of demolishing Nassau Arts’ greenery.  Finding heretofore-unknown skills as an orator, Simon has the whole school contributing to the Antiflux sabotage campaign and eating out of the palm of his hand… except for the one girl he likes, Wendy.  Wendy is a lithe, attractive dance student, possibly the angriest girl he has ever met, and worst of all… she knows he’s not Irving Simon.  As the grinding of the bulldozers come ever closer, will Nassau Arts keep its park?  Who will win the Vishnik Prize?  Will Wendy spill the beans to the entire student body, turning them into an Irving Simon lynch mob?

Critical Evaluation:

Son of Interflux is chock full of charm and crams in as many sophisticated references and witty in-jokes as any episode of The Simpsons.  Parents will enjoy reading this book along with their teens or advanced tween readers, as jokes are geared for young and old (mah-jongg references snuggle up with escaped lizards).  The setting of a high school for the performing arts allows for much whimsy grounded in the exaggeration of wild creative stereotypes.  The supporting characters are pure joy, ranging from the young children’s novelist Bill MacIntosh (possibly patterned after the author – try spelling the proper names included in his novel-within-this-novel backwards for some sly fun); an “educational agent” who holds court in the hallway and will successfully liaise with the administration on your behalf; a pair of romantically involved opera singers who, together, tip the scales at some 500 pounds (“the quarter-ton couple”); and a student filmmaker whose hot-mess historical production (100 hours of raw footage and counting), has every student inexplicably vying to participate.  The subtle plot progression where the oft-reluctant Simon assumes more and more power over the student body allows the reader to see Simon’s development into prime CEO material before he does.  The conflict between Simon and his father over his future is done well, but never gets out of control, and while they are having some splendidly funny fights, there is no doubt that they continue to love each other.

Reader’s Annotation:

Simon Irving (sometimes known as Irving Simon) has to balance regular classwork; a feud with his maniacal genius art teacher Querada, who has never seen a painting of Simon’s that he did not hate and is a serious stumbling block to Simon’s hopes of winning the Vishnik Prize; and still manage to hide his secret life as the kingpin of an underground movement from his father, the head of the opposition.  He also hopes to make Wendy his girlfriend, except for the fact that she knows who he really is, and is the only student at the school who hates his guts.

Author Information:

From the author’s website (http://www.gordonkorman.com/biograph.htm):

Gordon Korman was born October 23, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. He wrote his first book, This Can’t be Happening at Macdonald Hall when he was 12 years old for a coach who suddenly found himself teaching 7th grade English … he later took that episode and created a book out of it, as well, in the Sixth Grade Nickname Game, where Mr. Huge was based on that 7th grade teacher.

His first book found a home with Scholastic, who also published his next 20 or so books, including six more Bruno and Boots titles, and several award winning young adult titles, among them my personal favorite, Son of Interflux. Scholastic still publishes many of Gordon’s titles, though Hyperion Press is also now printing some of Gordon’s stories.

Gordon eventually made one of his homes in New York City, where he studied film and film writing. While in New York, he also met his future wife, and they eventually married — they now have three children. He now lives on Long Island, outside of New York City, has approximately 55 books to his credit, and is currently contracted for several more, including the six volume On the Run adventure series, and new young adult and childrens’ titles.

Genre:

Realistic/Comedy

Curriculum Ties:

A high school creative writing class might really appreciate reading the book and learning about Mr. Korman, who was already a published author as a teen and yet had the sense to recognize he should still go to college (he graduated from the Dramatic Writing Program at New York University).  He also does speaking engagements for schools.

Booktalking Ideas:

Read aloud the section of chapter 3 where Simon goes to the land office to purchase the section of land he desperately needs to stop Interflux, and returns to the school to tell Phil.

Reading Level/Interest Age:

12+

Challenge Issues: 

None expected.

Why Included: 

This is a laugh-out-loud, squeaky-clean book for readers of all ages, and the fact that it features a male protagonist could be a plus for boys.  I have recommended to the young reader who has grown out of or read their way through the tween section, older teens of every reading level, parental reading aloud of an evening, and any levels in between.  Patrons will thank you and your worst problem will be living up to “do you have any more books like this one?”

Burger Wuss by M.T. Anderson

Bibliographic Information:

Burger Wuss by M.T. Anderson, Candlewick Press, 1999 (ISBN # 0-763-1567-6)

Plot Summary:

Anthony, an awkward 16-year-old with an interesting mind (he walks up and down stairs to “improve his calves and hams” and repeats “green sateen” to himself as a method of calming), joins his friends working at a thinly veiled McDonald’s manqué. (“The cardboard Kermit O’Dermott was playing his magical harp.  In commercials, it made beverages dance.”)  Not part of the “in crowd” except for his three-month romance with local beauty Diana Gritt, he has an elaborate plan for revenge on another O’Dermott’s worker named Tanner, a 19-year-old smoothie who hooked up with and then promptly dumped Diana.

After his first day, getting led into a beat-down with the rival Burger Queen franchise workers and spending an entire shift being taunted by the sadistic Tanner, Anthony allies himself with Shunt, O’Dermott’s resident vegan anarchist grill worker, the founder (and apparently sole member) of the activist group “Burger Proletariat”.  The two boys steal the Burger Queen troll, a fiberglass “promotional condiment dump” that stands four feet high, and hold it for ransom.  When the ransom note apparently sinks without a ripple, Anthony debates trying to saw off a finger or troll horn to send to management as the second wave.  Drawbacks lead him to abandon the plan… until Anthony reports Tanner for stealing money from his cash drawer and getting him to pull the grill fire extinguisher, contaminating every piece of food in the restaurant.  When his characteristically management-speak boss refuses to believe him and takes Tanner’s side, it’s time for another anonymous letter to Burger Queen’s management.  Burger Queen takes revenge in the form of a drenching intra-franchise softball game.  As the eve of the big O’Donnell’s national commercial shoot arrives, will Tanner get his comeuppance?

Critical Evaluation:

This is a wry, laugh out loud funny book with a sophisticated point of view, told in first person.  Protagonist Anthony is a spiritual cousin to Holden Caulfield, with a distinct thoroughness of speech, and teens should relate to his experience of first head-over-heels love with someone who did not return his feelings in the same way.  The novel excellently describes the frantic pace and milieu of a job in the service industry (author mentions in his cover bio that he worked at McDonald’s), and we feel Anthony’s pain in scenes where the customers blend into one asynchronous unit of demands.  If there is a weak point, the adult characters are occasionally portrayed as clueless stereotypes, but hilarious despite their familiarity.  The teens make up for it by being interesting and unique (amongst others, the supporting cast contains a pair of young men who go around town with spray paint cans, correcting ungrammatical examples of signage, and even other people’s graffiti).  Even while he is sabotaging his life, Tanner still occasionally shows a vulnerable side of his character to Anthony, only to pull the rug out from under him in some spectacular way.  The author goes light and smooth on the characterizations, avoiding the YA-typical trope of describing every single character down to their eye and hair colors and designer labels, giving the book a timeless and relatable quality which should allow any reader to be fully immersed in the story world.

Reader’s Annotation:

Sixteen-year-old Anthony gets a job as cashier at a burger franchise, secretly as a way to get revenge on swaggering employee Tanner, who hooked up with Anthony’s girlfriend for a single night and then dumped her.  Little does Anthony know, his coworker Shunt won’t stop until he brings the entire place down … and he has just volunteered to help.

Author Information

From author’s blog:

I worked at McDonald’s one summer when I was sixteen. It did not go well. On the first day, I had to go into the women’s bathroom and clean up something that looked like an industrial disaster. To keep people out while I mopped, I put up a sign on the door that said, “Out of McOrder.”

My manager almost fired me right then and there. He said I wasn’t taking the McDonald’s name seriously.

I pointed out that their corporate logo is a clown. Who is friends with a talking hamburger. How seriously do they expect to be taken?

Anyway, only a few of the scenes in the book are taken from life – like the scene in which someone pulls the emergency ring above the fry vat to see what will happen. Most of it was made up. The book is about people taking revenge on each other. It was incredibly fun concocting all of their schemes – all the ways they’re trying to trick each other. And it was fun planting the clues so the reader can guess who’s pulling a fast one on who.

Genre:

Realistic/Humor

Curriculum Ties:

The book could be used as a jumping-off point for a discussion about teen social activism or peer pressure.

Booktalking Ideas:

Read aloud from the section where Anthony goes to the woods to saw a piece off the troll and runs into the couple while holding his hacksaw.

Reading Level/Interest Age:

13+

Challenge Issues:

None expected.  A couple mild makeout scenes, but nothing beyond what one would expect of a book with a 16-year-old protagonist.

Why Included:  Mr. Anderson is also the author of the much-acclaimed Octavian Nothing series, and while in a different vein, this earlier work is excellent and underappreciated.