Obsessed with the idea of being in a band (despite the absence of any particular plan to achieve their goal), teenager Tom Henderson and his best friend, Sam, spend a lot of time constantly reinventing their dream: new band name, new stage names, full album concept. Still, Tom is more self-ironic than slacker and he knows he is far from being a cool kid. But he is an acute observer of his life, and in Frank Portman’s hilarious debut novel, Tom offers an adolescent commentary on education, family, friendship, sex, and more as he details the bizarre series of events that “pretty much destroyed the world as I had known it up to that point. And I’m not even exaggerating all that much. I swear to God.” Those events center on the possible mystery surrounding the death of Tom’s father years before, but the plot is really just a device to deliver this outrageously funny and surprisingly sensitive take on being a teenage boy far down on the social food chain. Portman crafts Tom’s unique voice with fresh, inventive language, while his style creates an immediate sense of intimacy between Tom and the reader. Whether he is describing the ubiquitous presence of The Catcher in the Rye at school (proffered by those eager teachers who loved Catcher as teens and “solemnly resolved that, when they grew up, they would dedicate their lives to spreading The Word”) or explicitly detailing his sexual encounters, Tom displays a mix of sharp wit, forthright honesty, and tender vulnerability that makes him feel like a friend—one who has no qualms about sharing everything that is happening in his life. (Age 14 and older)