Stupid Fast

My librarian friend Ms. Yingling in Ohio recommended this book for a Cybils award, and by jove, it won. So of course I had to read it right away, And for once a book I want for my Kindle was available at the library WHEN I WANTED IT! It's a miracle. And now that I've read this book, I think it's even more of a miracle that it was available. Makes me think not as many boys as girls have Kindles.

Felton has pretty much been a nerd his whole life. He's had some bad stuff go down, too, like his father committing suicide and then him finding the body. But he's been getting by. As long as he keeps his head down. Suddenly, however, even with his head down he's bigger than most of the other kids his age, and it turns out he's fast on his feet. Stupid fast. This gets Felton noticed by the jocks, kids who'd mercilessly teased him previously.

At the same time Felton's school life is looking up, his home life is falling apart. His mother is spiraling down into mental illness and neglecting both him and his younger brother who is also, understandably, freaking out.

Luckily, there are people around who generally help Felton figure out how to move forward.

A beautiful character study and a good amount of tension will make this popular with girls and boys. Again, too much swearing, although also not beyond normal teenage swearing, for the MS library. An excellent choice for HS collections.