Sunday, May 13, 2007

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie


Lubar, David. 2005. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie.

Looking for a practically perfect narrator? You may just find it in Scott Hudson. Scott is a thoroughly likeable character. Starting his freshmen year in high school is a little unnerving to Scott. He’s unsure of how exactly he’ll fit in. Oh, he knows he won’t be a popular kid by any means. But he wants...almost above all else...is to get the girl of his dreams to notice him. Watching Scott chase Julia can be fun. When he thinks she’s on the newspaper staff, guess who volunteers? When he thinks she’s going to be class president, guess who runs for student council. When he thinks she’s going to be in the school play, guess who tries out? Scott’s problem, Julia didn’t make any of those activities. So now he’s on the school paper, a sports columnist ; he’s elected to the student council as one of three freshmen representatives; he’s placed on the stage crew of the production of Tale of Two Cities. As his schedule becomes even more chaotic, he starts to realize that maybe just maybe there are other girls out there worth noticing. Girls without boyfriends on the football team.

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie is a funny book. It chronicles Scott’s life from the first day of school to the last. It chronicles his love life (or lack thereof), his friendships, and his homelife. For example, Scott finds out at the beginning ot the school year that his parents are having another baby. No longer will he be the ‘baby’ of the family. A new one is on the way, and already things are changing. The most enjoyable parts of the book, at least for me, are the letters he writes to his still unborn sibling. Advice on life, girls, school, etc.

1 comment:

Anne said...

And it was also named the winner of the 2006 Thumbs Up! Award (Michigan Library Association Printz-ish award for teen literature). What a great one!