From: Hollis Rudiger <hmrudiger>
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 10:36:21 -0600

This book blew me away. It was so gritty, so on the edge (literally!) of so many taboos and "radical changes." I have heard many people say that the best choice the author made was to NOT let Troy lose any weight and thus gain access to any social cache. I agree, and I also love that his brother was skinny as can be, and even he wasn't satisfied with his body.

I kept thinking about Curt the character and Kurt Cobain. The former copped out in exactly the way the the latter (fictional though he may be) saved Troy.

I gave the book to one of our undergraduates last week- She is a music ed major and was curious about novels that have music themes, particularly those that would appeal to an alternative crowd. She was very excited about this book, and thought about using it with some kind of project about musical trends/genres, and having kids look critically, musically at the Punk scene. I thought that was pretty cool.

I have also heard discussions about how unrealistic certain things are: the military dad being so tender and flexible with Curt's addictions, the likelihood of a Troy character with no musical training ever being able to make it... I think of this book in purely allegorical or symbolic ways. It allows me to ignore those weak spots in order to highlight the themes of community, adolescent self loathing and self destruction, redemption, loyalty etc. Hollis

Hollis Rudiger, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706

hmrudiger at education.wisc.edu Voice: 608&3930 Fax: 608&2I33 www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Received on Thu 26 Feb 2004 10:36:21 AM CST