Starred review from July 30, 2012
Fourteen-year-old Harold Schernoff has a scientific theory for just about everything—from skiing and playing sports to illegally purchasing a car. With close friend Gary, Harold navigates the social minefield that is high school and tests his theories (many of which often end in disaster) in Paulsen’s novel about friendship. MacLeod Andrews delivers a pitch-perfect performance in this audio edition. The novel is told from Gary’s point of view, and Andrews narrates in a high, nasal voice, sounding like a boy on the verge of puberty, but regulating his pitch so that his reading never becomes cloying. Andrews also excels at other characters’ voices, deftly differentiates between Gary and Harold, and creates such a natural rapport between the two boys that listeners may forget he’s the only narrator. Ages 10–up. A Yearling paperback.
July 6, 1998
Two junior high boys lose their "uncool" status when they kiss girls and foil some football team thugs in this comedy set in the 1950s. "Joyfully unconventional thinking and quirky writing," said PW. Ages 10-up.
April 28, 1997
Two things make this book stand out from the crowd of school-based comedies. First, there's Paulsen's joyfully unconventional thinking and quirky writing. Second, this book is told in an unusual but effective way, narrated by an unnamed 14-year-old boy about his best friend, Harold Schernoff. The two buddies are plagued with uncool reputations, but it doesn't hamstring Harold. Among many developments, Harold learns to fish (and gets yanked into the river by his would-be catch). Harold skis. Harold joins home economics class (" `It's simply chemistry,' he said one morning while handing me a delicious apple tart that he'd just finished baking"). Harold kisses a girl, plays golf and works as a not-very-competent pin-setter at the bowling alley (the setting, lightly sketched, is northern Minnesota in the '50s). Harold even foils the football team thugs, dragging his best friend into respectability along the way. As in many of his novels, Paulsen matter-of-factly states the narrator's lousy home situation--indifferent, alcoholic parents--but brushes it off as a minor nuisance, something unfortunate but not central to his life. Instead, he focuses on the funny side of junior high. The humor is luminous in contrast to the faintly but deftly drawn shadows in the background. It's also a welcome boost to those who secretly fear that junior high uncoolness is a permanent state. Ages 10-up.