Fourth Grade Journey

A Fourth Grade Teacher's Journey Through the World of Books

Sunday, May 24, 2015

King Dork by Frank Portman...

How I Heard About It:  Browsing the library shelves for my next audio book I came across this novel.  I recognized the title, but not sure where I had heard of it.  I checked it out and decided to give it a try.

What It Is About:  This is a bit hard to summarize, but I'll give it a shot.  Tom is a sophomore in high school.  He is described as a dork, actually a king dork.  Tom doesn't have many friends, but a few other "dorks".  He loves music and he and his buddies continually try to create a band with the coolest band name.  Tom comes across a copy of his dad's copy of Catcher in the Rye with a mysterious message inside of it.  His father died, but the way he died as remained a mystery.  After finding the book and the message, Tom begins a quest to find out what really happened to his father.  During this time he goes to see a therapist, tries to find the love of his life, and win the ultimate band contest.

What I Thought Of It:  This story was kind of all over the place.  I found it hard to follow on audio.  There was so much going on that I couldn't really keep track of everything.  I would enjoy parts of the story, but then other parts were not that interesting to me.  There were times when I was going to "abandon" the  book, but I stuck with it until the very bizarre ending.  I didn't love this young adult novel as much as I have with other books, but I could see high school readers really getting into this story.  

Who Should Read It:  This is definitely a story for high school readers.  I could see them relating to many of the different topics and themes that are covered throughout the book.  If the reader is a music lover, then I think they would also be drawn to the story of Tom and his sophomore year in high school.  

Rating:  3 STARS out of 5 Stars



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