Overview

Jake Schwartz is back at San Paulo Junior High completely unprepared for his new celebrity status as the-boy-who-survived-a-gang-brawl. Facing unwanted attention from both foes and fanatics, Jake is out to make some changes-for better, or for worse. On the Eastside of town, Jake's former best friend, Danny Uribe, has stepped up in the ranks of the local gang, the Raiders. Now that Danny is calling the shots, he has to start making some tough decisions. Life as a Raider may not be all that Danny thought it would be. Meanwhile, Hannah Schwartz is starting a new school year at Costa Blanca Preparatory Academy. No longer perched at the top of the social ladder, Hannah must fight for her position on the popularity pole. But frenemies have set their sights on Hannah, and they won't make it easy for her to get ahead. And as for Dorothy Wu, no one is as excited as she is about starting the eighth grade. With her new drama class friends and her boyfriend, Prince Jacobim, by her side, what else could a Wu ask for? But Dorothy has never navigated rocky relationship waters before. Can she help save Jake from the moody blues? Or will Dorothy end up dumped in the trash can, too? In this remarkable follow-up to Trash Can Days, Teddy Steinkellner delivers a contemporary story that is as hysterically funny as it is heartbreaking. In the end, there will be epic dance-offs, stunning sleepover secrets, life-changing spin-the-bottle sessions, and-oh yes-lots and lots of cats.

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9781423169239

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Reviews

Being a teenager-at least in this book-is a lot like having multiple personality disorder. In the first chapter of the novel, Dorothy and Jake are typing the number 3407 into a calculator-it sort of spells LOVE upside down. By Chapter 20, Jake is TPing her house, and she's stalking him with a pair of binoculars. Every major character goes through a personality change. Danny is selling drugs for the Raiders in one chapter and fighting the gang members in another. After a while, MPD starts to feel like a metaphor for the entire book. Steinkellner is capable of writing nearly flawless sentences ( Darrell snickered like a female weasel is both funny and apt), but there are whole chapters of shockingly bad writing. Often, they're bad on purpose. There are lengthy excerpts from songs and stories written by the students: Never you mind that, my Handsome, ' Princess Dorothy said as she held Jacobim's head against her ample bosom . Unfortunately, they are not so bad they're good. They're just bad. The real problem is that reading the book feels exactly like being in junior high, complete with awful poetry. Anyone who loved predecessor Trash Can Days (2013) will keep reading to find out what happens next, but other readers may find themselves looking for a story without quite so many mood swings. (Fiction. 12-18) Kirkus

Author Information

Teddy Steinkellner (www.teddysteinkellner.com) spent all of middle school waiting for puberty to begin, and . . . okay, he's still waiting. Luckily, Teddy went on to graduate from Stanford University, and to write Trash Can Days: A Middle School Saga. He currently splits his time between Palo Alto and Los Angeles, California.

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