If you’ve read enough fiction for teens,
you might think that the setup for this week’s
Pick sounds pretty predictable:
An angry teen gets drunk, crashes his car,
is sentenced to do community service by visiting
the meanest geezer in town, then learns heartwarming
intergenerational lessons from the very same
geezer.
Like I said: This week’s Pick sounds predictable,
but actually, it’s anything but.
After Alex Gregory decapitates a gnome, wraps
his car around a tree, and vomits all over
the cop who’s come to arrest him, you’d
think his life could only go uphill from there.
Instead, Alex’s life gets significantly
worse when he’s sentenced to 100 hours with
Sol—a crotchety resident at the Egbert P.
Johnson Memorial Home for the Aged.
Alex begs his judge for mercy—offering to
double his community service time, if only
she’ll switch him to tree-planting or something.
No such luck.
Alex is stuck with Sol and, perhaps not surprisingly,
the two form an unusual bond.
Sol never becomes easy to get along with,
but as Alex finds common ground, he also learns
some lessons about the elderly, and about
Sol, and about his own life.
Lessons that even change his miserable junior
year into a memorable one.
I loved this book.
It’s hysterically funny and heartwarming
and awkward—everything a book for teens
should be, but rarely is.
Best of all, you’ll love the anything-but-predictable
Alex, who manages to be both sarcastic and
sweet as he stumbles, then finds his way.
