Reader Response to Stoner and Spaz by Ron Koertge
Inside cover reads:
For 16 year old Ben Bancroft- a kid with cerebral palsy, no parents, and an overprotective grandmother, the closest thing to happiness is hunkering alone in the back of the Rialto Theatre, watching Bride of Frankenstein for the umpteenth time. Of course, the lastperson he wants to run into is drugged-out Colleen Minou, resplendent in ripped tights, neon miniskirt, and an impressive array of tattoos. But when Colleen climbs into the seat beside him and rests a woozy head on his shoulder, Ben has that unmistakable feeling that his life is about to change.
My Rxn:
i have mixed feelings about it. It's a great bildungsroman. Ben is a typical teenager who's CP has left half of his body deformed. Any guy between the ages of 14-17 would like this book. The content, however, is not classroom appropriate. It's a very fast read. I polished it off in about 5 hours. The tone of this story is just how I like it. Biting sarcasm. things don't end happily ever after, either. we're left hanging. we wonder about Ben's future. so I like it. It'll get some guys to read a book. Extra bonus points for using resplendent in the cover and various other big words throughout. I think it wins the WNSoA. I just won't use it in my classroom.
Notables:
"The next day I find myself prowling the halls... Well, I don't prowl the halls, but at least I'm in the halls. I don't just go sit in my homeroom like a fungus" (26).
"In old-fashioned cartoons there are always rich women looking at things through these glasses-on-a-stick. That is my grandma. She pretty much looks at everything like she has glasses-on-a-stick. Including me. Especially me" (33). Sounds like this kid's grama and my grama should get together and go shoe shopping.
"The lead sing mutters the lyrics ominously, like a postal worker with an Uzi in his gym bag" (103).
"I get into the short line leading into the men's rooom. The three other guys leaning against the wall look like Indolence, Idleness, and Sloth" (103).
"There's a great word to dscribe Colleen's eyes right that second: coruscating" (109).
Pronunciation: 'kor-&-"skAt, 'kär-
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -cat·ed; -cat·ing
Etymology: Latin coruscatus, past participle of coruscare to flash
1 : to give off or reflect light in bright beams or flashes : SPARKLE
2 : to be brilliant or showy in technique or style
from www.m-w.com
"But all of a sudden there she is, lookling like an icicle in white linene slacks and a white blouse" (125).
"Well, I asked God to remove all character defects and shortcomings, and He said He'd have to get back to me on that because there are only so many hours in a day" (136).
"She smells blue. Not blue as in sad, either. Azure. That blue" (149).
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