Extreme Elvin

Lynch, Chris

ISBN 10: 006028210X ISBN 13: 9780060282103

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1999

Synopsis

Elvin Bishop is fourteen -- an official Young Adult (and you know that one was dreamed up by an old adult). Having barely survived the sports camp that he and his best friends, Frankie and Mikie, attended in Slot Machine, Elvin is actually ready for high school to begin. Or so he thinks.

Suddenly, Elvin's hurled into a whole new social scene, where relationships -- the right relationships -- are the name of the game.

Leave it to Elvin to fall hard for exactly the wrong kind of girl -- the kind of girl who is definitely not a part of any guy's cool plan. And that's just the beginning of his problems. Because what happens when everything that used to be so simple -- like friendship--changes?

With an appetite that forces him to shop at the Big and Tall, a mother who still talks to her long-dead husband, and a nasty case of hemorrhoids, is becoming cool something that someone like Elvin can even pull off?

In this second book about Elvin, Chries Lynch has written the love story to end all love stories -- and a multilayered look at the hysterical trials and tribulations of one guy's introductions to Young Adulthood.

00-01 Tayshas High School Reading List

About this title

Review:

Look out world, Elvin Bishop is back, and he's better--if a little less bigger--than ever. Author Chris Lynch's overweight antihero has slimmed down a bit since his debut in Slot Machine, and has moved from the frying pan of sports camp into the fires of high school. With the help of his two best friends, Frankie and Mike, Elvin prepares to conquer the hormone-drenched horrors of ninth grade. Almost immediately he finds himself dealing with a bad case of hemorrhoids ("No, it doesn't hurt much... run and find me a tree branch that's on fire and I'll show ya"), surviving a traumatizing trip to the Big & Tall men's store, and suffering a close encounter of the heartbreaking kind. But when the going gets tough, at least Elvin knows he can depend on his offbeat mom to empathize--even though her loving advice is often given with more than a few grains of sarcasm.

With this second Elvin tale, Lynch has once again hit the funny bone on the head. Teens (if they can stop giggling long enough) will appreciate his graceful way of making adolescent pain evoke sympathetic chuckles. His hilarious portrayal of the nightmare that is young adulthood ("Young adult. You know that one was dreamed up by an old adult") makes clear that rather than poking fun at teens' woes, Lynch is laughing right alongside them. (Ages 12 to 15) --Jennifer Hubert

About the Author:

Chris Lynch is the Printz Honor Award-winning author of several highly acclaimed young adult novels, including Freewill, Gold Dust, Iceman, Gypsy Davy, and Shadowboxer, all ALA Best Books for Young Adults. He is also the author of Extreme Elvin, Whitechurch, and All The Old Haunts. He holds an M.A. from the writing program at Emerson College. He mentors aspiring writers and continues to work on new literary projects. He lives in Boston and in Scotland.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 006028210X
• ISBN 13: 9780060282103
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 240