Drawing a Blank: Or How I Tried to Solve a Mystery, End a Feud, and Land the Girl of My Dreams - Softcover

Ehrenhaft, Daniel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060752548 ISBN 13: 9780060752545

Publisher: HarperTeen, 2009

Synopsis

Just so you know, this book is about how my life went completely berserk.

One day I'm snug in my comic-book drawing, loner existence, and the next I'm tramping through the wilderness looking for my dad. Who's been kidnapped. Because of an ancient family feud I always thought was a twisted figment of his imagination. (This is not the first time I've been wrong about something.)

Now my only company is a wannabe cop who just might be my superhero dream girl. And if I don't deliver some kind of mysterious "proof" to his kidnappers, my dad is toast. I've got some issues, but I don't really want to see him burned to a crisp.

Anyway, you in?

About this title

About the Author

Daniel Ehrenhaft is the author of many books for teens, including the Edgar Award-winning Wessex Papers (under the pseudonym Daniel Parker), Dirty Laundry, and Drawing a Blank.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 8-11. Surprising in format as well as plot, Ehrenhaft's novel intersperses chapters of first-person narrative with episodes of Signy the Superbad, a superhero comic strip drawn by the narrator and inspired by his experiences. For Carlton, drawing comics is both a way of life and a retreat from it. Shipped off to a New England prep school by his distant father, who seems obsessed by an ancestral Scottish feud, Carlton copes by going through the motions at school and drawing his own alternate reality. A phone message from his father's kidnapper jolts him into action--and divides the novel into before, when Carlton's life features classmates barging into his room to conduct their annual "Who-Would-You-Bang Forum," and after, as Carlton and his enigmatic new friend Aileen roam the Scottish countryside attempting to find Carlton's father and recover an ancient dagger. For a self-described misanthrope, Carlton makes a very engaging character, caring but wary, vulnerable but game, and readers occasionally willing to suspend disbelief will find the narrative highly entertaining and sometimes enlightening. Intermittent footnotes supply information on various people (Dylan Thomas, Keith Richards, etc.) and facts and fictional details (prehistoric stone circles, a recipe for bannocks, Carlton's half sister's imaginary friend). A fresh, effervescent combination of mystery, adventure, and teen angst. Carolyn Phelan
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About this edition

• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0060752548
• ISBN 13: 9780060752545
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352
• Illustrator: Ristow Trevor