Exploits of a Reluctant (But Extremely Goodlooking) Hero - Hardcover

Fergus, Maureen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1554530245 ISBN 13: 9781554530243

Publisher: Kids Can Press, 2007

Synopsis

Meet a teenage hero who likes nothing better than to sit back with a bucket of fried chicken and a girlie magazine, waiting for his family plumbing fortune to come to him. But when our hero gets into some serious trouble, he's forced to volunteer at a local soup kitchen where he finds himself at the center of a struggle between the rich and the poor, the selfish and the selfless. It is a worthy cause he could care less about until the day he stumbles across a shocking piece of information. What happens next surprises everybody, including our very reluctant hero. Exploits of a Reluctant (But Extremely Goodlooking) Hero is a novel of adventure, intrigue, Ukrainian dance lessons, disruptive horseplay, inappropriate ogling and some truly heroic consumption of junk food. Adrian Mole meets South Park in this often outrageous and always hilarious trip into the inner world of a boy teetering on the brink of manhood.

About this title

About the Author

Author Maureen Fergus has written Exploits of a Reluctant (But Extremely Goodlooking) Hero and Recipe for Disaster. Ortega is her third novel. She lives in Winnipeg, Canada.

Reviews

Grade 8–10—Fergus captures perfectly the voice of the unnamed 13-year-old narrator who is resolutely selfish and self-serving, prurient and rude, sarcastic and frequently indignant. With a penchant for girlie magazines and fried chicken, he is yearning for puberty and looking forward to Sex Ed class, since his father has not been much help in advising him. He expects the family business, House of Toilets, will someday bring him a fortune. His mother gives him a tape recorder in the hope that it will help him stop speaking his mind to adults. The novel is his recorded thoughts and observations. After a move to Winnipeg, his mother forces him to volunteer at a soup kitchen, where he becomes involved in a struggle between the local merchants who want the soup kitchen and the homeless removed, and the do-gooders who want to save it. He could care less, until he discovers that a classmate would go hungry without it. His transformation from ego-centered insensitivity to compassion for others is heartening, if a bit hasty. While there are many references to sex, it is merely wishful fantasy. With the boy's flippant attitude and glibly advanced possession of language skills, the book has many laugh-out-loud moments. Giving himself a hickey with the breast pump his mother, a lactation nurse, uses in her job, is a memorable moment. This story is sure to appeal to teens who like their narrators edgy, quirky, outrageous, and hilarious.—Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
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Edition details

• Publisher: Kids Can Press
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1554530245
• ISBN 13: 9781554530243
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216