Dunk

Iron bars. A dunk tank. A crowd itching to throw. On the Jersey boardwalk, hurling insults is easy—learning how humor heals is the real test.

Chad finds a whole new summer occupation—he wants to be the Bozo, the clown who sits inside the dunk tank and goads people into taking a shot.

What could be better than using his razor-sharp wit against a random stranger? But Chad soon discovers he’s entered a strange and twisted world where humor packs a loaded punch.

Instead of running the mic, he gets stuck retrieving soggy baseballs for a barker, watching his odd tenant Malcolm work the cage. What could go wrong when furious marks miss the canvas and boardwalk cops watch his every move?

When his athletic friend Jason collapses into a hospital bed with an autoimmune crisis, insults stop feeling like a game. All it takes to push back is turning classic comedy into medicine, if only worried parents will grant him room.

Can razor-sharp banter survive when real life hits back?

• Coming of Age: Chad discovers that hurling insults from the safety of an iron cage is easy compared to finding the courage to stand by a critically ill friend.
• First Love: Reconnecting with Gwen at the Cat-a-Pult booth means finding the nerve to speak from the heart before she drifts toward a dangerous crowd.
• Found Family: An eccentric, grieving community college theater instructor named Malcolm steps in to teach Chad the discipline and empathy behind comedic performance.
• Realistic Fiction: From filthy ball-shagging buckets on the Jersey shore to quiet vigil hours in Mercy General, the summer delivers grit, heartbreak, and hard-earned laughs.

David Lubar grew up in New Jersey and now lives next door in Pennsylvania. Armed with a degree in philosophy from Rutgers University and no marketable job skills, he spent several years as a starving writer before accidentally discovering that he knew how to program computers. He is now a full-time writer and the author of eleven books for teens and young readers, including Dunk (Clarion Books), Flip (Tor), and Wizards of the Game (Philomel). David Lubar lives with his wife; they have one highly intelligent daughter and three idiosyncratic cats.