Bluefish by Pat Schmatz

Travis is a loner at a new school in a new town.  He figures it will be like the old place, except the old place had his dog Rosco and this place doesn't.  To his surprise, the new school has a few things the old one didn't have, including a smart, loud-mouthed girl called Velveeta and a reading teacher who is not going to give up on Travis.

Read this book for the wonderful, complex characters and the complex relationships between each of them...and be ready to cheer in triumph at for at least one of them.

As Travis' grandpa would say, "no sex, no drugs.  Only rock 'n roll."  This book doesn't need any more than that!  Highly recommended for grades 6 and up. 

Ed King

SITL gives an honorary "kissy-kissy" to local author David Guterson.  While his book Ed King is not written for a teen audience, the Bad Sex in Fiction award is entirely too fabulosa to go unrecognized by the authors of this blog.

Washington State author Guterson 'wins' Bad Sex award

Washington author David Guterson on Tuesday joined John Updike, Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer and other literary stars as the recipient of the dreaded Bad Sex in Fiction award.

By The Asssociated Press; By Gregory Katz

 

LONDON — Washington author David Guterson on Tuesday joined John Updike, Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer and other literary stars as the recipient of the dreaded Bad Sex in Fiction award.



Author
David Guterson



 

Guterson won the 2011 "prize" for sex scenes in his new novel Ed King, which offers a modern take on the Oedipus myth and sets it in the 20th century.

The acclaimed author of Snow Falling on Cedars took the tongue-in-cheek honor in stride: "Oedipus practically invented bad sex, so I'm not in the least bit surprised," Guterson said in a statement released in response to his victory.

Read the rest of the article HERE.