Steve, aka Wart, is a sophomore. His dad is a nearly universally-hated teacher at his high school, unaffectionately known as Toad. There's a lot of meat here, especially in light of the recent flurry of attention around the effects of bullying. Steve is bullied from all directions. He can't communicate with his dad, who is still mourning the death of Steve's mom and little sister. He feels like his dad is rougher on him than on anyone, and maybe that's true. He's bullied by the kids at school because of who his dad is, and let's not even talk about what happens when he asks a girl out. It sounds pretty grim, but it's not. Steve's terminally clueless voice is pitch-perfect, as is his struggle to understand a world that doesn't make any sense at all. Steve struggles with everything, but he's not afraid of the struggle, and you just know he's going to wrestle his way into being a good, kind, and thoughtful man.

I picked this up from my library's new book shelf without knowing it was a reprint of a book originally published in 1985. The casual attitudes about drugs & alcohol clearly mark this book as being from "my day" when we were way mellow. I knew right where the (staff sanctioned) student smoking lounge at my high school was, but I'm willing to bet those are rarer than ashtrays in business lobbies these days.

It's an absorbing, interesting read though it is totally a "boy book" in all senses of the word, which is probably why I missed it the first time around. ( )