THE BOOMERANG EFFECT

Gordon Jack’s hilarious YA debut explores the meaning of friendship and loyalty, and also why you should avoid being trapped in a small space with an angry chicken. Perfect for fans of Andrew Smith’s Winger and Frank Portman’s King Dork.

For Lawrence Barry, high school is absurd. There is the devout cheerleader who wants to save his soul, the Goth girl who wants to eat his soul, and his supposed friends, who want him to forget about his soul and just smoke up and party. Even worse, there is Principal Stone, who has been out to get Lawrence and gives him an ultimatum: Lawrence must join the mentorship program or be shipped off to reform school.

This is how Lawrence becomes a mentor to Spencer Knudsen. Spencer, a Norwegian exchange student with the social skills of the Periodic Table, clearly needs Lawrence’s help, before he is stuffed into a locker along with his rolling backpack and his violin case.

But the more Lawrence tries to teach Spencer the ways of the high school world, the more Lawrence realizes that he has put a lot into their relationship, and what he is getting in return is even more unexpected. He has not started a Jell-O fight or caused an explosion in science class in months, and he is even hanging out with a Renaissance Fair maiden and using math and logic. Sometimes. Is it possible that he set out to teach Spencer the ways of high school – but Spencer may actually know more than Lawrence?

From the beautiful Renaissance Fair maiden to the demon spawn Goth chick, the supporting cast is every bit as hilarious and absurd as the rest of the story. Readers will recognize certain characters from their own high school.

Gordon Jack is a high school librarian and lives in San Francisco with his family. The Boomerang Effect is his first novel. You can visit him online at www.gordon-jack.com and on Twitter @gordojack.