King Dork by Frank Portman

This story is told from the perspective of Tom, a "brainy, freaky, oddball kid who reads too much." He has a cynical view of high-school life but a passion for rock music. Much of the story focuses on the seemingly endless string of humiliations and tortures dished out by Tom's teachers and classmates. A more compelling and subtle subplot details mysteries that Tom is trying to solve: Was his father's death a few years earlier really an accident? What is the meaning of the coded messages found in his father's copy of The Catcher in the Rye? When he's not playing Sherlock Holmes or dodging bullies, Tom daydreams about the band he plans to form with his only friend Sam.

Call number: F POR (LA IMC)

Portman, Frank. King Dork. New York: Delacorte Press, 2006.