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This book is a great example of what happens when someone things, "What would happen if a character were thrown into Y situation?"

Capricorn Anderson has been home schooled all his life. That's not so unusual. What is unusual is that he has been homeschooled by his hippi grandmother, Rain, who has been careful to keep him from being exposed AT ALL to the materialism and competitiveness of the world. When he is elected school president as a cruel joke, he doesn't get it. His feelings aren't hurt and he calmly responds when taunted. Soon he is joined on the school lawn for tai chi, and the bully who got him elected finds that Cap is now the big man on campus, even if he has no idea what that means, is completely unconcerned with building a power base, and just wants to help everyone.

This story is funny and poignant. The plot line is fairly simple. The entire story takes place between the beginning of school and Halloween. What drives this book is the sweet nature of Cap, and the absolute confusion of those around him to his total disinterest in manipulation and that all elusive goal of "popularity".

I wholeheartedly recommend this one!

P.S. Someone told me that I can't just give positive reviews. At some point, I'll review books I don't like, but I'm struggling a little with doing that publicly. My mama always said, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all." So for right now, I am selecting books to review that I can recommend.

'Whip It' (earns mixed reviews from The New York Times, reg. required, Salon, day pass required, and Jezebel with a familiar formula, but possibly enough heart and spirit to back it up. Also double X calls the film out for skimping on the "real... Read the rest of this post

Hey, groovy dudes, this is Carl with another good review from cyber kid 303:

Thank you so much for all the great prizes! I had never tasted salt water taffy before. It's good! Speaking of good, you should read the book Schooled, by Gordon Korman. It's about thirteen-year-old Capricorn Anderson who lives in a hippie commune. His parents are dead so he lives in the commune with his grandmother, Rain. When Rain falls from a tree and breaks her hip, Cappricorn is sent to live with strangers and has to go to public school (he was homeschooled in the commune). At the public school, the kids pick the biggest nerd and nominate him for school president and watch him make a fool of himself. Cap is picked. At first, Cap is a target for bullies, but things start to change. Find out for yourself how it changes. Other good books I've ready by Gordon Korman are No More Dead Dogs and One False Note from the 39 Clues series.

Gordon Korman is a really good writer. Darth Bill absolutely loved No More Dead Dogs. The Island trilogy by GK is one of the very, very best things I've read! I'm going to find this one and check it out. Thanks, cyber kid!

Ah, yes, I remember the hippie days. I wasn't one myself, but those were fun, exciting, and scary times--kind of like today! The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh? Well, here's a video of one of the great hippie bands of all time, Jefferson Airplane, singing a very uptempo version of "Somebody To Love," one of their big hits. This is from the Monterey Pop music festival in 1967. How much more authentic can you get??? Rock on, young reader guys and old hippies everywhere!!