I was looking for books in the nAtional Bookstore when i passed by this corner. There was a book entitled "Spanking Shakespeare". I was intrigued by the title itself and since the story is about a teenage boy who shares his ups and downs during his teenage life, i can say that i can relate on it. His name is really awesome that maybe thats the reason why his been into some troubles and luck in some ways. ( )

Reviewed by JodiG. for TeensReadToo.com

Shakespeare Shapiro hates his name. It is one in a long line of things that his parents have done to make his life miserable. The rest of his life isn't going very well either. Shakespeare actually describes his life as a series of catastrophes. Now he is beginning his senior in high school, has never kissed a girl, and has only made two friends. His younger brother, Gandhi, is popular and has a girlfriend. And his parents, well, they are a unique force to be reckoned with.

Now that he is in the twelfth grade, Shakespeare has to do his school's senior project; write a memoir about his life so far. The good news is that Shakespeare is a skillful writer. The bad? How truthful would you want to be if your life was made up of mortifying, embarrassing moments?

In addition to his memoir, Shakespeare is also dealing with the usual high school issues: girls (or a lack of them), sex (or a lack of it), popularity (againâ€"a lack of it), and family. And now his two best friends, Neil and Katie, are hooking up.

SPANKING SHAKESPEARE is a hilariously funny look at the life of a very unique teenage boy. It is written in a dual style; a narrative of Shakespeare's everyday life combined with chapters from his memoir. Author Jake Wizner takes readers through the life of one of the smartest and funniest characters in young adult fiction today. SPANKING SHAKESPEARE will have you laughing out loud. ( )

When I saw the title of this book, I immediately let loose with one of those Beavis and Butthead snort-laughs. Then I saw the words "lewd," "hilarious," and "vulgar" on the front and back cover and knew it had to be mine. If only I had ended my relationship with this book there because the funniest thing about the novel is the title.

The novel was, as promised, crude. However, it failed to deliver on the hilarious part. When one is dealing with bathroom/sexual humor, there's a fine line between being funny (like American Pie) and just being disgusting (like Larry the Cable Guy). A willingness to talk about defecation and erections does not automatically humor make. Sure, there were a few amusing moments, but very few. Also, I didn't relate to the characters at all. They seemed flat and one dimensional, especially Shakespeare's friends. Shakespeare himself seems a stereotype--a self-pitying wannabe writer who is a senior in a high school the likes of which I cannot imagine existing (Hemingway High, where students are apparently allowed to write about their embarrassing encounters with sex and porn in the school newspaper and teachers are allowed to constant refer to their left testicle). In the end, I just didn't care about Shakespeare and his struggle with his hormones. Also, I had trouble buying that he was a talented writer as his writing assignments (scattered throughout the book) were mediocre at best. The nice thing about the book is that he does mature by the end and learns to care about someone other than himself. Too bad I never cared about him. ( )

Rating: B-

I picked this book up because I have a real thing for (in terms of loving to) reading books with male protagonists who are written by guys. I bought this book on Saturday afternoon and read it cover to cover in about two hours.

The characters are all funny, and I found myself laughing out loud at a couple of points (especially when Shakespeare gets stoned, not something that I generally love to read about, but he's so funny and Shakespeare decides against ever doing it again because of what happens during his high).

My only real drawback in terms of Wizner's literary debut was the lack of contractions. I know it seems like a little thing, a weird thing, but Americans speak with contractions and to read stilted prose that doesn't utilize any contractions is weird. [Don't believe me? I'll rewrite that previous sentence sans contractions and you can see for yourself. Americans speak with contractions and to read stilted prose that does not utilize any contractions is weird. See, only one contraction, changing "does not" to "doesn't" makes it more readable.]

You might say that's Wizner's editor's problem, but he should have caught that in pre-review. As he was reading aloud (because that's a smart way to do your own self-editing), he should have realized the text wasn't flowing the way a teenager would talk. (And this is kind of a shame because he does a really good job with language choice... making it teenager-esque without sounding like an adult trying to sound like a teenager.)

The book rated a B- because of the stiff language (as referenced above) and the plot was a little bit too textbook. I knew exactly what was going to happen by page 75. (Granted, the fact that I kept reading it even though I knew where it was going should be a feather in Wizner's cap.) ( )

Your fairly standard growing up, knowing thyself and getting the girl YA novel. It was amusing, especially Shakespeare's zany parents and his poop-obsessed best friend, but I think it's difficult to distinguish this book from all the other growing up, knowing thyself and getting the girl YA novels. ( )