After his father is throw in jail for fraud, San Lee and his mother move to a small town in Pennsylvania. San gets over his head when he tries to pose as a Zen Buddhist Master, in an effort to fit in at his new junior high and win the heart of his new found love Woody; a beautiful guitar picking songstress, who fills the cafeteria’s air with “capitalist machine” destroying protest songs. Unfortunately for San, his well researched, fake identity actually works and the entire school embraces a Zen fad that captures the spirit of unlikely students. San is thrust into a role as the student’s guru, however, someone in the school is on to San and is secretly dropping notes into his locker in an attempt to crumble his conscience and force him to reveal the truth.

I enjoyed this book for its raw and wry sense of humor that I did not expect to be found in a teen fiction novel. There are some really insightful lessons on Zen Buddhism and Buddhism in general which I found to provide great insights for any age, let alone teens. However, this book does not to push any beliefs on teens. Rather, it simply touches on alternative values and thoughts, echoing the reminder that there is more to life than possessions and earthly attachments.

If there is going to be a new fad based on the popularity of reading a teen fiction book, I would hope that they are based on Jordan Sonneblick’s Zen and the Art of Faking It. It would be nice to see teens competing in a popularity contest for who can be the most mindful and charitable person at their junior high school. ( )

Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Author Jordan Sonnenblick has done it again. ZEN AND THE ART OF FAKING IT gets the up and downs and total frustration of being a teen just right.

San Lee's life has been full of new towns and new schools, but this one upsets him more than all of the others combined. This time, instead of having his dad uproot the family in search of his latest scheme, it is just San and his mother because his dad is in prison.

Not particularly successful at anything in the past, San has frequently used negative behavior to get attention. Being Oriental and adopted by a white couple has not always made things easy. Now with his father serving time for his shady business dealings, San finds himself feeling the need to get things right this time.

Faced with not only a new school and trying to fit in, but also with Wednesday night phone calls from a convict father he never wants to talk to again, San is ready to try just about anything. With his mother working long hours to make ends meet, he decides he needs a gimmick to win some friends and positively influence some people. Thanks to his new social studies teacher, the door to Zen Buddhism opens wide.

San's well-worn clothes and tattered sandals become a great disguise as he steps into his role as the Zen expert of the eighth grade. With help from the local library, the perfect "meditation" rock right outside school, and his new friend, Woody, San fools everyone into believing his Buddhist philosophy. Although he seems to be fitting in and gaining popularity, he worries that faking it may make him like the father he has learned to detest.

Sonnenblick uses his humorous, straight-forward style to grab readers on page one, and whisk them into San's world. There are crazy antics, a touch of romance, family frustrations, and quite a bit of Buddhist information packed into this fast-paced read. If you haven't read Sonnenblick's other books, be sure to check out DRUMS, GIRLS, & DANGEROUS PIE and NOTES FROM THE MIDNIGHT DRIVER. ( )

San and his parents have moved around a lot. Each time they move, he reinvents himself. Now, with his dad in prison, he and his mom move to Pennsylvania, where San, adopted from China, falls into the role of Zen master. As he fakes his way through his new zen identity, he meets and begins to like Woody, a girl who plays guitar for money at lunch. Will his whole lie unravel and come back on him, or can he fake it long enough to get the girl? ( )

San Lee is an Chinese boy who has been moving from state to state (and from school to school) with his adoptive Caucasian parents. Now with his father in prison, he and his mother have moved once again. It is winter in Pennsylvania and San goes to school coatless and in sandals because his mom can't afford winter clothes for him. He is dubbed Buddha Boy by the other kids and so begins his journey to find out who he really is. ( )

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, v. 61 no5 (January 2008) p. 227-8.