loved this book. sexual content ( )

Thomas Charles Henderson (aka King Dork, Chi Mo, Hender-pig, Sheepie) is just trying to survive Hillmont High School (Hellmont) when he finds his deceased father’s copy of The Catcher in the Rye. So begins a sophomore year filled with secret codes, family meetings, great bands, hippie mysteries, extra-curricular reading, tortuously tedious teachers, and semi- and super-hot girls.
This is the funniest book I’ve read in a long time. King Dork doesn’t talk much but he’s a careful observer of life and, like Holden Caulfield in the book he detests, lets the reader into his brainful of frustrated misunderstandings, painful memories, imaginative theories, wry observations, and sarcastic comments. Although he doesn’t save the world, top the music charts, or marry a supermodel, King Dork does finally score a gig with his band; kiss not one but two girls; and gain fame, fortune and a head injury while shaking things up. Rock and roll. ( )

Synopsis: After 14 year-old musician and Tom Henderson finds a copy of The Catcher in the Rye which once belonged to his dead father, he finds a secret code among the pages which he tries to decipher in order to discover the truth about his father's death.
My Opinion: With a lot of repetition and extreme colloquialism used, this book was sometimes hard to follow. The plot was also very thin, and parts were often dragged out. ( )

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Right after I finished KING DORK, the debut novel from author Frank Portman, I sat down to write my review--and stared at my computer for fifteen very long minutes wondering exactly how to explain this book. KING DORK will do that to you--leave you speechless, not quite sure of how to put what you feel into words. I guess if I could only use two words to describe this book, I would choose "wonderfully odd." If Tom Henderson (aka King Dork) had to describe it, it would probably go something like this...

"It's actually kind of a complicated story, involving at least half a dozen mysteries, plus dead people, naked people, fake people, teen sex, weird sex, drugs, ESP, Satanism, books, blood, Bubblegum, guitars, monks, faith, love, witchcraft, the Bible, girls, a war, a secret code, a head injury, the Crusades, some crimes, mispronunciation skills, a mystery woman, a devil-head, a blow job, and rock and roll."

And that, ladies and gentleman, pretty much sums it up. "And I'm not even exaggerating all that much. I swear to God."

If I met Tom Henderson in real life, and had a one-minute conversation with him, I would undoubtedly wonder 1) what the hell this guy was talking about, or 2) what the hell I was talking about when talking to him.

Yes, it's that kind of a book. A story that starts with the simple task of Tom trying to find any old copy of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE and instead finding a marked-up, footnoted, annotated, high-lighted version his dead father once owned. It all goes downhill--or over the proverbial edge--from there.

I've decided that there's simply no other way to accurately describe this book. I can't give you a plot outline without giving away the entire story, so you'll simply have to pick up a copy of KING DORK for yourself. I guarantee you won't be disappointed, and I can also guarantee that you'll never find better band names than Baby Batter, Ray Bradbury's Love-Camel, The Mordor Apes, or We Have Eaten All the Cake. Just as you'll never find a better one-liner than "Talk Won Ton to Me, You Crazy Asian Superstar."

And that's all I've got to say about that. ( )

I listened to the audiobook, and it was great - good fun and the reader was fantastic. In the audio version, you get the added benefit of an author interview and five original songs, written and performed by the author. I fully enjoyed the song, “Thinking of Suicide” (as a humorous piece…).

***Side note: I recommended this one to my brother, who LOVES teenage boy coming-of-age stories. He texted me halfway through to tell me he hated Frank Portman for writing so well and making him (my brother) jealous... ( )

Suitable for young to not so young adults-unsuitable for younger readers, hippies or baby boomers

Read this book, it will make your life better! It is part mystery, part love story (well more obsession and sex than love, I guess), and a hilarious coming of age story served up with a healthy dose of pop culture.
Tom Henderson, the eponymous 'hero', is a geek: obsessed by bands, girls and his dead father's book collection. His challenges involve solving the mystery of his father's mysterious death, finding his elusive fake-mod 'girlfriend', deciding on a band name (and getting an amp and writing some songs), surviving a school full of psychopathic 'normal' people and reading The catcher in the rye AGAIN...
As a reader you will love this book, but at the same time it will drive everyone around you mad as you repeatedly recite catch phrases from the book to completely oblivious friends and family. You also won't be able to keep from laughing (or at the least guffawing) while reading, which may prove to be annoying to those same loved ones as well as unlucky passengers on public transport.
King Dork will make you laugh, cry and punch the air in rock 'n' roll exhilaration. Do it.... ( )

This book just screams 'potential.' You can tell that this is the author's first novel, and that he's genuinely trying to convey the sense of isolation, desperation, confusion, and awkwardness that accompany the average misfit's high school experience, while injecting a sense of humor into it so as to not make the reader completely miserable. But the added element of grand mystery steers the book off-course. I found myself more interested in the relationships that the main character had with his family, friends, and his school life than in the murder mystery that the author builds up. Some of the observations that he makes about high school life ring so true, and then the rather unbelievable mystery plot comes in and kind of destroys the balance of the book.

That being said, this book definitely has its good moments. The kids constantly coming up with new band names, album art, and song titles when they don't even have a real band, the glossary of terms with such definitions as "Monty Python: A documentary series on everyday life in Great Britain," the way that significant looks between characters are described, and the many disparaging remarks about Catcher in the Rye are all highlights. Recommended for sulky misfit teens who are permanently attached to their ipods and adults who want to engage in some lighthearted teenage nostalgia. ( )

This novel started off very, very slowly. I'm afraid many people will get turned off the amount of exposition that Portman writes before anything really interesting begins to happen. The syntax, grammar, and word choice begins to grate on your nerves. Portman tries to develop the voice of a 10th grade adolescent boy, but his voice ends up sounding like a highly educated adult man impersonating a 10th grade adolescent boy. The mystery of Tom Henderson's father's death and the secret code his father left in a book is not very interesting. Parents might have a hard time with some of the language used (though that is one of the realistic elements inherent in teenage boys). Readers might want to find another novel about high school social misfits and outcasts that's an easier read. ( )

King Dork by Frank Portman is a genX redux of The Catcher in the Rye. Funny and intelligent, it had me laughing and cringing in recognition of the travails and tribulations of Tom Henderson, aka King Dork. At times being inside Tom's head is a little overwhelming, with his multiple obsessions fighting on the page; however, the ensuing comedy of coincidences consumed this reader. This book had me with the first page, and I didn't want to put it down. The frank sexual content will make it problematic for some as curriculum material; nonetheless, it begs to be companion reading for Catcher in the Rye unit. ( )

Portman, F. (2006). King Dork. New York: Delacorte Press.



0385732910



A self-described dork, Tom begins tenth grade girlfriend-less, with only one friend and still thinking about the car accident that killed his father several years previously. After being assigned to read Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye again and leaving his own copy at school, Tom finds his father's old copy of that book and some others from the 1960s. Interested in the marginalia (notes written in the margins), Tom begins to suspect a larger mystery is at work.



When I started this book, I was under its spell, laughing out loud and totally amused by all of Tom's insights and run-on sentences. As I kept reading, the love subsided (but still managed not to completely die). Many of the sections felt like rambling essays that didn’t add to the plot or tension. There is no perfect conclusion to some of the mysteries, which I was fine with, since it felt realistic and managed to comment on the meanings we place upon the past.



There are multiple sexual situations that probably takes this book out of the running for an actual class to read. But it could still be a great recommendation for any teen that likes John Green, Susan Juby or Markus Zusak's books.



Activities to do with the book:



At the very least, King Dork is a wonderful personal recommendation to make to young adults, especially if that teacher does a unit on Catcher in the Rye or some of the other 1960s books referenced. A complete list of the books and other fun stuff can be found through Portman's website.



If a teacher managed to find a context in which they could share this book in a school setting, the could have students read some of the novels from the 1960s and research that time period. In groups, students could also research some of the bands also mentioned in the text and consider the history and social pressures that influenced the groups. A more creative option would be to have students take on the role of graphic designers and create album art for bands they would create.







Favorite Quotes:



“It’s actually kind of a complicated story, involving at least half a dozen mysteries, plus dead people, naked people, fake people, teen sex, weird sex, drugs, ESP, Satanism, books, blood, Bubblegum, guitars, monks, faith, love, witchcraft, the Bible, girls, a war, a secret code, a head injury, the Crusades, some crimes, mispronunciation skills, a mystery woman, a devil-head, a blow job, and rock and roll. It pretty much destroyed the world as I had known it up to that point. And I’m not even exaggerating all that much. I swear to God” (p. i).



“The call me King Dork.

Well, let me put it another way: no one ever actually calls me King Dork. It’s how I refer to myself in my head, a silent protest and an acknowledgement of reality at the same time. I don’t command a nerd army, or preside over a realm of the socially ill-equipped” (p. 5).



“I should mention that The Catcher in the Rye is this book from the fifties. It is every teacher’s favorite book. The main guy is a kind of misfit kid superhero named Holden Caulfield. For teachers, he is the ultimate guy, a read dreamboat. They love him to pieces. They all want to have sex with him, and with the book’s author, too, and they’d probably even try to do it with the book itself if they could figure out a way to go about it. It changed their lives when they were young. As kids, they carried it with them everywhere they went. They solemnly resolved that, when they grew up, they would dedicate their lives to spreading The Word.

It’s kind of like a cult.

They live for making your read it” (p. 12).

For more of my reviews, visit sjkessel.blogspot.com.

A funny and interesting book, about one boy going through the terrors, and triumphs of high school. Extremely funny, while also bringing up more serious topics such as sex, drugs, and high school. Good for the young adult, who likes comedy. ( )

Richie's Picks: KING DORK by Frank Portman (a.k.a. Dr. Frank), Random House/Delacorte, April 2006, Ages 14 and up, ISBN: 0-385-73291-0; Libr. ISBN: 0-385-90312-X
"Gas on the hillside, oil in the teacup
Watch all the chords of life lose their joy
Distortion becomes somehow pure in its wildness
The note that began all can also destroy."
--Pete Townsend, "Pure and Easy"

"Tennis is kind of a riot. You're supposed to hit the ball with the racket so that it lands in the space on the other side of the net and bounces. Then you hit it back if it somehow manages to get hit back in your direction in such a way that it lands and bounces in the space between the white lines on your side of the net.
"No one is very good at this. But I have as much chance of performing this operation as a jar of wet gravel would have of calculating pi to a hundred places.
"Sam Hellerman is the same way.
"So here's our Tennis technique. We hit the ball as hard as we can so it flies over the fence and out into the bushes outside the tennis area. Then we spend the rest of the period 'looking for the ball.'
"One day we were goofing off, holding the tennis rackets like guitars and practicing duckwalks and windmills and scissor jumps. I suck at this also, of course, but Sam Hellerman is surprisingly good.
"The PE teacher in charge of tennis-related activities is named Ms. Rimbaud, which is pronounced Miz Rambo. She looks a little like a frog. If she were actually a frog, she would be highly prized as a source of arrow poison by the natives of South America because of her rich red color.
"She noticed our arena-rock tennis-racket antics and ran over to confront us. I don't think I have ever seen a human face turn quite that vibrant a shade of red.
" 'How would you like it,' she said, 'if we all came out here and started playing tennis with guitars?'

"New band name: Tennis with Guitars."

Tenth graders Tom Henderson and Sam Hellerman are high school buddies, bandmates, and fellow victims of the sadistic caste and educational system at Hillmont High School. The two of them typically change their band's name every couple of weeks. Then they design a new logo and an album cover (if the latest name lasts long enough to do so).

But actually making the music is another story:

"I was also struggling with the songs for the new band (the Nancy Wheelers, me on guitar, Sam Hellerman on bass and Ouija board, first album: Margaret? It's God. Please Shut Up.) I could never get the songs to come out how I wanted them. I'd have a great idea for this brilliant tune where the lyrics and the melody and the sounds and the arrangement would all complement each other and resolve into a perfect three-minute encapsulation of a true experience that would play with the listeners' emotions while simultaneously crushing their skulls. I would start speculating about how it was only a matter of time before they awarded me the Nobel Prize for Rock and Roll, once word of it got round to Sweden. But then I'd actually try to play it or write down the lyrics and it would totally suck."

The antics of the duo in the context of their musical endeavors is but the catchy hook in a wild, high-decibel, dark and cynical yet frequently double-over-laughing teen anthem of a book about Holden Caufield, teen hormones, bullying, teachers and teaching styles, step-parents, clothing trends, female clique dynamics, the Great Bands (from back during my first extended adolescence), a stack of popular books from the Sixties, and the frequent, utter emptiness that results from coming of age with a flaky mother and without ever being able to once hear from your real dad what it was like for him to go through then what you're going through now.

The question of how well this concept album...err...book succeeds will be the subject of spirited discussion when it releases in Spring '06. The author is known to many as the singer/songwriter/guitarist for the East Bay pop-punk band MTX (The Mr. T Experience), but "Dr. Frank" had previously attended Berkeley where he wrote a thesis on "The History of the Concept of the Soul" prior to being accepted into Harvard's Ph.D. history program. The seemingly schizophrenic nature of Portman's biography spills over into KING DORK where scenes of the band's amusing permutations and Tom's adolescent lust play off the young man's dark broodings and search for hints about his dead father. Three-quarters of the way through the book I was still laughing out loud at least once every five to ten pages when I encounted a passage, in which Tom pulls together a bunch of philosophical threads in a rant set within the context of CATCHER IN THE RYE, that absolutely took my breath away. Throughout the book I frequently found myself online, looking up references and books and vocabulary words.

And yet KING DORK holds no tidy ending for those who demand such a thing. While there are certainly jaw-dropping surprises in store, the story's primary mystery is never fully solved, and following some extended musings we are simply led into a "bandography" followed by the most amusing glossary I have read in my life, containing such entries as:

"The Bible (the bibble): a big creepy book, the contents of which have influenced and formed the basis for much of the history and culture of Western civilization for thousands and thousands of years. Mention of this book is forbidden in public schools and in progressive right-thinking households, thus ensuring that substantial chunks of history and literature and the culture at large will be virtually incomprehensible to a sizable minority of the country's population. Highly prized by religious and other wrong-thinking people for these and other reasons."

"Black Sabbath (BLAY-ack suh-BAWTH): pentagrams, inverted crosses, capes, tights, drugs, de-tuned guitars, unlimited recording budgets--what could go wrong? The eighteenth-greatest rock and roll band of all time."

"epigraph (a-PIG-rape): an obscure quotation at the beginning of a book designed to make the author of the book seem smarter and more well-read than its readers. An epigraph that doesn't make the reader feel confused, small, worthless, and stupid is an epigraph that has failed. Therefore, the best epigraphs have no discernible relationship to the contents of the books they adorn."

"multiple personality disorder (em-py-DEE): A feminine courtship strategy."

The cover for KING DORK is absolutely brilliant--the traditional, plain-rust red CATCHER IN THE RYE cover I recall from a high school English class, has had the title and author mostly whited-out with "KING DORK" and "frank portman" scribbled in over the White-Out. A piece of the CATCHER cover is torn away, revealing hints of the KING DORK album cover.

What was inside that cover just spent the past few days seriously playing with my emotions and simultaneously doing a number on my skull. Watch for it next spring.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com ( )

Tom Henderson's teachers assign Cather in the Rye because they expect it to change his life. This year it actually does. Tom has spent most of his high school career changing the name of the band he shares with his friend Sam, pretending to be a gun fanatic to ward of bullies, and taking laughable AP classes. When Tom uses his deceased father's copy of Catcher in the Rye, he discovers a secret code that sets him investigating his father's death. He is also lucks into blow jobs and finding a near competent drummer in time for a calamitous talent show. King Dork, although mis-named (Tom is more often called Chi-Mo, short for Child Molester), is a funny read. Music fans and those interested in novels of the 1960's may find it especially amusing. However, the plot is unbelievable and leaves us with many loose ends. King Dork is good for a laugh, but mostly disappointing. ( )

This is the story of what Holden Caulfield would have been like if he hadn't been kicked out out of school, and had gone to public school in California. Despite his protestations about how much he doesn't get the whole Catcher in the Rye thing, Tom is made very much in Holden's image. Tom has a few things going for him over Holden, though. He is willing to interact with some parts of society, and gives more people than just his younger sister the benefit of the doubt, all of which make him a much more tolerable narrator. The other big difference between this book and Catcher is that in this book there's an actual plot. Said plot ranges all over the place, and includes excessive foreshadowing, but at least it's there. ( )

This one had me laughing out loud. ( )

This is one of the best YA novels I've read in years - I immediately bought copies for several friends, all of whom I'm hoping had a laugh-out-loud good time as they read it.

Kearsten says: I listened to the audiobook, and it was great - good fun and the reader was fantastic. In the audio version, you get the added benefit of an author interview and five original songs, written and performed by the author. I fully enjoyed the song, “Thinking of Suicide” (as a humorous piece…). ( )

Tom Henderson is King Dork, an outcast in his high school and pretty much in his entire life. He and his fellow outcast Sam Henderson spend their time creating imaginary punk rock bands and trying not to get beaten up by their classmates or terrorized by their teachers. Everything begins to change for Tom when he finds his dead father’s copy of Catcher in the Rye, containing a secret code and some obscure clues. Suddenly Tom is trying to unravel the decades-old mystery of his father’s death, meeting not one but two semi-hot girls, learning how to say “whips and chains” in French, and generally turning his life upside down.

Portman’s portrayal of the confusion about ourselves and other people that often typifies adolescence is both occasionally painful and also grimly humorous, and Tom is a likeable narrator despite his flaws. Especially touching is Tom’s ongoing attempt to understand his father’s life and death across the gulf of time, typical of the struggles that so many of us undergo to understand our fathers even while they are still alive. Tom’s relationship with his hapless hippie stepfather, Little Big Tom, also explores this same issue.

This book does contain some portrayals of teenage sexuality, although the scenes are not graphic. The excellent audiobook reading (ISBN 0739331132) includes a revealing interview with the author – a member of the influential punk band MTX – and performances of several original songs written for the book.

Reviewed by Book Dads ( )

One of the best and funniest books I have listened to so far this year. Teenage misfits, rock & roll, and cryptography: three great tastes that taste great together. I laughed my a$$ off driving down the highway. ( )

This book is a bit like "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" but completely blows that book out of the water!
for a full review
http://readingsarah.blogspot.com/2008... ( )

King Dork has a strong heart, if a weak story. While I didn't find any amazing pieces of plot in the somewhat convoluted line, I did find myself very attached to Chi-Mo/Tom/King Dork/that guy every school has but no one really knows.

Perhaps the plot left so much to be desired for me because I am not of the right generation. I'm not of the Catcher generation, not of the MySpace generation, where is my Holden character? ( )

What a wonderfully enjoyable book! King Dork is an awkward 14 year old, bottom of the food chain geek type kid with a terrible nick name and membership of a succession of fantasy bands with his equally geeky friend.

I didn't know who Frank Portman was before reading this - apparently he's a punk singer from (or know as) the Mr T Experience, and this his is debut book.

I guess it's a case of stick with what you know, and it may be more than a little based on his own childhood (only guessing), but it's still a wonderfully written book, with the making characters being totally believable and likable - I really, really cared about the narrator.

I guess the story got a bit daft towards the end, and some of the more dramatic outcomes weren't really needed, but that's really looking for faults.

If you've ever been in a band, or dreamed of being in a band, this is a must read. ( )

Weird kid like Holden

in Catcher...partly funny,

mostly just painful. ( )

Normally if I read a book that contains flat characterizations AND a contrived, poorly considered ending, I would avoid reviewing it for Michigan Reading Journal and counsel friends to avoid the book. King Dork is the happy exception to this rule for one, huge reason: VOICE! While the plot deserves a 3 rating (at best), the voice is so exceptionally strong that it overrules many normal considerations.

Tom Henderson searches for the explanation of his father’s death while searching for the girl of dreams and rock star immortality (even though he doesn’t have an instrument or sound equipment or anything other than a band name). King Dork is a scathing indictment of high school academics, especially the “Catcher” cult (readers familiar with Catcher in the Rye will enjoy the cover of King Dork). This book is laugh out loud funny and has more quotable lines than any other single book published this year. Especially amusing are the devil head vocabulary lessons and the corresponding mispronunciations. King Dork ends with a glossary and a “bandology” that are a hoot!

In addition to reading this book, I had the pleasure of listening to it on CD. I highly recommend this recording. Although the CD omits the bandology at the end, it makes up for it with its interview with Frank Portman. Portman, a well-known San Francisco musician, includes recordings of four songs that he wrote in honor of King Dork. Recommended for senior high students. ( )