Frank Portman

Teenage angst, first sex, social satire and of course, rock and roll. When a kid pegged by a gradeschool vocation test for a career in the priesthood is branded with the nickname “Chi(ld) Mo(lester)”, you know high school will be not be easy. He and his best friend, another a social cast who plays the clarinet, dream up band after band, designing album covers and and song titles, long before they even acquire an electric instrument.

The school is staffed by time-serving incompetents, show more like the English teacher who shows students how to mispronounce big words, and the sadistic principal who actually turns out to be a real criminal. And yet the kid is in love with words, though he doesn’t trust them yet. Even if he sees how adults have built a ridiculous cult around counter-cultural novels like “Catcher in the Rye”, he is still moved by it and drawn into the world of hidden meanings.

Some of the best passages deconstruct the culture of the sixties. The image of older Jimmy Buffet fans setting out drinks with little umbrellas, donning straw hats, biting their lower lip and doing a kind of dance-walk is a great argument for punk. All the adults look ridiculous, and of course, they are.

This is a fun read and will tempt you to share many passages aloud. Restrain yourself, if you can. show less

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 show more 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. show less

I loved this book! I loved it so much, I would so marry this book, if it were possible.

The book jacket and some reviews I read led me to believe this was a YA mystery novel, but really, this is a coming-of-age memoir about what its like to be a teenage boy at the very bottom of the high school social order. However, unlike many first-person narratives of teenage life, the author here pulls no punches when describing the violence and brutality teens inflict on each other, nor does he shy away show more from depicting casual drug use or sex. In this teen world, adults are brutish and dumb, fellow students are potential threats, school is in no sense educational, and rock music is god.

And it was funny. I especially loved the constant critique of other coming-of-age literary works like Catcher in the Rye, and the dead on understanding of high school cliques and social hierarchies. No one has super powers, no one wakes up prettier than they were the day before, no one is a movie star in disguise-- its just kids, navigating life, getting into trouble, doing the best they can for themselves. show less

Amusing look at a "king dork's" high school year. Tom Henderson (aka Chi-mo, short for child moldester)forms bands (with one other member), seeks a mysterious girl (after one frantic make-out session), and, most pressing, searches his (dead) father's books for clues to his death. Very funny, introspective musings of a loser who gradually emerges into himself. The character growth is subtle but realistic. Adults, while funny, are generally well-treated, esp the well-meaning but inept show more step-father, the heavy-drinking sad mother, and the hurting sister. show less