Thursday, January 22, 2009

Book review: STANFORD WONG FLUNKS BIG TIME

Poised at the Edge Book Review
STANFORD WONG FLUNKS BIG TIME
Lisa Yee

Stanford Wong used to be sort of a geek until he proved his worth on the basketball court. Now he gets to hang out with The Roadrunners, and doesn't have to sit at the dork table with the Trekies at lunch. He's even the first sixth grader selected to be on the A-Team. Stanford plans to spend his summer at an elite basketball camp. Everything is going great until he flunks Mr. Glick's English class. Suddenly Stanford will not be going to basketball camp. He'll be going to summer school; and if he doesn't pass he won't be able to play on the A-Team.
To make matters worse, his aloof, academic-obsessed father is furious and disgusted with him. Also, Stanford can't tell the roadrunners that he has to go summer school. They really look up to him, and he doesn't want them to doubt that he's going to the A-Team next year. Plus his parent's are fighting all the time, and they're putting his beloved grandmother in a retirement home. But the icing on his crap-cake of a summer is that his parents have hired uber-nerdling Millicent Min to tutor him!
One unexpected bonus, Millicent Min's best friend Emily is a total hottie. Stanford starts crushing on her big time. She even seems to like him too, but life gets complicated. Stanford ends up lying to Emily too. You know how things go when you start telling lies: everything gets messed up, and everyone ends up mad at you. Suddenly Stanford is put positions where he can clearly see who is real friends are. And the results are truly surprising. That summer after sixth grade Stanford learns a lot about his father, his grandmother, and most of all himself.
This middle grade story is full of so much humor, and lots of other strong, unexpected emotions. Lisa Yee, the recipient of the of the prestigious Sid Fleischman humor award, is quite the girl genius!

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