Geoff Herbach's (Stupid Fast) funny and poignant novel introduces 16-year-old trombone player Gabe Johnson, who buys pop to support his high school band. Caught directly after allegedly stealing money from the pop machine, he unspools his story to his defense attorney.
Gabe (aka "Chunk") started gaining weight after his mother abandoned him and his father for a Japanese architect she met on the Internet. "Stress makes a hole in me that needs filling," he explains, as he drains bottle after bottle of Code Red Mountain Dew. But then the high school hikes the price of the soda bottles, and Gabe discovers a plot hatched by the head of the school board and the principal to disband the band and start a dance squad of cheerleaders with the pop proceeds. Moreover, Gabe's beloved band teacher gets arrested for drunk driving, and his best friend starts dating a member of the dance squad. But Gabe also attracts new friends: classmates RC III, the African American quarterback who's new to town, and "Gore," a goth girl who works with them at the local doughnut shop.
Through narrator Gabe's eyes, Herbach deftly walks the tightrope between stereotypes and real people painted in broad strokes, and works in a few surprises. Gabe's grandfather helps him get into shape, and a supportive English teacher offers counsel, compensating for the teen's absent parents. Gabe's gradual and credible maturation, plus his winning sense of humor ("Thank God we don't have capital punishment in Minnesota. Die pop robber! Zap!" he tells his attorney) carries the novel. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness