Geoff Herbach proved with his debut novel, Stupid Fast, that he could tap into the mind of a teen on the periphery. In his latest book, by turns funny and poignant, he introduces 16-year-old Gabe Johnson, who buys pop to support the Minnekota Lake Area High School band, in which he plays the trombone. Caught directly after allegedly stealing money from the machine, he unspools his story to his defense attorney.
Gabe--also known as "Chunk"--started putting on weight after his mother abandoned him and his father for a Japanese architect she met on the Internet. As Gabe puts it, "Stress makes a hole in me that needs filling." He fills it with bottle after bottle of Code Red Mountain Dew ("I figured I was paying myself by drinking all that pop," he reasons). But when the high school hikes the price of the soda bottles (from $1.50 to $2.25!), Gabe suspects something fishy. He discovers a plot hatched by the head of the school board, Mrs. Kaus, and the principal, Mr. Deevers, to disband the band and start a dance squad of cheerleaders that includes Kailey Kaus (daughter of the school board head) with the pop proceeds. Add to that the fact that Kaus Company owns the soda machines, and a true conspiracy begins to unfold. Not only does Gabe's love of the endangered band up the emotional ante, but the teen's beloved band teacher drowns his sorrows and gets arrested for drunk driving, and Gabe's best friend, Justin, goes to the other side (he starts dating Janessa Rogers, one of "the evil Charlie's Angels" and a member of the dance squad). But Gabe also attracts new friends: RC III, the African American quarterback who's new to town, and "Gore," a goth girl named Chandra who works with Gabe and RC III at the local donut shop.
Through narrator Gabe's eyes, Herbach deftly walks the tightrope between stereotypes and real people painted in broad strokes, and manages to work in a few surprises. Gabe's grandfather helps him get into shape, and a supportive English teacher offers counsel, and the two help compensate for the teen's absent parents. Some readers may question Justin's sudden turnabout, but Gabe's gradual maturation remains entirely credible, and 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
Shelf Talker: The author of Stupid Fast delivers another funny, poignant novel about an unlikely hero determined to save his high school's marching band.