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    Tales of the Madman Underground

    Author John Barnes
    Paperback
    $15.99 US
    Penguin Young Readers | Speak
    5.47"W x 8.19"H x 1.45"D  
    On sale Jan 06, 2011 | 544 Pages | 9780142417027
    Grade 9 & Up
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    "The Catcher in the Rye meets On the Road"*-The Printz Honor book is a classic in the making!

    September 1973: The beginning of Karl Shoemaker's senior year in stifling Lightsburg, Ohio. For years, Karl's been part of "the Madman Underground"- kids forced to attend group therapy during school. Karl has decided that he is going to get out of the Madman Underground for good. He is going to act-and be-Normal. But Normal, of course, is relative. Karl has two after-school jobs, one dead father, one seriously unhinged drunk mother . . . and a huge attitude. Welcome to a gritty, uncensored rollercoaster ride, narrated by the singular Karl Shoemaker.

    *The Horn Book
    John A. Barnes has been a journalist, writer, speaker, and television commentator whose articles have appeared in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Reader's Digest, and America's Civil War. He is currently a corporate communications manager with Pfizer Inc. Mr. Barnes lives in New York City. View titles by John Barnes
    • WINNER
      Michael L. Printz Honor Book
    "Rarely will you read something so lovingly vulgar, so fiercely warmhearted, and so exuberantly expansive . . . the culmination comes off like a teenage One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." -Booklist, starred review

    "His narration is so easy and engaging, so sweet and funny, so astonishingly truthful that teens will rip through these 500-plus pages and want more." -School Library Journal, starred review

    "Darkly comic . . . as troubled, relevant, relatable and hilarious as J.D. Salinger." -Los Angeles Times

    About

    "The Catcher in the Rye meets On the Road"*-The Printz Honor book is a classic in the making!

    September 1973: The beginning of Karl Shoemaker's senior year in stifling Lightsburg, Ohio. For years, Karl's been part of "the Madman Underground"- kids forced to attend group therapy during school. Karl has decided that he is going to get out of the Madman Underground for good. He is going to act-and be-Normal. But Normal, of course, is relative. Karl has two after-school jobs, one dead father, one seriously unhinged drunk mother . . . and a huge attitude. Welcome to a gritty, uncensored rollercoaster ride, narrated by the singular Karl Shoemaker.

    *The Horn Book

    Author

    John A. Barnes has been a journalist, writer, speaker, and television commentator whose articles have appeared in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Reader's Digest, and America's Civil War. He is currently a corporate communications manager with Pfizer Inc. Mr. Barnes lives in New York City. View titles by John Barnes

    Awards

    • WINNER
      Michael L. Printz Honor Book

    Praise

    "Rarely will you read something so lovingly vulgar, so fiercely warmhearted, and so exuberantly expansive . . . the culmination comes off like a teenage One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." -Booklist, starred review

    "His narration is so easy and engaging, so sweet and funny, so astonishingly truthful that teens will rip through these 500-plus pages and want more." -School Library Journal, starred review

    "Darkly comic . . . as troubled, relevant, relatable and hilarious as J.D. Salinger." -Los Angeles Times

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