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    Tales of the Madman Underground

    Author John Barnes
    Ebook
    Penguin Young Readers | Speak
    On sale Jun 25, 2009 | 544 Pages | 9781101081938
    Grade 9 & Up
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    MICHAEL L. PRINTZ HONOR BOOK • This gripping coming-of-age novel takes readers on a rollercoaster ride through the chaotic life of a quirky teen and his misfit friends.

    “Darkly comic . . . as troubled, relevant, relatable and hilarious as J.D. Salinger.”—Los Angeles Times

    “Rarely will you read something so lovingly vulgar, so fiercely warmhearted, and so exuberantly expansive.”—Booklist, starred review

    If this book was a monologue . . . it would be ****ing censored.

    Today is Wednesday, September 5, 1973. Welcome to the life of Karl Shoemaker, which includes:

    • getting through his senior year of high school
    • getting out of Lightsburg, Ohio, hole of the world
    • trying to lose his virginity
    • five jobs
    • a dead father
    • a seriously unhinged drunk mother
    • a house that is basically a litter box
    • his membership in the Madman Underground (a group of kids forced, for no apparent reason, to attend group therapy during school hours)
    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 that even its longwindedness becomes part of its rogue charm. . . . The culmination comes off like a teenage One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Always ambitious, often caustic, and frequently moving.”—Booklist, starred review

    “So easy and engaging, so sweet and funny, so astonishingly truthful that readers 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

    MICHAEL L. PRINTZ HONOR BOOK • This gripping coming-of-age novel takes readers on a rollercoaster ride through the chaotic life of a quirky teen and his misfit friends.

    “Darkly comic . . . as troubled, relevant, relatable and hilarious as J.D. Salinger.”—Los Angeles Times

    “Rarely will you read something so lovingly vulgar, so fiercely warmhearted, and so exuberantly expansive.”—Booklist, starred review

    If this book was a monologue . . . it would be ****ing censored.

    Today is Wednesday, September 5, 1973. Welcome to the life of Karl Shoemaker, which includes:

    • getting through his senior year of high school
    • getting out of Lightsburg, Ohio, hole of the world
    • trying to lose his virginity
    • five jobs
    • a dead father
    • a seriously unhinged drunk mother
    • a house that is basically a litter box
    • his membership in the Madman Underground (a group of kids forced, for no apparent reason, to attend group therapy during school hours)

    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 that even its longwindedness becomes part of its rogue charm. . . . The culmination comes off like a teenage One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Always ambitious, often caustic, and frequently moving.”—Booklist, starred review

    “So easy and engaging, so sweet and funny, so astonishingly truthful that readers 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

    Additional formats

    Other Books by this Author

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