King Dork by Frank Portman (2006, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Musician/songwriter Portman has launched his literary career with a diabolically clever and very funny book for mature high schoolers that is a brilliant satire, a coming-of-age story, and a mystery, rolled seamlessly into one. Nerdy Tom Henderson, AKA “Chimo,” attends Hillmont High, where gifted classes paste artsy collages while the rest of the student body engage in various forms of institutionalized mayhem. The faculty and administration, original caricatures of all too recognizable types of public educators, have only one thing in common – an abiding devotion to Catcher in the Rye, which they treat as a master key to open the minds of adolescents, over and over and over again. Tom, so much like Holden Caulfield that he doesn’t notice that or much of anything else important either, is fed up with the novel. Ironically, however, when he discovers his late father’s hand-annotated copy of the book, it actually does change his life, (with a little help from his band). Lincoln Hobbes does a fine job as the disaffected young protagonist/cynic. The audio closes with a hilarious glossary followed by Portman performing Tom’s musical compositions. Note: This book does contain some sex and strong language.