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    Tales of the Madman Underground

    Author John Barnes
    Paperback
    $15.99 US
    Penguin Young Readers | Speak
    On sale Jan 06, 2011 | 544 Pages | 9780142417027
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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
    • WINNER
      Michael L. Printz Honor 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
    "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

    Awards

    • WINNER
      Michael L. Printz Honor 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

    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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