On a lark, Bobby Steele and his friends fake an application to a prestigious private high school. No one is more surprised than Bobby . . . especially when Bobby actually follows through and starts attending the school as Rowan Pohi, the made-up applicant. Things start well. For some reason, the school doesn't seem overly concerned that they haven't received any tuition, met or gotten any signed forms from his parents--though they are a little miffed not to have received his transcripts. But as More...

In one memorable M*A*S*H episode, Hawkeye and the crew invented Captain John Tuttle, a remarkable man who had to “die” when a real officer wanted to honor him. Ralph Fletcher uses the same premise to explore how a teenage boy comes to terms with himself and his name in Also Known as Rowan Pohi.

Bobby Steele doesn't have the best life around – his mom left after his father did a horrific thing to her. Bobby's sophomore year is about to start, he has a younger brother starting kindergarten to watch More...

Bobby Steele is not keen on being himself. His father, who has the same name, runs a local auto repair store, and found himself on the front page of the newspaper after a nasty domestic battle that resulted in Bobby's mother leaving the family and his father having to serve jail time and attend AA meetings. Bobby's also not keen on going to Riverview High, which can't raise enough money to repave its parking lot while nearby private school Whitestone can put in a planetarium. While chilling at t More...

Okay, so Bobby's life isn't that great. He goes to a crappy high school and his dad has issues and his mom left. But this book was sort of beyond believability. I mean, he and his friends fill out a fake application for the local prep school, and their imaginary person is accepted.

All they did was fill out the application and write a fake letter of recommendation, and 'Rowan Pohi' is accepted. So Bobby decides to pretend he IS Rowan Pohi, and they just let him waltz right into the school. Then, More...

This was ok, a teenager makes up a fake identity, first as a joke to see if the pretend teen will be admitted to a posh private school, and then he decides to actually attend the school using this fabricated persona.

This was one of those weird books for me where I felt I could see a lot of points that the author was trying to make, but in almost every case, it didn't quite pan out. This felt like 80% of a book. Not in terms of length, but certain ideas would be introduced, and then they wouldn't More...

I love a good story about reinventing yourself, because lets face it, most of us would've loved the opportunity, especially in grade school or high school. And Bobby's Rowan transition is pretty epic. It was downright Ferris Bueller-esque.

I liked Bobby's character quite a bit. He's spontaneous and doesn't really think about the consequences of what he's getting into, everything is done by the seat of his pants. But obviously he's also smart, no dummy could pull off the scam he's setting up. Whic More...

I recieved an ARC through the Young Adult Reviewers of Southern California

http://yarsocalif.blogspot.com/2011/1...

Summer is almost over when Bobby Steele and his friends come up with a great practical joke, make up a kid and send his application to the local private school, Whitestone Prep. The joke is on them when the Rowan Pohi gets accepted. Bobby has been having a tough time since his parents split-up after a highly publicized domestic dispute. If he pretends to be Rowan Pohi, maybe he can t More...

It took me a while to get into this brief novel. Honestly, I was not amused by the antics of Bobby and his friends; I really don't see what's so funny about submitting a faked application to the local private high school. Plus, while I feel bad for Bobby's bad home life (father infamous for having once attacked their mother with an iron, after which she split and has not been heard from since), I wasn't too invested in it. Once he assumed the identity of Rowan Pohi, though, the story, and his li More...

Bobbie Steele and his two best buddies, Marcus and Big Poobs, spend a good amount of time talking up things the way teen boys do when in a group. Whenever a Whitestone Academy student enters IHOP, the boys comment on the snobby “Stonys” and their designer jeans, school uniform and preppy manner. It is obvious they are jealous of the other kids’ affluence and opportunities. Board, they joke that the three of them could get an imaginary guy into Whitestone, if they really wanted to. As happens wit More...

Summary:

A handful of weeks before he's set to start the tenth grade, Bobby Steele and his friends, Marcus and Big Poobs, are lazing in their preferred booth at the local IHOP, bored out of their heads. Just as they're about to expire from boredom, they find a syrup-stained application to the exclusive Whitestone Academy lying on an abandoned table a few feet away. Brilliant idea hatched, they fill in the necessary blanks, creating a boy named Rowan and mail in his application, just to see if the More...

Rowan Pohi isn’t real. He’s just a boy from Arizona concocted by Bobby Steele and his friends Marcus and Big Poobs one day while they are sitting in Ihop. Bored and needing a little excitement, Bobby and his friends fill out an application for admission to the prestigious Whitestone Academy. Rowan gets good grades, plays football and helps those less fortunate; the perfect candidate for Whitestone. When Rowan receives an acceptance letter, Bobby, Marcus and Poobs can hardly believe it. The joke More...

Overall I did enjoy this book and I could see most of my students enjoying it as well.
I am a little hesitant to purchase it for the library because it does contain a heavy make-out scene. While it's nothing that is overly explicit he does mention holding the "world" in his hands. "For nearly an hour I had the whole world in my hand - two lush planets actually, or binary stars - but that world is gone." I'm in the unusual position of having a 5th-8th grade library. Somethings that would be accep More...

Warning: this review contains spoilers

Bobby Steele’s name is infamous but not through any fault of his own. He shares his name with his father whose face and name appeared all over the newspapers when he was arrested for burning his wife’s arm with a hot iron after a fight. It was the first and last time he laid his hand on her – she leaves as soon as he is released from his short stay in prison but she doesn’t take her kids. Bobby and his younger brother Cody remain behind with a father they bo More...

Also Known as Rowan Pohi is a quick read- but that same fact doesn't make it an easy one. A couple of moments had me fanning suspiciously damp eyes. And for what? A teenage boy's made up alter ego? The same boy working out the aftermath of his mother leaving? Or was it, the same boy working out things with his dad?

Mostly, it's that last item... alot of the things between them hit very close to home. Like Bobby, I could be judgemental... but like Bobby, there's also a moment when one just has to More...

Kind of a Cinderella story for academically-minded dudes: Bobby and his friends make up a outstanding candidate and apply on his behalf to the snobby prep school. Fake Guy gets in. Bobby shows up at orientation pretending to BE Fake Guy, despite not really planning to go to the school. He just needs to keep his little secret.

I dunno. I can see the appeal, and I'm definitely adding this to my 9th-grade booktalks. As an adult, though, there's only so much disbelief I can suspend. I like the relati More...

Dealing with his mom leaving after his dad did time for burning her with an iron, Bobby is spending the last few days of summer hanging with his two best friends. They decide to pull the ultimate prank and create an imaginary boy to apply to Whitestone, the nearby private school. They are all flabbergasted when Rowan is accepted and set to start in just a few days.
Bobby impulsively decides to pretend to be Rowan and goes to the new student orientation. He enjoys himself so much, he decides to co More...

I thought that the writing here was engaging and presented the characters in an accessible, humorous but still sympathetic and emotionally complex. However, the story and the resolutation to the problem left me wanting more, perhaps because I'm not a child reading the book as it relates to personal experience. The beginning of the book is pretty interesting, setting the stage for what intially promises to be an investigation of wealth disparity and styles of teaching in education. This track is More...

I liked it - quite a bit actually. I can't say it was the best written book I've ever read (spoiler alert: it wasn't), but the story was a good one, and touched on some tough issues.

Bobby Steele has had a rough year, and is spending the last couple weeks of summer wasting time at the local IHOP with his friends until it's time to go back to Riverview High. Until they decide the best way to spend one afternoon is filling out an application to Whitestone Academy, the local prep school. An applicat More...

Now for a surprisingly fun one! This is, in a sense, the story of George P. Burdell for a YA audience, but it ends up being a story that's a lot more fun than it should be; telling a story about identity, accepting oneself for who you are, and more.

Rowan Pohi is the name of a kid who wants to go to an elite prep school. The issue is that the kid doesn't exist - Bobby and his friends made him up completely, and submitted his application. It then turns out that Rowan gets into the prestigious acad More...

Three friends decide to create a fictional student, Rowan Pohi, to apply to an elite prep school in their area. They never dream that Rowan will be accepted – but he is. Bobby decides to take advantage of the situation to escape some of the preconceived notions that his high school classmates already hold about him and take Rowan's place.
Many people would love a chance to re-invent themselves and this is a perfect example of a person who has good reason to try. However, it also balances that per More...

Also Known as Rowan Pohi is a quite short, light and interesting reading about Bobby Steele, a boy who decides to trick his way into Whitestone, a prestigious school in Bobby’s town. It’s begun with a prank with his friends when they invented Rowan Pohi, a smart and talented boy who wanted to enter Whitestone. But when they received a letter telling them that Rowan is accepted, Bobby decided to take his place and be Rowan Pohi.

This is a light reading; it only took me about one and a half hour to More...

It’s a great premise: as a prank, kid invents fictional applicant and applies to snobby private school. When accepted, the kid assumes the persona of the fictional applicant and attends the school. The writing is slick, and the first half goes down like a sweet syrupy soda. Then, as a reader, indigestion sets in. The school admissions people are unbelievably clueless. The wealthy schoolkids are one-dimensional characters – the hot girl, the mean boys – with one lovely exception, a girl from a Ca More...

Easy, breezy! Anyone looking for a fast read with short chapters, big words and wide page margins should enjoy this book. Fletcher keeps the plot moving. Bobby Steele (also known as Rowan Pohi) is likable character despite his baggage. I won't spoil what his baggage is, as that was part of the fun of reading this story. What I will say is that because of his baggage, Bobby wants to be a different person thus when he and his friends submit a fake application for Rowan to a prestigious school, he More...

Also Known as Rowan Pohi is a very quick, semi-interesting, totally predictable read. The premise was so promising - create a fictious identity, then assume that identity so you can start a new life in a new school. Yet the only original idea in the whole book is the creation of the fictious last name - IHOP spelled backwards. That said, Bobby and his friends are likeable and realistic enough to hold the attention of most younger teen readers. Reluctant readers will appreciate the short lenght o More...

One day, while bored at IHOP, Bobby Steele and his friends Marcus and Big Poobs decide to create a fake application for Whitestone Academy, a fancy private school that rivals their own public one. Rowan Pohi is born, and they have a good time creating a persona for this person. But then Rowan is accepted to Whitestone, and Bobby decides to attend the school as Rowan. Everything goes according to plan for a while, but Bobby can’t balance his two worlds forever, and eventually they come crashing t More...

Bobby Steele and his friends are escaping the August heat in their favorite hangout, IHOP. When a group of girls from the prestigious private school, Whitestone Preparatory, leave an application behind, the boys come up with a scheme to escape their end-of-summer boredom. Bobby, Big Poobs and Marcus create a fictional applicant for Whitestone named Rowan Pohi (IHOP spelled backward). Rowan is actually accepted into the school, and Bobby sees this as an opportunity to escape the low performing sc More...

Enjoyable YA aimed at teen boys who are reluctant readers

Fifteen-year-old Bobby Steele and his best friends, Big Poobs and Marcus, are students at the dreary, underfunded, local secondary school, Riverview High. They regularly hang out at the local IHOP, a restaurant where teens from the ritzy private school Whitestone Prep--AKA "Stonys"--can also be found. One day out of boredom, Bobby and his friends decide to create a fake boy and fill out an application for him for Whitestone. They name him More...

Also Known as Rowan Pohi is a new YA by long time author Ralph Fletcher. My son's been recommending his books to me for about a year now, so I jumped at the change to read his newest.

Rowan Pohi reads like the YA version of I Am Not Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos. I say that fondly as both are great stories of self acceptance and self improvement. Joey Pigza which is aimed at a slightly younger set of readers is a more light hearted take, while Also Known at Rowan Pohi pulls fewer punches.

Bobby Steele More...

Original review posted @ www.bookgoonie.com August 2011

http://wp.me/p1h3Ps-pH

Bobby Steele and his buddies decide it would be a kick to make up a fake identity and see if it would get admitted into the prestigious Whitestone Academy. They are shocked when it becomes a reality. The prank has played itself out and so they ceremonial bury Rowan Pohi. But Bobby in a moment of feeling sorry for himself digs up the acceptance papers from Rowan's grave. Bobby decides to assume Rowan's fake life.

A few ye More...