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Dec 02, 2011

ivana18 rated it:

Recently I was discussing YA literature with some of my GR friends and I decided to check out my YA shelf. Don't let the low count on my read shelf fool you, I do read quite a bit, but as some of you might know (and many of you don't) I only rate and review books that I actually finished, the ones I do not finish I simply delete from my shelves. Now, sometimes I will make myself finish a book even though it's a definite wall-banger, that way I can really appreciate a well written or a great writ More...

10 comments like (8 people liked it)

May 14, 2011

Hallie rated it:

I loved this. Will's decision to move from a deaf school to the local public high school is one that puts him at odds with many of his deaf friends, and leaves him quite adrift in a school that doesn't seem to be making much effort to help him cope. So now he's the fat newcomer who's also the only deaf student - more than a lot to deal with. But the book is funny, Will is a great character, and when he makes his first friend, the book veers into Hardy Boys mystery territory in a way I found d More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Shelley rated it:

Will Halpin has "graduated" from his school for the deaf, and makes his first attempt at a regular high school, Carbon High. Being the only deaf student creates plenty of difficulties for Will but he spends a lot of time observing his classmates. Eventually he finds a comrade in a slightly geeky friend. Together they decide to try to solve the mystery of a fellow student's death. The story has a Hardy Boys type quality which hasn't been captured in a long time. Let me rephrase; an More...

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Jan 02, 2012

Rebecca rated it:

Will Halpin, deaf and overweight, starts his year at a new, mainstream school without knowing what he's really getting into. He's a good lip reader, but the teachers never remember to face him so he doesn't know what's going on in class, except that his sexy math teacher is flirting with the obnoxious football player who is holding party invitations over everyone's head like a mark of popularity. The kids basically ignore Will except when they're laughing at him (though he can't tell why), thoug More...

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Sep 17, 2011

Lauren rated it:

This is everything a young adult book should be! While communicating moral issues and addressing uncomfortable topics of equality for special needs students (the main character is very deaf), this book is incredibly cool, entertaining, and is written well! The main character has that disconnected sarcastic tone that one might use after being shunned by mainstream society, but manages to find his niche in fit in well after some adjustments.

After some introductions of the main charact More...

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Jul 15, 2011

Corinne rated it:

Will Halpin is taking a serious leap - from a Deaf School into a "Mainstream" School. Because of his excellent lipreading skills as well as his detestation for his hearing aids, Will lives in a silent world. This does NOT make it easy to fit into a gossip-filled, loud and chaotic high school. It also doesn't help that he's, uh, hefty. Plumpish. Big boned.

But he does it. He goes to class and is more than a little bit observant of his peers - his snarky and sometimes hilarious More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 15, 2011

nicole rated it:

I also read this for the Nerds Heart YA book tournament. I'm not going to lie -- I hated it at first. It was like getting splashed in the face after the hot hot heat of Dark Water. I loathe text speak in teen novels and there was a shit ton of it. I wasn't keen on the plot, or the subplot, or the plot that was really the plot when it turned out the party based on a deck of cards wasn't actually the plot.

But I am really fond of Will. The tournament is about discovering books that ser More...

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Nov 03, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

Will Halpin has decided to leave his deaf school and attend the local high school. It is a hard transition, but when one of his classmates is killed during a field trip to a coal mine, he and his friends may be the only possibility of finding the killer.

I loved this book! Will's voice is funny and refreshing. I do love a smart protagonist with loads of wit and sarcasm! And while Devon is definitely dorky, his is also both believable and charming. Berk even makes the school bullies mo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 31, 2010

Kathleen rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jun 23, 2010

Terri rated it:

"VOYA" gives it 10 of 10 for quality and appeal. "School Library Journal" gives it a starred review. Naturally, I am interested. I read it, and my response is "Really?" First of all this is more of a middle school read than a high school read, though the characters are in high school. I found it boring, sometimes amusing, and often confusing. I would maybe recommend it to some of the less mature freshmen boys - reluctant reader types.

You know the story - More...

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Apr 26, 2010

Alison rated it:

I loved this book! Another great book for boys and girls alike!

I'm always on the lookout for books my boys will like now and in the future, and since I'm not your typical girly-girl, books like this grab me as well. The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk is a great story about Will Halpin, screen name HambugerHalpin, a goofy kid who finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery when the star quarterback dies while on a class trip to the Happy Memory Coal Mine.

More...

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Apr 08, 2010

Reading Sarah rated it:

Will Halpin decides to opt out of the political issues at his deaf school and go mainstream. At the mainstream school he will have to use his lipreading skills to get by, but he doesn't mind because his ability allows him to drop some eaves on other people's conversations. In the first week he finds himself in love with the most popular girl in school, but on the bottom run of the social ladder. By the second week a mysterious death of a student (in the very coal mine where one of Will's long lo More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 19, 2010

Liza added it

Will Halpin is a deaf teenager who moves from a deaf-only school to a public school. He hopes to make it work through his gift for lip-reading. Halpin also believes he's overweight.

Berk acknowledges having spent considerable effort on making sure the sections about deafness were politically correct and accurate to the real experience. He was sensitive.

However, his main character is a completely rude SOB who consistently makes fun of others, gives them horrible names, a More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 12, 2010

P.M. rated it:

Will Halpin is overweight, girlfriendless, about to start a new school, and deaf to boot. Lucky for him, he is adept at reading lips, a talent which will help him solve a mystery. When he is given a seat away from his fellow students to facilitate his lipreading, he begins to study his classmates instead. He makes notes in his notebook about Pat Chambers, football jock and school bully, the beautiful Leigha, rich Purple, and class tormentee Devon Smiley, who communicates with him via finger spel More...

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Jun 04, 2010

Jbachelder rated it:

The most compelling thing about this book is that the main character, Will Halpin, is deaf. He leaves the safety and security of his deaf school for the mainstream experience of public school. It's edifying to "hear" the difficulties of being deaf in a public school: he can't hear the bells; his teachers turn their backs to him making it impossible for him to lip read; kids don't understand why he stares at them (so he can read their lips), and more. Compound this with the fact that More...

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Jan 06, 2011

Paula rated it:

Absolutely hilarious! This would be a great book for relunctant readers and guys because it combines humor and mystery. Will Halpin decides he wants to leave the deaf school and attend a normal high school. He is a large, plus size guy who is deaf, uses sign language and reads lips--someone who will stand out and be a target for bullies. Sure enough, though he dreams of fitting in, he soon becomes a target of insults and finds himself partnered with the second most unpopular kid, Devon Smiley, o More...

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Oct 29, 2010

Jeanette rated it:

I found myself truly enjoying the main character Will Halpin and his observations of the high school hearing world around him. Will, a large and congenial type of 16 yr. old boy, has transferred to the public high school from his deaf school without benefit of an interpreter. Enter Devon Smiley the only other kid who knows sign language and who is on the same popularity level as the new overweight deaf kid. On a field trip to the local coal mine Pat Chambers, the most popular football player in More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 30, 2011

Cherylann rated it:

Since I like to know as little as possible before I start reading a book, I failed to read the back cover of the book before I started reading. At first, I thought this book was going to be about kids with disabilities and bullying, and then around page 100 my idea of this book changed. Turns out it is and it isn't. Will "Hamburger" Halpin transfer to a mainstream high school from a deaf high school during his junior year. As he tries to navigate the social and academic world of high s More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 19, 2010

Coralie added it

An interesting, edgy teen book with no sex, drugs or drama. Just a murder. Will Halpin is deaf. He lives in Pennsylvania coal mining country. At sixteen, he decided to leave the deaf school and attend regular high school. It's tough, but he hangs in there and eventually makes a friend. Then, during a field trip to a coal mine, one of his classmates is murdered. Will and his friend get together and "solve the case." Although this sounds sappy, Will is smart-mouthed and sarcastic. More...

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Mar 26, 2010

Erica rated it:

From reading his blog and following him on Twitter, I was expecting Josh Berk’s book to be funny and amusing. It was, in fact, funnier and more amusing than I thought it would be. Berk is like that guy in, oh, let’s say, your government class who, no matter what he was talking about, managed to infuse it with The Funny.
This is a quick read, but don’t think that means that it’s predictable. Will and Devon, with the help of Will’s ex-“girlfriend” Ebony, actually manage to uncover clues that More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 17, 2011

bjneary rated it:

I really enjoyed Josh Berk's book, I loved the humor and repartee between Will Halpin and his partner in solving crimes, Devon Smiley. I really got what it was like to be deaf, fat, and a very keen observer--Will has become really good at reading people's lips because that is what he will need to rely on in this new, scary place. Will has transferred from the deaf school to Carbon High School located in the coal regions of PA. He writes observations, make notes and they are hysterical, " More...

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Jun 30, 2009

Angela rated it:

Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be a guy. I figure Nick Hornby is pretty authoritative on the subject of adult guys, so I look to him for insight. Then I discovered Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid series, so now I have a pretty good idea what it's like to be a 12-year-old boy.

When I heard my husband cracking up, literally bringing himself to tears he was laughing so hard, I checked out what he was reading. It was then I knew that Josh Berk was going to be my key to the mind of the te More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2010

Annie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 03, 2010

Cathy rated it:

Will Halpin has left deaf school to be mainstreamed into his local high school. He is made to sit into the corner so that he can best read the lips of teachers and students, though the teachers either keep turning away or sport bushy beards. On the bus he sits in the first row, revealing the pecking order as going up as you walk back to those who don't even have to ride the bus but have their own cars. Being overweight, bullied and a social outcast, he mostly spends time in his head and writi More...

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Jul 16, 2010

Brandy rated it:

Outsider kid goes to a new school, reluctantly makes friends with another outsider kid, gets picked on by popular kids, popular kid dies on a field trip, outsider kids solve the mystery Hardy-Boys Style. New spin: outsider status is bestowed on the original kid due to deafness (his friend is just a dork).

I liked it okay, though I don't totally get all the stars it's racking up from various review journals. I think what's bothering me most is the number of fat jokes. Will's weight More...

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Mar 29, 2010

Christiane rated it:

I'm starting to look for "clean" teen books I can use with my advanced 5th grade classes. This is a great one! Will Halpin is not only the new kid at school, he's the new fat, deaf kid at school. Mostly ignored, Will is not sure the transfer from his deaf high school was a good idea. But then the school's star quarterback takes a one way fall down a mine shaft. And it wasn't an accident. The mystery is not the strongest part of the story (you can guess the murderer way before Wil More...

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Apr 27, 2010

Debut Authors rated it:

I had the pleasure of chatting with Josh Berk early last month and did a quick profile of him as one of the first posts on this blog. I spent the entire half-hour of the chat laughing my ass off, so needless to say I had high expectations for his book The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin. I am happy to say the book has lived up to and even exceeded them.

I learned a surprising amount about the deaf culture from Berk. Making his main character deaf really gives a unique perspective More...

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Dec 14, 2011

Johnp rated it:

This one was passable – once we get to the crime alluded to on the back of the book. Will Halpin is the ‘new kid’. He is also quite heavy and deaf. The story takes WAY too long to get to the conflict – a school field trip that ends in the death of a student. Will and his friend Devon decide to ‘solve the mystery’ and away we go.

I found the detective work a bit too over the top (e.g. Devon’s dad installed the school’s security system, so Devon could figure out how to look at su More...

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Aug 06, 2010

Lisa rated it:

Will Halpin is an overweight, deaf teen, who transferred from a deaf school to a regular high school. The character is really snarky, which was at first off-putting, with the book being in first-person. There's a lot of teen-speak in the book, and some of it seemed overdone or a bit off, but not being a teen makes me not such an expert on that. Although supposed to be witty or funny, there were no laugh-aloud moments for me. The story also didn't get going until about mid-way through when a murd More...

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Jul 17, 2011

Robin rated it:

This is a good title for book talks. Reluctant high school (male) readers will relate to the guy-centric plot, the social injustices of high school, and the very honest voice of the protagonist.
As for the plot, the mystery and resolution were a little silly. The strength of the book lies in the voice of Halpin as he deals with life as a transfer student and his disability. He transferred out of the deaf school and is trying to navigate public school. Teachers not understanding the importanc More...

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