What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

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Query abandoned by poster > ABANDONED. YA Coming of Age, Humor. Boy genius/ nerd/ wild man goes to extreme lengths to impress girl. Cross dresses as girl to sit near her in art class. From broken, poor family. Pretends has stock broker. Set 1970s-80s. Cover: bright blue. Read ~2010.

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message 1: by Keith Bonneau (new)

Keith Bonneau | 8 comments Random girl gave me this book one summer prob 12 years ago and I read it and loved it and the main character and often think of it but can never remember the title or author please please please help me....here’s what I remember:


Teenage Boy Genius from broken and poor family spends several months trying to impress one girl. At one point he cross dresses as a girl to pose as a mew student so he can sit near her in art class and does all sorts of other crazy things to try to win her over. He’s extremely bright and adept at fooling authorities/teachers/parents etc. wickedly funny and fast moving book. Had a bright blue cover from what I recall. For some reason I think authors last name and or first name started with a C. My guess is it’s from the 80s. I think it’s set in the 80s or early 90s. At one point his family goes on vacation to a trailer park. His mom is always bringing home new men. The kids a genius and winds up committing several crimes and causing general mischief


message 2: by Kris (last edited Dec 18, 2020 09:27AM) (new)

Kris | 54949 comments Mod
Keith, what's the genre or mood - e.g., YA (= teens) romance, humor, coming of age, adventure?


message 3: by Keith Bonneau (new)

Keith Bonneau | 8 comments Coming of age, humor. Thanks for asking Kris, I still think about this all the time and cannot figure it out


message 4: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart | 28670 comments Do you remember if the boy was more high school or more middle school age?


message 5: by Kris (new)

Kris | 54949 comments Mod
Can you tell us more about the girl?

What type of crimes does he commit? Who are his friends?


message 6: by Keith Bonneau (new)

Keith Bonneau | 8 comments Highschool and He’s wickedly smart.e He has like no friends but is really into girls. He gets expelled from the school for some reason but he cross dresses as a girl to get back into the same school because he has a wicked crush on this one girl and he gets in and takes an art class with the girl and they fall for each other and then the girl casually tells him that she knew he wasn’t really a girl and was the same kid the whole time. I think his mom is always bringing him new guys she sleeps with and instantly let’s them move in. The father is out of the picture. He may be an only child, I do t remember any siblings. And I remember one detail that sometimes when he’s trying to impress people he’ll pretend to make a call to his stock broker and tell the guy to buy or sell stocks. I also remember at one point he writes a letter to the governor of California (I think it was California at least) by sending it to the letter and he’s posing as someone else of course at that point...I know that was a random anecdote but it’s a really adventurous book, although I think it’s supposed to basically follow one kid around for a year....like I said, the kid is super smart, definitely a narcissist, obsessed with sex, makes a lot of jokes about masturbating...I hope all this helps


message 7: by Keith Bonneau (new)

Keith Bonneau | 8 comments Also if I remember correctly the book had like a cartoonish drawing on the front and was mostly a sky blue or cerulean color


message 8: by Keith Bonneau (new)

Keith Bonneau | 8 comments I always want to say that the author was CW or Cooper or something like that but countless Google searches and variations to that have gotten me no where


message 9: by Keith Bonneau (new)

Keith Bonneau | 8 comments I would say it was set in the 70s to mid 80s somewhere during those years


message 10: by Keith Bonneau (new)

Keith Bonneau | 8 comments Also part of his experience is going to a campground in an RV with his Mom and her Boyfriend and he showers in these communal showers, and I’m not positive but that may be where he first sees the girl he winds up being obsessed with throughout the entire book


message 11: by Keith Bonneau (new)

Keith Bonneau | 8 comments I know I said possibly set in the 90s in my first description but that’s definitely wrong it’s definitely The mid to late 70s or early to mid 80s. That’s when it was set in....and I borrowed it from a girl I. Like 2010, and it definitely itself wasn’t a new book at that time. I have no idea when it was written but my guess is before 2000


message 12: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart | 28670 comments Do any of the books mentioned on this thread look familiar?

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...


message 13: by Kris (new)

Kris | 54949 comments Mod
No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Keith (OP) was last active on the site in March 2021.


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