Spud

September 10, 2007
John Milton, 13, a scholarship student at an elite boys' boarding school in South Africa, records his disturbing but often hilarious exploits in this diary-style first novel set in 1990. As the year begins, President F.W. de Klerk decriminalizes the African National Congress and orders the release of political prisoner Nelson Mandela—but not even massive societal upheaval can get pre-pubescent boys to think about something other than girls, or set aside their depraved trick-playing. Nicknamed Spud because of his small “willy,” John reports without judgment the events around him. The large cast of housemates includes mayhem leaders Rambo and Boggo, who instruct in “how to rape and pillage schoolgirls,” Gecko, who succumbs to every passing malady, and Fatty, an overeater intent on breaking the school's sustained-fart record. The faculty is another can of mixed nuts: the drama teacher, unimaginatively named Eve, seduces an underclassman; the Guv begins English class by calling Henry James “a boring poof” and tossing his novels out the window. In many ways Spud appears to be a literary cousin of Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson, whose diaries also detail, in colorful slang, life with whacked-out relatives, obsession with emergent sexuality and school-related capers. There's a bit more heft here—away from home, Spud sees his parents' racism clearly—but he doesn't come of age: he's a star choirboy whose voice hasn't broken. After all, there are three years of school left and a sequel due next fall. Ages 12-up.

December 1, 2007
Gr 8 Up-This South African import, very successful in its own country, makes the ocean crossing uneasily. Written in diary format, the story tells of a 13-year-old boy who is in his first year at boarding school in 1990, the year that Nelson Mandela is released from prison. He is called "Spud" because of the diminutive size of his genitals. The book documents the sometimes violent, sometimes chaotic atmosphere of his school. Characterized on the cover as "a wickedly funny novel," the book tries hard but fails to exhibit any humor. Spud's parents are presented as ridiculous and bizarre, with his father nailing his doors and windows shut and calling Spud to tell him that "the barbarians are at the door" when Mandela is released. There is plenty of sexual and South African slang terminology. With plodding language and little insight into the many characters at the boarding school, the novel is unlikely to find much of a readership."Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 25, 2009
Set in 1990, the year of Nelson Mandela's release, this historical fiction is the diary of a scholarship student's first year at an exclusive South African boarding school. John Milton is given the nickname Spud for both his short stature and his prepubescent anatomy. He and his roommates (the "Crazy Eight") care less about politics than they do pranking, farting, and "pillaging" girls. It is easy to see why this comic romp was a best seller in the author's native South Africa. Why It Is for Us: John's family life offers a satiric counterpoint to all the adolescent mayhem. His father is racist and sure that supporters of the newly legal African National Congress will burn him in his bed, while his grandmother, the "Wombat," makes every family outing an adventure in senility. Fans can continue John's school diary in Spud: The Madness Continues (2008).-Angelina Benedetti, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2007
A huge best-seller in South Africa, thisraucous autobiographical novel about a scholarship boy in an elite boys boarding school in 1990 is mainly farcebut also part coming-of-age tale. Mandelas release helps Spuddecide that he wantsto be a freedom fighter, buthis politics is decidedlylight. In diary entries (sometimeswritten hour by hour), he relays hismajor concernsbullies in his dorm, his farting roommate, his friend having sex with a woman teacher, falling in love with three girls, and still having a soprano voice. He also writes about his crazy family, including his racist dad. The ridicule ofhis senile grandmaverges on the offensive, and all the cricket and rugby talk will bore some American readers. Still, the mockery (honesty, honesty, honestyforget it, says Spuds teacher-mentor) is great, and the fast, funnyplot reaches out to universals of friendship and loyalty. Pair this with John GreensLooking for Alaska (2005).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)