Losing Joe's Place

May 1, 1990
Gr 6-9- -The summer before their senior year, Jason and his friends Don and Ferguson get a golden opportunity to declare their independence by subletting Jason's older brother Joe's Toronto apartment. All the boys have to do-after convincing their skeptical parents to let them try this experiment-is to pay the rent each month. But they hadn't yet met their landlord, Mr. Plotnick, who also owns the deli below. And they hadn't known about Joe's friend Rootbeer, who wanders in and out of the apartment at will, who is enormous and eccentric, and whose attention span is so limited that he develops a new, increasingly bizarre hobby every day. And they hadn't figured on Plotnick's back trouble and their own involvement-so to speak-in managing the deli. Nor had they contemplated that Joe's Camaro, part of the sublet deal, would be mistakenly identified as a stolen car and be towed away. And much, much more. Surprisingly, it's not the quick twists and turns of the farcical plot that keep this very funny story moving. It's Jason's spirited narrative, his self-effacing sense of humor, and his finely tuned ear for the ridiculous that make these unbelievable antics work and create characters from these caricatures. Young readers will either put this down early with a groan-or, more likely, they'll speed through, slowed down only by uncontrollable laughing fits. -Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego