"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Swim the Fly by Don Calame


OK, teen librarians get your pencils out and mark this book down for your next order. Teen boys, read this book if you want a good laugh about stuff that you will be able to relate to. Teen girls read this book to find out more about boys! Everyone else, read this book for the sheer enjoyment of it.

Swim the Fly by Don Calame is a seriously funny and perfect "boy" book, which librarians all spend half their lives trying to find.  And if you aren't a teen librarian, just read the thing.  But be prepared to laugh.

This coming-of-age story is about three friends, Matt, Sean, and Coop who challenge themselves to accomplish a goal every summer.  This summer their goal is to see a naked girl. Along the way Matt, who has a crush on the new girl on the swim team, volunteers to swim the butterfly in competition for the team.  It is a stroke that he doesn't know how to swim and is by far the hardest swim stroke to master. The book is full of barf, farts, and dumb jokes, many that made me laugh out loud, and funny passages that I shared with my husband.

*First lines, Chapter 1:
"Movies don’t count," Cooper says. "The Internet -doesn’t count. Magazines don’t count. A real, live naked girl. That’s the deal. That’s our goal for this summer."
"Been there, done that," Sean says.
"Taking baths with your sister -doesn’t count, either, Sean." Cooper snorts.
*Quote from page 56:
I kick my sneakers off and fling them into the coat closet with my toes. There's a crash, and a bunch of canisters roll out onto the vestibule floor..the blue one says Nutraworld Organic Fiber Laxative and the red one says Nutraworld Organic Muscle-Building Protein Powder...
You get the idea.  Adolescent boys. Mixed up cans. Adolescent jokes. Lots of fun!


*For participation in First Line Friday at A Few More Pages.
*For participation in The Friday 56 at Freda's Voice.

9 comments:

  1. Hi!
    Love that line. Sounds like a very funny book. I'll have to check it out. Have a great day!

    Sherrie
    Just Books
    http://sherriesbooks.blogspot.com/2011/07/lots-to-say-today.html

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  2. Hi Anne,

    Not a book that I am likely to be tempted by, but those two paragraphs would have just about every teenage boy reaching for a copy!!!

    It sounds like a good fun read, that to us 'older' readers probably would be taken a bit 'tongue in cheek', but that aforementioned teenagers would probably take deadly seriously.

    Yvonne

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  3. This one sounds hilarious and so real. Like real live boys, in their voice.

    Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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  4. This one is in my HS Media Center already. I haven't read it. Thanks for letting me know what it is about. I can think of a few boys already who might like it.

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  5. Somebody's working out and in need of a poop.... wonder if steroids are involved.
    Thanks for participating!

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  6. Doesn't it sound just like boys?? Had to laugh. Luv coming of age stories.

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  7. Sounds good!

    Have a great weekend!

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  8. Hello! Thanks for visiting my blog!

    The Friday 56 passage is funny! So like young boys to do stuff like that.

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  9. LOL This sounds like a fun read!

    Thanks for participating in Book Beginnings!

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