Review: Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach

"I am not stupid funny. I am stupid fast"

Overnight, it seems, Felton Reinstin's voice dropped, he grew hair, and he got fast, really fast. So fast that all the athletic-types swiveled their heads in his direction, not to tease him as in years past, but because they wanted him on their team. Suddenly Felton was one of the guys and he even had a love-interest but all this new-found social life does not help Felton at home where everything was falling apart.

"So I train. And I run. And I sneak off to Aleah's house in the night. But deep down I know I can't run forever. And I wonder what will happen when I finally have to stop."

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach is a sneaker of a book.  Published last year, it won the Cybils Award for YA realistic lit. Until recently I hadn't seen too many reviews or heard too much about this book but I think it is still building up steam and will be upon us in no time flat. Meaning: soon everyone will know about this book and will want to read it. By the cover one would think that this book is a book about football, one that would appeal mainly to boys.  It does have a bit about football in it and I hope that boys want to read this fast-paced, fun book, but it more a coming-of-age story about a boy who is just trying to find a way to fit in.  It is also a story about the devastation that comes upon families who try to hold things together at the same time trying to keep secrets at bay that threaten to overtake them at any moment. 

I was expecting the laughter and lighthearted parts of this book and was surprised by the genuine gut-wrenching bits. I found this book to be a much fuller, complex, and satisfying book than I expected.  However, I was a bit off-put by the language.  I get it that for the book to be real the teen boys couldn't talk like 18th-Century lads, but the injudicious foul language and slang just started to grate on my nerves at times. In fact, I'd say that the language would be the reason I would recommend this to high school level readers, not younger kids. As a fast and fun read I will recommend this to all students, not just boys, and I plan to add it to my Nifty-Fifty cart of books.  That is where I display books that are almost always sure bets, which I'm sure this one will be..