Beat the Band, by Don Calame

"Dad points at me. 'Good call. Now when you hand this in to the teacher, you have to play it completely cucumber. Look him in the eyes. Keep it brief. If he asks you questions, don't go into long explanations. The best way to approach this is to keep telling yourself that this Mr. Grossman character is a jerk for not giving you more time to make a demo. It's his fault, really. He drove you to this.' "
     (Mr. Redmond, on plagiarising and how to keep a low profile while doing it.) Don Calame, Beat the Band.


Contrary to popular criticisms that besmirch this book, I found this to be one of the funniest I've read in a long time. From the point of view of Cooper "Coop Daddy" Redmond, Don Calame shows readers that even babe-loving, rock-and-roll-wannabes undergo development for the better. This story is a sequel to Calame's Swim the Fly and readers are taken on another crazy adventure filled with Coop's shenanigans and spontaneous plans. The book starts off with Coop being paired of with the infamous social outcast "Hot-Dog" Helen and continues with his efforts to try to shake her off as to keep his reputation unblemished from associating with someone as unpopular as Helen. Extremely frank and totally careless about how his opinions come out, Coop manages to charm readers who may not be able to associate with attitudes like his in day-to-day life and we slowly see a softer side to him as the story nears the end (which keeps him relatable without alienating readers).  I liked how the narration didn't try to stifle Coop's attitude. Whatever the character thought, Calame put on paper, regardless of the fact if it was offending or not. I liked how we could see Cooper's progression in the story and how in the end he was able to face people he thought he had admired and stand up for his friends. It was also really refreshing to get a book from the point of view of a teenage boy because YA literature seems to be overpopulated with the first-person female voice. Chock-full of profanity and shameless scheming, this book is not for the faint of heart. I'd recommend this book for teens who are reluctant readers (and all the other avid ones too!) because Calame proves himself to be able to spin an unbelievable scenario and make it completely realistic with characters that keep you laughing even after you've finished the book.