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Reviewed by:
  • Lucky Fools
  • Karen Coats
Voorhees, Coert . Lucky Fools. Hyperion, 2012. 293p. ISBN 978-1-4231-2398-9 $16.99 Ad Gr. 7-10.

The students at Oak Field Prep are a hard-charging, ambitious lot, and most of them have their sights set on nearby Stanford as their holy grail. When the admissions officer tells them that a new policy means that only one student from their high school will be accepted, it's game on for most of them. Not David, though, who'd rather go to Juilliard, despite his father's dire warnings about how hard it is to make a living as an actor. His main concerns, then, are his audition for Juilliard and his troubles with his long-term girlfriend, Ellen, from whom he seems to be growing apart as he finds himself attracted to a new girl. When the audition tanks, and his relationship with Ellen falls apart, he starts to question who he really is apart from everyone else's expectations of him. David's angst takes him in some predictable directions, plotwise, and his character is one we've met, repeatedly, since Jerry Renault decided to disturb the universe in The Chocolate War. David's story is nowhere near as dark as Jerry's, however; he suffers and successfully endures some public humiliation, does some soul-searching, and miraculously lands at Stanford with one of those stunts that only works in books. Certainly, his questions about how to remain true to oneself in the face of conflicting desires and expectations from peers and parents are important ones, and they will ring true for many teens, [End Page 119] even ones who don't have the moneyed support systems that these characters have. Readers looking for a strong follow-up with powerful themes similar to The Brothers Torres (BCCB 5/08) won't find it here, but those who like to immerse themselves in romantic stories of privileged teen angst where everything works out okay will not be disappointed.

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