"Watch it, man!"

I careened into a guy with a pencil rammed up his nose and tore past the nurse into the hall. Have to get out of here. I hurtled over a girl tying her shoe and dashed by my locker without stopping. Every second counted."

Thus begins Dorkman, a novel written by long-time Thinklings lurker Rich Pearce and Ken Story.

Months ago, Rich asked me if I would be willing to read and review Dorkman. I said "of course", and I read it and then . . . well, the "review it" part slipped off my mind's plate. So I'm here to make good on my promise.

Dorkman chronicles a few months in the 8th grade year of protagonist Cole Erickson, a popular, athletic, winsome kid, as his destiny crosses paths with Gordon Dorfmueller, aka Dorkman.

It's a familiar tale, and yet not so familiar. It contains some formulaic junior high icons - the good natured, popular and athletic kid who struggles with maintaining his social status while still doing the right thing, the self-absorbed, pretty and popular head cheerleader with a cruel streak, the middle school toughs who live to torment the unlovable, and the high-watered, up-buttoned, clueless dork of a kid who just can't fit in - and yet the plot takes some wild turns that I wouldn't have predicted. One turn in particular totally shocked me.

Bottom line: I liked it. The characters were believable (with some caveats, coming below), and Pearce and Story do a good job of making the atmosphere of Junior High real while still maintaining a relatively clean story, language-wise (more caveats, below). The measure I apply to an author's work generally rests with whether or not I care about the characters. And I cared about these characters.

The story contains some Christian themes, but doesn't oversell them. Yet the impetus beind Cole's inner struggle between maintaining the status quo and showing compassion to the least of these is his Christian faith, which is facing its first real test. This faith-tension isn't spelled out by the authors so much as just experienced in the pages, which made the book seem more authentic.

And the story is redemptive, while not being DisneyKids-ish.

Now, some caveats: There are some aspects of Gordon Dorfmueller (the "Dorkman") that strain credulity. Among them is his home-life and home-environment. For instance, we read this description of Gordon's home:

"From the outside, Dorkman's house had seemed like a regular everyday house, but inside . . . inside it was something altogether difference. The smell alone drove me back to the door, which I left open so fresh air could blow in. Somewhere, trash needed to be taken out, cat litter needed changing, and, ohmigosh, dog poop definitely needed scooping."

Reading further, we find that the house is full of animals and insects. For some reason, this didn't jive with the character of Gordon Dorfmueller as revealed in the novel. Plus, one word kept coming to mind as I read this: "CPS".

And, finally, regarding the language in the book. As I mentioned earlier, it is relatively clean, and full of (rather clever) Junior High-isms that ring true in this depiction of the life of Junior High students. However, this book appears to be directed toward the age bracket it describes, and so some cautions should be given: the language in the book might not be appropriate for smaller kids, and - in one case at least - a full blown four-letter anglo saxon epithet is said.

Overall, I found it an engaging read, redemptive, thought-provoking, a little sad, and "real". I liked it!