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Summary
Summary
Read Jonathan Friesen's posts on the Penguin Blog.
This Schneider Family Book Award winner changed the face of Tourette's Syndrome for modern teens. Wrought with tension, romance, and hope, Jerk, California tells the story of Sam, who sets out on a cross-country quest to learn the truth about his family and his inherited Tourette's Syndrome, along the way finding both love and acceptance.
Author Notes
Jerk, California is Jonathan Friesen's first novel. A fourteen-year public school teacher and writing instructor at the University of Minnesota, Jonathan shares his passion for writing with children of all ages-including three of his own, whom he home schools. He lives in Mora, Minnesota.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Sam is a high school senior who has lived with Tourette's syndrome since age six. He has no friends and no prospects for college or employment when he graduates. His abusive stepfather has convinced Sam that he's worthless, just like his dead father. When George, the town eccentric who hires Sam for the summer, dies unexpectedly, Sam sets off on a quest to learn the truth about his father, meeting family and making friends along the way, and discovering himself in the process. Paris's steady pacing conveys Sam's inner dialogue, mirroring his jerky muscles and keeping listeners engaged in the action. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Like its Tourette Syndrome-afflicted protagonist, this novel lacks grace. Sam lives with his mother, his baby half brother and his stepfather, an abusive man with OCD who hates Sam's dead father so much that he changed Sam's name. With no prospects after graduation, Sam takes a job with "Coot," a local oddball who knew Sam's dad and quickly becomes Sam's best friend (as well as his connection to beautiful Naomi) before dropping dead and leaving Sam his farm and a quest. Sam, now reverted to Jack and accompanied by Naomi, follows the quest and discovers his parents' Mennonite past and the windmills his father built. Quirky characters who barely rise above caricatures, clunky dialogue and inconsistent voice and a pregnant leading-lady round out the tale. Cluttered plot and issues galore, with a too-easy resolution and a rickety back story (why did no one ever mention to Sam that his dad was not a boozing two-timer?) undermine the potentially interesting premise. Hardly worth the effort. (reading-group questions; author interview, not seen) (Fiction. 13 & up) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In rural Wisconsin, Sam, a high-school student with Tourette syndrome, is alienated from his peers and rejected by his stepfather, and he has trouble getting close to lovely, kind Naomi. After graduation, his stepfather kicks him out of the house, and he accepts a job and lodging from another outcast, who knew Sam's late father and dispels some of Sam's misconceptions about his dad. Then, after more shake-ups at home, Sam embarks on a road trip with Naomi to California, hunting windmills and answers left by Sam's dad along the way. Sam and his story are quixotic in the best possible way: he is a good-hearted dreamer trying to do right by his dulcinea. Debut author Friesen has Tourette syndrome, and he brings complexity and nuance to Sam's struggle for understanding and self-acceptance. The pacing is leisurely, but like any good road story, there are enough corners and bends to keep readers eagerly anticipating what lies ahead at the journey's end.--Booth, Heather Copyright 2008 Booklist
