Spud by John van de Ruit Ages 12-15 352 pages Razorbill September 2008 Paperback     A thirteen-year-old boy with dysfunctional parents can only hope that life in boarding school will be an improvement. However, young John Milton (aka “Spud”) finds that living in a house filled with nothing but boys in various stages of hormonal rage has its own set of challenges. There are bullies like Rambo, who thrives on the power that comes from intimidation. There are unstable kids like Vern, who seems to be afraid of his own shadow and spends his day with the school cat. There are kids like Gecko, offspring of wealthy parents who just never seem able to fit in. Spud’s problems of too many girlfriends and a beautiful choirboy voice that lands him the lead in the school musical just don’t seem very significant. Spud delivers his day-to-day trials in journal style, offering the reader a look into his maturing journey as a teen in South Africa in the 1990s, just as apartheid is breaking down and Nelson Mandela is being released from prison. Heavy on the details of the everyday and light on political opinions, this story offers entertainment for a slow afternoon. The novel won significant awards in its native country of South Africa, and the author promises further adventures from this favored character.     web reviews   Joyce Rice/2011 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)