GUEST REVIEW Swim the Fly by Don Calame (Review by Royal Reads)

Reviews Of Young Adult Literature, better known as Royal Reads, is a book blogging site run by Melanie (MssJos). With well-written reviews, fun contests, and wonderful profiles/interviews (if I do say so, myself), her site is one of the best out there. The organization of the site is particularly spectacular. Don't forget the check out Royal Reads here.


Young Adult Fiction
2009
345 pgs
Candlewick Press


Matt Gratton and his two best friends Sean and Coop always have a summer goal--this year is no exception. This summer the boys decide it’s time for them to see a live nude girl in the flesh--no more magazines or internet sites for these fellas. When Matt develops a serious crush on Kelly West, the new girl on the swim team, the summer gets a whole lot more complicated. Before he knows it, Matt finds himself volunteering to swim the 100-yard butterfly for his swim team's championship relay, something that’s nearly as impossible at his other summer goal. With a little help from his friends, Kelly's best friend Valerie, his Grandpa Arlo, and a hard-core swim coach named Ulf, Matt's summer soon becomes one he'll never forget.

What impresses me the most about this novel is the originality of the predicaments Matt finds himself in--more specifically, the creatively disasterous ways he manages to get himself out of these situations. To have covered an entire summer, this novel is a surprisingly fast-paced read that even reluctant readers will have a hard time putting down. Any author who can successfully tie together laxatives, cross-dressing, splitting speedos, and romance in one story has forever secured my readership.

Don Calame's debut novel brilliantly establishes his unique voice and impeccable ability to capture the essence of the wild creature that is the adolescent male. Calame's perfectly constructed dialogue between his characters is laugh-til-your-side-hurts hilarious and so authentic even adult readers will feel 15 all over again. Like any good book, Swim the Fly plays out like a movie in the mind, not surprising since the author is an accomplished screenwriter!
If you liked John Green's An Abundance of Katherine's, David Lubar's Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie, the movies Stand by Me and The Sandlot, you'll love Swim the Fly.

Rec: Grades 9-12

Grade: A

Melanie "MssJos"
ROYAL