Born to Rock
Gordon KormanISBN 9781484798416
eISBN 9781443124669
ASIN B07TBC5XLV
This book took me completely by surprise. I had not read the description it was just the next I picked in a long list of Korman books I had yet to read. It was a very impactful story for some personal reasons. I have read 48 titles from the pen of Korman, most over the last 5 year. I had read a few back in 2009 when the 39 Clues first came out. I do not recall reading any when I was young, but with my dual form of dyslexia I did not read many Children’s or Middle Grade books. It was only later I learned to really read. My son and I started reading Gordon Korman books together five years ago, when he was given one as an end of year gift by his teacher. She gave the whole class the same Scholastic edition and wrote a note to each student in their copy of the book. Some he reads to me, some we use adaptive technology and listen to in the car, and some I just read on my own. This one I started to listened to in the car with my son on trips to and from his play rehearsals out of town.
The description of this book states:
“Leo Caraway — high school senior, president of the Young Republicans club, 4.0 GPA, future Harvard student — had his entire future perfectly planned out. That was, until the X factor. As in Marion X. McMurphy, aka King Maggot, the lead singer of Purge, the most popular, most destructive band punk rock has ever seen. He's also Leo's biological father.
When Leo discovers that his real father is a punk rock legend, he is disgusted. Not only is Leo not a punk rock fan, but he believes the X factor (the Maggot blood that is running through his veins) is a dangerous time bomb just waiting to explode.
And sure enough, it does — Leo stubbornly defends the unlikeliest of people, thereby getting himself falsely accused of cheating on a test. Because of the blemish on his record, the once star pupil finds his scholarship to Harvard taken away. So he hatches the crazy plan of going on tour with King Maggot for Purge's summer revival tour, all the while secretly hoping to convince Maggot to pay for his tuition.
But life on the road is even crazier than Leo ever bargained for, and before the summer is out, he will finally discover the surprising truth about his dad, his friends, and most important, himself.”
According to Goodreads there are over 30 editions of this book, as of the writing of this review it lists 34 to be specific, which includes German editions. In Canada the original publisher was Scholastic, in the US it looks like Disney-Hyperion and later reprinted by Little Brown. Interestingly enough most of the North American editions have the same cover, it is only the latest Little Brown edition that has a new cover. To be honest if I had seen that new cover I might have read it much earlier, just saying.
This was one of those Korman stories that has some laughs but also some deep sorrow and it deals with some very serious issues. It is an interesting mix of teen and young adult content. Our main character is just finishing high school and most of the story takes place before he is supposed to start university. He won’t rat out another student even though they are not really friends just because the principal does not like them because they are gay. This ends up costing him a scholarship and a chance at going to Harvard. But then he finds out his birth father is a famous punk rocker and will be back in the area for a reunion tour launch. So he approaches his bio dad at a press conference to give him a letter. This leads to the big adventure of being on the road with a punk tour.
There are some very interesting dynamics in this novel. Leo Caraway and his estranged bio dad Marion X McMurphy aka King Maggot. Also the relationship between Leo and his longest time friend Melinda, and the guy he stood up for Owen. The coming of age, finding your roots, and figuring out who you are and who you want to be are very well done in this novel.
On a personal note just before my 50th birthday I had a young women approach me stating she thought she was my daughter. She in fact was. And I have been getting to know her the last few years. So parts of this story, a sense of lost years, figuring things out, and how to interact hit very close to home.
This was an excellent story and one I can easily recommend. It touches on some very deep issues that are big today in our society. It is masterfully written.
Books by Gordon Korman:
MacDonald Hall Series:
Go Jump in the Pool (1979)
Beware the Fish! (1980)
The Wizzle War (1982)
(formerly The War With Mr. Wizzle)
The Zucchini Warriors (1988)
Light’s Camera, Disaster (1991)
(aka Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood)
The Jokes on Us (1995)
(formerly Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall)
…
Bugs Potter Series:
Who is Bugs Potter? (1980)
…
Jeremy Bloom Series:
The D−Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1992)
The Last-Place Sports Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1996)
…
Monday Night Football Series:
The Quarterback Exchange (1997)
Running Back Conversion (1997)
Super Bowl Switch (1997)
Heavy Artillery (1997)
Ultimate Scoring Machine (1998)
NFL Rules! Bloopers, Pranks, Upsets, and Touchdowns (1998)
…
Masterminds Series:
Masterminds (2015)
Masterminds: Payback (2017)
…
Slapshots Series:
The Stars From Mars (1999)
All-Mars All-Stars/The Dream Team (1999)
The Face-off Phony (2000)
Cup Crazy (2000)
Ouch I got slapped (2023)
…
4-in-1 Slapshots: The Complete Collection (2008)
…
Nose Pickers Series:
Nose Pickers from Outer Space! (1999)
Planet of the Nose Pickers (2000)
Your Mummy Is a Nose Picker (2000)
Invasion of the Nose Pickers (2001)
…
4-in-1 The Ultimate Nose-Picker Collection (2006)
…
Island Series:
Shipwreck (2001)
Survival (2001)
Escape (2001)
…
3-in-1 Island Trilogy Collection (2006)
…
Son of the Mob Series:
Son of the Mob (2002)
Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle (2004)
…
Everest Series:
The Contest (2002)
The Climb (2002)
The Summit (2002)
…
Everest Trilogy Box Set (2002)
Dive Series:
The Discovery (2003)
The Deep (2003)
The Danger (2003)
…
On the Run Series:
Chasing the Falconers (2005)
The Fugitive Factor (2005)
The Stowaway Solution (2005)
Public Enemies (2005)
Hunting the Hunter (2006)
…
Kidnapped Series:
The Abduction (2006)
The Search (2006)
The Rescue (2006)
…
Swindle Series:
Swindle (2008)
Zoobreak (2009)
Framed (2010)
Showoff (2012)
Hideout (2013)
Jackpot (2014)
Unleashed (2015)
Jingle (2016)
…
Titanic Series:
Unsinkable (2011)
Collision Course (2011)
S.O.S (2011)
…
The 39 Clues Series:
One False Note (2008)
The Emperor's Code (2010)
Vespers Rising (2011)
The Medusa Plot (2011)
Flashpoint (2014)
…
Hypnotists Series:
The Hypnotists (2013)
Memory Maze (2014)
The Dragonfly Effect (2015)
…
Ungifted Series:
Ungifted (2012)
Supergifted (2018)
…
Slacker Series:
...
Non Series Books:
I Want to Go Home! (1981)
Our Man Weston (1982)
No Coins, Please (1984)
Don't Care High (1985)
Son of Interflux (1986)
Radio 5th Grade (1989)
Losing Joe's Place (1990)
The Twinkie Squad (1992)
The Toilet Paper Tigers (1993)
The Chicken Doesn't Skate (1996)
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire (1997)
No More Dead Dogs (2000)
Maxx Comedy: The Funniest Kid in America (2003)
Jake, Reinvented (2003)
Born To Rock (2006)
Schooled (2007)
The Juvie Three (2008)
Pop (2009)
Restart (2017)
What's His Face? (2018)
The Unteachables (2019)
Notorious (2019)
War Stories (2020)
Game On (contains The Chicken Doesn’t Skate and The Toilet Paper Tigers (2021)
Unplugged (2021)
Linked (2021)
Operation Do-Over (2022)
The Fort (2022)
The Super Teacher Project (2023)
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