It promises to be a less-than-thrilling summer for 16-year-old& nbsp; Manhattanite Max Whooten. He doesn???t have a job. His parents are annoying. His younger sister is even more annoying. His buddy Trevor just got out of a mental institution and the hottest girl he knows is Leila, his best friend, who he???ll never get with. All he??'s got to keep him company is his own anger. An anger he seemingly has no control over and which is increasingly taking over his life. But an unexpected turn of events (well, not so unexpected??? the family cat, Mozart, aka Crappy, was sure to choke on a hairball sometime) leads him to his aunt??'s place in Woodstock. After Crappy is safely laid to rest next to his sister Madame Chow, Max decides to stick around Woodstock for a few weeks. Sure, his Aunt Ginny might be a bit eccentric, but she does introduce Max to Zini, a young artist who turns out to be his muse. This just might be the recipe for finding love, and most definitely finding himself . Max lets us into his frustrated, highly hormonal, comical, and sometimes inspired world through a series of diary entries in this coming-of-age story about an ordinary boy becoming an extraordinary person and writer.

"In a novel generously laced with humor, Hite (Dither Farm) departs from his usual folksy style and rural settings to explore the inner workings of a disgruntled urban teen's mind, structuring his work as the journal of 16-year-old New Yorker Max Whooten. In one of the characteristically deadpan entries, Max writes, 'I don't know how I'll make it through the summer. Hope it's just a phase.' For a while Max stews in his angst, then three things occur. His ancient cat, whom Max calls Crappy due to his inability to hit the litter box), finally dies. Max travels upstate to bury the cat at his aunt's place near Woodstock, and there he meets a girl who 'might actually like me.' From that point on, surprises seem to lie around every corner. The novel moves from morose to downright optimistic, winningly capturing the roller-coaster emotions typically felt by teens as they confront new situations or tire of old ones. Max's predicaments will win laughs and evoke empathy for an underdog who eventually learns to grab opportunities to turn his life around. Philosophical queries, common in the author's previous works, make an appearance here, too, as Max ponders (none too rigorously) the meaning of his existence and invents 'coolism' ('It's the philosophy of not thinking too much and just cooling out'). Readers will relate to Max's growing pains, his unharnessed longing to find a purpose and his glee in jumping back in 'the game' and ending up a winner. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)