I checked out King Dork to see if it might be something my teenage son might like, and ended up loving it myself. The bumbling teenager that I was long ago was suddenly present front and center, radar out for slights and bullies, longing for validation, convinced that life has no meaning outside of friends and music, and desperate for sexual experience of any kind. Took me right back there, and helped me remember that being a teenager is still the hardest time of life. It's amazing that any of us survive. Frank Portman has told a story that will resonate with teenagers, and with anybody who has ever been a teenager.

After reading the reviews above, I thought this would be an awesome "read" especially when it cost 2 credits...I assumed it would be incredible. I was very disappointed...this is the first time i felt I was ripped off. Why is this relatively short book priced as 2 credits?

In fact, it's really more for adults or anyone who thought high school was a farce. If you liked the TV show, "Freaks and Geeks," this book is for you. A smart, hilarious story that will have you laughing and reminiscing. The author defintely did his research of 1970s music, which added to my enjoyment of the story. I am so glad I listened to this one! Note to parents: if you're liberal and open with your teens, this book is great for them. If teen sex references aren't your thing, don't share it with your kids.

This book was a blast! A fun look at adolescent and high school society from the perspective of a high school student as he moves through the trials, tribulations and discoveries of adolescence, with a sarcastic, tounge-in-cheek analysis of various family and peer events and relationships. I was ready to give the book to my high-school son, which it seemed to describe almost perfectly, until I came to the casual sex. Nonetheless it was a fun, entertaining "read" that as a former high school nerd myself I could relate to and laugh at. Listen to this one when you need to relax and laugh a bit. Both my wife and I found ourselves laughing out loud, and continue to make references and share favorite anecdotes of the book with each other.

This is a contemporary American bildungsroman with a mystery motif and a lengthy review of 'Catcher in the Rye'. There's plenty of 'shock' language, which may be an accurate reflection of today's HS student for all I know. Tom (King Dork) clearly is a precocious boy in many respects, although still filled with the usual confusions of adolescence. His best friend is addicted to hard liquor and stealing antidepressant medications from Tom's mother. The student social world at Tom's HS comes across as a kind of Baghdad of warring factions. The faculty have arrested development that keeps them in the 1960s. Lincoln Hoppe does an excellent job of telling the story. I found myself more interested in how the matter of the death of Tom's father would play out. To my disappointment, this theme is unresolved, and we never know the truth of the matter. The ending is very strange. It consists of Tom reading a long list of terms more or less relevant to the storyline, and supplying his own post-modern definitions. I thought the ending did not contribute to the storyline, which ends rather abruptly with Tom recessing into a philosophical haze while his best friend falls into a drug/alcohol stupor. A good knowledge of rock bands from the 1960s through the 1990s is needed in order to understand many of Tom's comments.