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13

Name: 13
Author: Jason Robert Brown
ISBN: 9780061957253

by Jason Robert Brown, Dan Elish

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Overview

13 Things to Know About 13

1. This book is about a guy named Evan.

2. Three months before his 13th birthday, he has to move from New York City 3. to Appleton, Indiana,

4. where nobody knows him.

5. He's not very happy about it.

6. His mom is kind of nuts.

7. His dad is kind of nuts too.

8. Evan's not nuts, but he keeps ending up in nutty situations.

9. One of them involves a movie called The Bloodmaster.

10. Another involves a girl named Patrice.

11. But the nuttiest situation of all is his bar mitzvah—

12. which it's possible no one will come to.

13. Unless Evan can make some new friends really fast.

About the Author, Jason Robert Brown

Jason Robert Brown is the Tony Award-winning lyricist and composer of Parade, The Last Five Years, and Songs for a New World as well as the musical 13, which he collaborated on with Dan Elish. At his bar mitzvah he sang a song he had written about breaking up with his girlfriend, even though he had not at that time ever had a girlfriend. Jason lives in California with his wife and daughter.

Dan Elish is the insanely gifted author of many novels for both adults and children, including The Attack of the Frozen Woodchucks, 13 (based on the Broadway musical), and The Worldwide Dessert Contest.

When he's not busy typing furiously away on his Lap-Top (not a Gum-Top or a Hat-Top or even a Balloon-Top), you can find Dan in New York City, where he lives with his wife, Andrea, and daughter, Cassie, and son, John.

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Editorials

Children's Literature - Elizabeth Fronk

Evan has a problem just before his thirteenth birthday: he must move to Indiana with his mother because his parents are getting a divorce. In Indiana, Evan must cope with a small house with a dog, no Internet, and having to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah. Evan needs friends in Indiana to come to his Bar Mitzvah. His hopes for this brighten when he meets Patrice. Evan meets the high school quarterback Brett and the "cool kids." Patrice is not part of this group. Evan believes he must choose between Brett and Brett's group or Patrice. When Archie, the kid on crutches who everyone considers weird, wants to come to the Bar Mitzvah, Evan thinks his social life is over. As Evan adjusts to his new home and prepares for the Bar Mitzvah, he comes to discover who his true friends are and accept his parents' divorce. This fast-paced novel, based upon a musical, strikes a good balance between teenage angst, wry humor, and the difficulties with divorce. In spite of a predictable and somewhat too tidy ending, middle school boys and girls can find much to enjoy with Evan. Reviewer: Elizabeth Fronk

KLIATT - Claire Rosser

Bar mitzvah, divorce, leaving the familiar and moving to a new community—these are the serious themes of this novel for young YAs. Throughout is a healthy sense of the absurd. Evan is accustomed to life in NYC, and a private school filled with fellow students who are also preparing for their bar mitzvahs (some very elaborate); so imagine what a shock to move with his distraught, newly single mother to a small town in Indiana. They manage to find a rabbi but there is no Jewish community and no Jewish place of worship, so Evan is facing a pathetic situation for his coming-of-age celebration. His wish to have a lot of friends attend makes him vulnerable to trying to impress the popular kids in town, even if it means alienating the girl who truly has been a good friend. Then there is an amazingly unique character—Archie—a misshapen young man, suffering from cerebral palsy and shunned all his life, whose courage and humor help Evan understand what it means to "become a man," his challenge as he faces his 13th birthday and his bar mitzvah ceremony. The story reaches farce intensity at times, which will appeal to readers able to appreciate the wild situations. The authors collaborated on the musical 13, and each has a lot of writing experience. Reviewer: Claire Rosser

Kirkus Reviews

"No one said becoming a man was easy," Rabbi Weiner tells Evan Goldman during preparations for his Bar Mitzvah. But Evan, recently relocated to Appleton, Ind., from New York in the wake of his parents' split, just wants to "fit in with the people who fit in." He even manages the feat, for a while at least, hanging with the star quarterback and the prettiest girls instead of the distinctly less-cool alternatives, nerdy Patrice and disabled Archie. As Evan has a conscience and friends and adults helping him on the way to manhood, however, his enticing brush with coolness in his new school is short-lived. This tale of middle-school peer culture is familiar but handled especially well in this tie-in to the musical, which opened in Los Angeles last year. The pace is quick, the humor broad and the life lessons spelled out clearly. By the end, Evan's Bar Mitzvah has gone well, a sign that he is leaving the "mishegoss" about being cool and popular behind him. (Fiction. 10-14)