Also Known as Rowan Pohi

From the Publisher

"Hearts will go out to Bobby as he learns that being true to himself is as important as realizing his dreams."-Publishers Weekly  "Bobby's family and home life are authentically depicted, and teens will respond to Bobby's desire to create a path to his dreams and root for his crazy idea to work."—Booklist

Publishers Weekly

What begins as a practical joke ends up as an identity overhaul for freshman Bobby Steele. It all starts when Bobby and his buddies fill out an application to prestigious Whitestone Prep, a local private school, for a fictitious student they name Rowan Pohi (the last name is IHOP spelled backwards). Much to their surprise, Rowan is accepted, and Bobby takes the gag a step further, attending classes as Rowan. Swept away by Whitestone’s extraordinary facilities and friendly student body, Bobby feels happier there than at his own dismal high school, where everyone knows about his father’s abusive past and his mother leaving home. As might be expected, things soon go awry. The premise requires suspension of disbelief, and the resolution is too pat, but Fletcher (The One O’Clock Chop) creates many poignant moments regarding Bobby’s stressful home life and the brutal, impulsive act that tore his family apart. Hearts will go out to Bobby as he learns that being true to himself is as important as realizing his dreams. Ages 12–up. (Nov.)

VOYA - Charla Hollingsworth

Bobby Steele lives with his father and brother after his mother left the family because of a domestic violence incident. All throughout his life, Bobby has envied students attending the prestigious local private school, Whitestone Academy. While enjoying his afternoon snack break at IHOP, Bobby and his friends, Big Poobs and Marcus, decide to invent a person (Rowan) to apply for admission to Whitestone. To their amazement, Rowan is accepted. The friends have a good laugh but decide the charade should end and bury the acceptance letter in a local field. Bobby, however, decides he wants a better life for himself and starts attending Whitestone as Rowan. Without telling his father, Bobby/Rowan applies for and wins a Whitestone scholarship. When a school bully spills Bobby/Rowan's secrets, Bobby must convince the administration that he deserves a spot at Whitestone. With Also Known As Rowan Pohi, Ralph Fletcher has given readers a funny and poignant tale about a young man searching for a brighter future without the limitations of his background. Readers will empathize with Bobby and root for him to achieve his dreams. Fletcher's novel will resonant with fans of Chris Crutcher and Todd Strasser. Reviewer: Charla Hollingsworth

Children's Literature - Claudia Mills

Sophomore Bobby Steele and his two best buds, sitting bored in their favorite booth at the local IHOP ogling some cute girls from a posh prep school, meant for it to be a short-lived prank: what if they invented a kid named Rowan Pohi (his surname inspired from IHOP spelled backward) and submitted a fabricated application to Whitestone Academy on his behalf? But when Rowan Pohi actually gets accepted to Whitestone, Bobby realizes that he has a chance at reinventing himself in a town where he is known chiefly as the son of an alcoholic father who served prison time for physical abuse of Bobby's mother. The setup of the story involves some daunting improbabilities: that Bobby's non-academically-minded friend could write a convincing fake recommendation letter on Rowan Pohi's behalf; that the whole application process could result in an acceptance letter within three days; and that any even minimally loving mother would leave her two sons behind with an alcoholic abuser rather than taking them with her as she makes her escape. But Fletcher's premise for the novel is original and riveting, and the events that follow Bobby's decision to try to pass as Rowan Pohi play themselves out with both nail-biting suspense and heart-wrenching poignancy. The fantasy of becoming someone else—and seizing that person's brighter life chances—is a powerfully seductive one, and Fletcher does full justice to it here. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D.

School Library Journal

Gr 8–10—Bobby is looking for an escape from his troubled home life and mediocre school. On a whim, he and his friends fill out an application to a ritzy private school on behalf of a made-up persona, and when "Rowan Pohi" is accepted, Bobby takes the chance to start fresh under a fake name. Although this premise is enticing, the idea that a prestigious academic institution would accept a student under false pretenses so easily, without requiring test scores, previous transcripts, and immunization records, is difficult to accept. The book's overly neat ending is problematic, as is the protagonist's little brother coping with his troubled home life by deciding that he's an Indian and wearing a feather in his hair—until he concludes that being Spider-Man is "way cooler." It's not unheard of that a five-year-old would hold these views of Native American culture—kids are kids; they're still learning about life, but it's troubling that the author chose to go this route. Character development is thin. The most compelling aspect of the story is Bobby's struggle with the aftermath of his father's shocking act of domestic violence against his mother and her subsequent departure from their family. His confusion and pain are genuine and heartfelt. Also, themes of class differences, identity, and self-acceptance are thought-provoking, but ultimately this uneven read is at best an additional purchase.—Allison Tran, Mission Viejo Library, CA

Kirkus Reviews

Fraud pays. "Pohi" seems like a great last name for a fictional high-school applicant invented in an International House of Pancakes: IHOP, Pohi, see? It's a a lark for Bobby and his friends, sitting there surrounded by all those privileged Whitestone Prep kids, to fill out a Whitestone application for "Rowan Pohi," Boy Scout, National Honor Society inductee, soup-kitchen volunteer and football player. But when "Rowan" gets accepted to Whitestone, Bobby takes a good hard look at his wrong-side-of-the-tracks life and realizes this could be the opportunity of a lifetime. Whitestone's teachers and facilities are miles away from those of Bobby's crappy public high school, and of course there's the girls. Bobby almost immediately falls for Heather, "a study in whiteness: white T-shirt, white shorts, white teeth, blonde hair. And long legs." Bobby has antagonists both in and out of school, but his ultimate success at Whitestone seems undeserved; the class inequities of the system are less important to the Whitestone decision-makers than the fact that Bobby's a nice guy with a tragic back story. A recurring evocation of faux–Native American stories, culminating in a 5-year-old's assertion that "[b]eing Spider-Man is way cooler than being an Indian," will insult Native (and other) readers. Lightweight fluff in the Chris Lynch/Chris Crutcher mode, if that's possible. (Fiction. 13-15)