Overview
Nick Park loves girls.Drumstick legs, cherry-colored lips, dumpling cheeks . . . everything about them he wants to eat up. But he’s dateless and has been since he discovered girls in the third grade, and he’s convinced himself that this is solely based on the fact that he’s the only Korean American teenager in Renfield—the fifth richest (and WASPiest) town in Connecticut. In Nick’s mind, he sticks out like a banana in a wheat field.
And now it’s time for him to figure it out once and for all. Is it all in his head or are his suspicions that his heritage is keeping him from a triumphant boob fest true?
An excerpt from Girls for Breakfast:
What confused me about involuntarily visualizing Miss Hamilton with no clothes on was that she wasn’t even pretty. Her nose was pointy and her frizzy hair always looked sweaty, but I couldn’t stop picturing her naked. I also couldn’t stop picturing Martha the bus driver naked every time I stepped on the bus. I was a perverted Superman. As the bell rang I silently vowed to stop staring at the Playboys at night in order to get the rest crucial to curing me. I glared at Miss Hamilton’s breasts and shook a fist at her bare butt as she faced the chalkboard. I knew in my heart I’d beat this disease.
As he reflects back on his life in upscale Renfield, Connecticut, on his high school graduation day, Nick Park wonders how much being the only Asian American in school affected his thwarted quest for popularity and a girlfriend.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
The morning before high school graduation, the narrator recalls the trials and tribulations of his teenage career as the only Asian kid in town, in what PW called an "often hilarious novel." Ages 14-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature
After what he believes to be the worst night of his life, Nick Park spends the morning of his graduation day reflecting on his school life in suburbia. He reveals the girl-crazy, sex-focused content of his thoughts from his first Playboy at the age of nine to his first girlfriend during senior year. Nick also examines his experiences as the only Asian kid growing up in his white suburban neighborhood, including his hatred of the mixed Asian and American dinners his mother served and being nicknamed "Charlie" by a popular teacher. Nick's account of his youth is long on bawdiness and short on insight—until the last few pages. David Yoo's first novel is an explicit account of growing sexual awareness, and readers are likely to identify with this book on some level. However, it may be a controversial choice for some library collections. 2005, Delacorte/Random House, Ages 15 to Adult.—Heidi Hauser Green