Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

So with this being a Jordan Sonnenblick book, I expected the dry sarcasm, abundant humor, and zany situations that fill his other books. I picked up this book looking for a light read, something to crack me up when I was bored. Now, don't get me wrong, there was tons of humor and I guarantee you'll still laugh out loud, but this book was SAD. I don't think many books are seriously sad, but this one almost had me in tears at some points, and the last book to do that to me was Marley and Me. Maybe it was because I could relate with so much that happened in the book; I mean, all the trouble starts on my birthday, for cows' sakes.
It all starts October 7th. It's a normal day for Steven: he wakes up early to practice his mad drumming skills and is interrupted by his little brother Jeffrey who wants breakfast. So he goes and makes Jeffrey "moatmeal"(read the book to find out what the heck that is, as well as Dangerous Pie), and Jeffrey falls off the kitchen counter and gets a nosebleed that just. Won't. Stop. Their parents take Jeffrey to the doctor's that day and come back with devastating news: Jeffrey has LEUKEMIA. Now you see why this book makes me sad. Wouldn't you be sad too if you knew somebody (even someone imaginary) had found out they had cancer on your birthday? Now Steven has got to learn how to deal with this while simultaneously keeping his grades up and preparing for the most significant drumming in his whole life.




Like I said, this book was sad, but it also has a lot of humor. It's amazing how the main character, Steven, can continue to be sarcastic and find normal things to complain about when his family's whole world is turned completely upside-down. I'm glad I read this book, it has some good life lessons about laughing when things suck, basically.