THE SNOG LOG

Boys and bets—rarely a good combination. Robbie Brookes is not alone in noticing the development of his female classmates, and Malcolm, the class bookie, is taking advantage of that fact with a kissing pool; each girl is assigned a bonus per second kissed, 60 seconds maximum. While Robbie is worrying about scoring (literally) with the highest-ranking girls, he’s also concerned with his parents’ crumbling marriage and his boss’s declining health. Targeting the tween audience, Coleman strives for an Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging for guys and succeeds moderately. Straddling the line between competitive and compassionate, 14-year-old Robbie has a genuine personality, even if the surrounding action and other characters feel forced. The competition quickly grows wearisome, with the boys misbehaving and the girls seeking revenge. This edition (it was first published in the United Kingdom in 2001) provides a glossary of English-American translations, including the nonsense word “puffin’,” which is abused with an enthusiasm normally reserved for the F-word. With a trite premise, dull action and annoying language, this is not one for the record. (Fiction. 10-14)