IF ROCK AND ROLL WERE A MACHINE

Bert Bowden's odyssey through junior year takes readers on some astonishing routes: he's a poet who craves a Harley-Davidson (see title); a wry young man who, assigned to write about the worst thing that ever happened to him, reaches back to fifth grade, when his intelligence aroused the malice of a small-minded teacher (a withering characterization; years later, Bert gets a fairy-tale opportunity to one-up the man in a racquetball game). Bert's honesty about his failings and strengths is invigorating: he's a Bingo Brown, nearly grown, full of acute observations and willing to put himself on the line in the name of good old-fashioned integrity. HIS parents remain in the background, but their support is apparent, while Bert's interactions with a French family of bikers reveal to him a different blend of masculinity and sensitivity--just what he needs as his chances to play football recede and his life as a writer begins to take root. Fully fleshed males of all ages walk these pages, mirroring the best specimens of the gender in real life--an unusually appealing gallery of characters for a YA novel.