The Schernoff Discoveries

Gr 4–8—Paulsen's charming novel (Delacorte, 1997) is full of schemes thought up by the first-person narrator's friend, Harold Schernoff. Harold has a high IQ and uses his scientific genius to discover ways to get back at bullying football players and to find all the golf balls that fall in the river since they get a dime for every one found. However, the results of the boy's plans often go awry. The car the two 14-year-olds purchase, sure to raise their popularity, doesn't run long enough to get them back to town. The skis they borrow to be part of the "in crowd" don't quite follow the trajectory Harold expects. Listeners will be cheering for the boys when the neighborhood tyrant gets what's coming to him. MacLeod Andrews narrates with a youthful cadence during the action scenes and a wistful nostalgia in the sections where the writer looks back on a hard-earned, if not misspent youth. He does an excellent job of giving the boys distinctive voices, especially Harold's condescending whine. While the anecdotes related are always amusing, some period content may be unfamiliar to today's kids. However, all listeners will relate to the themes of bullying and pining after the popular girl.—C. A. Fehmel , St. Louis County Library, MO