A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag

By Gordon Korman

What's it about?: Sean Delancey is a star athlete on his high school's basketball team. Raymond Jardine is a teen with no luck at all. When they're paired up to work on a poetry assignment for English class, Jardine sees it as his chance to change his fortunes forever. After all, if he and Sean can get top grades, they'll win spots on a school-sponsored trip to the Greek island of Theamelpos where, legend has it good luck comes to all visitors. To secure their place at the top of the class, Jardine suggests choosing an obscure Canadian poet, rather than an obvious one, to build their project around. The boys choose Gavin Gunhold, a man who wrote one poem before he died. As a result, Delancey and Jardine decide to write more poems themselves and pass them off as Gunhold's. The boys even employ Delancey's 88-year old grandfather to impersonate Gunhold. As one would expect, the plan doesn't run as smoothly as the boys thought it would. Aside from their class assignment, the boys also face roadblocks when it comes to love, a male rival and, oddly enough, the school's hated, outdated energy generator. The result is one of Korman's funniest books to date.

Why your child should read it: Though some of Korman's books are better known, few are more loved by his fans than this one. The story is a classic tale of teenage scheming, but the reader roots for Jardine to finally succeed in overcoming his string of bad luck. It's a book that teens love because it's about one of their own, and the boys' struggles, told with Korman's trademark humour, will keep readers laughing and engaged throughout.