The Bad Decisions Playlist

June 6, 2016
“I’m lazy, and I’m a coward, but I’ll do pretty much anything if a girl is watching.” With that opening line, Rubens (Sons of the 613) introduces goodhearted screw-up Austin Methune, who is in danger of failing 12th grade if he doesn’t pass summer school, but is otherwise occupied thinking about girls, weed, music, and his mother’s stuffy lawyer boyfriend, Rick. Further complicating Austin’s life are Josephine, the math tutor he’s hopelessly (in all senses of the word) in love with, and the alcoholic rock-star father he didn’t know existed, who is trying to make a comeback, both musically and with Austin’s mother. Austin has musical talent, too, but is terrified of success. Rubens has a great handle on Austin’s quick-witted, self-deprecating voice as he recounts one disaster after another, whether it’s destroying Rick’s $4,000 mandolin or falling down a hill on a commercial-grade lawn mower while trying to pay Rick back for said mandolin. Funny and painful, it’s a sharply etched portrait of fallible human beings living, loving, screwing up, and making do—and a fine look at the Twin Cities music scene. Ages 14–up. Agent: John Silbersack, Trident Media Group.

June 15, 2016
A pot-smoking slacker with a habit of writing half-songs meets his long-lost father in this droll, moving novel."I'm lazy, and I'm a coward, but I'll do pretty much anything if a girl is watching." So proclaims Austin Methune, a white 16-year-old with an energetic narrative voice. During a disastrous attempt to woo a group of girls, he manages to get his mother's boyfriend's expensive mandolin destroyed by a bitter bully. Austin receives an ultimatum: either go to military school or attend summer school and tutoring sessions to pass algebra and join the boyfriend's lawn-care business to pay off the remaining debt. Distractions come in the form of Shane Tyler, Austin's musical idol and, it turns out, longtime absent father. Austin chooses to reconnect with his father while keeping it a secret from his mother. "I have a mission! I have a goal, something to focus on!" Rubens writes with a deft comic hand. Though Austin appears a shirker, his self-deprecating remarks and melodramatic wit will hook readers. As he neglects his mother, friends, and obligations for his father, music, and loving his tutor, Austin finds it hard to abandon his carefree new lifestyle. The further Austin messes up, the harder he falls. Still, Austin's struggle to do good makes for a fun time. A charming, at times brutally funny peek inside a slacker's mind. (Fiction. 14-18)

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July 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Musically inclined Austin Methune is his own worst enemy. A decidedly lazy stoner, he seems to find motivation only in grandstanding for beautiful girls. Unfortunately for Austin, his attempts to impress have earned him a long history of mishaps, most of which are hilarious. As his junior year winds down and adulthood looms on the horizon, the teen is faced with a series of life-changing events. His longtime single mother is considering marriage to a man Austin despises, and his dead father turns up on his doorstep, a very much alive rock star. Realistically, Austin does not handle these surprises with grace and poise. Over a single summer, the protagonist deals with love, sex, drugs, and fallible parents. Somehow, he manages to mature and put an end to his playlist of bad decisions. This work is rife with funny little interludes and well-developed characters. While the story starts out slow and at times is corny in its lack of believability, persevering readers will be rewarded with a deeper tale about the hairier issues teens confronting adulthood encounter. VERDICT An interesting coming-of-age story. Recommend this to mature teens who enjoyed Jordan Sonnenblick's Notes from the Midnight Driver and Are You Experienced? or Andrew Smith's Winger.-Ellen Fitzgerald, White Oak Library District, Lockport, IL

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2017
Self-described lazy, pot-smoking Austin has dreams of being a musician like his presumed-dead father, who is actually a famous rock star. In reality, Austin seems more interested in getting into trouble. The story is written with a good ear for dialogue and the way teens interact; nevertheless, readers might find it difficult to be charmed by Austin's antics.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 15, 2016
Grades 9-12 There are bad decisionslike serenading a troupe of girls while their angry, hockey-player boyfriends look on. Then there are bad decisionslike placing your faith in the father who abandoned you. For Austin Methune, such decisions come naturally. So it's no surprise that he is intrigued when Shane Tyler, music superstar and Austin's biological father, returns to town looking for him. Austin reaches out, despite his mother's protests, and forms a bond with the dad he never knew. Soon things start looking up. His own musical talent gets recognized. He gains confidence. He even gets the girl. But are those worth losing his relationship with his mother? This is an infectious read that, like a good pop song, works despite familiar patterns and parts. The key is the amount of heart with which Rubens infuses his characters. They are flawed, authentic, and tragically real. Most notably, Rubens perfectly renders the friction existing between being a confused boy and a responsible (though still confused) man. Tailor-made for teen boys and the people who, for better or worse, know them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)