Born to Rock by Gordon Korman

Straight laced, young republican, Leo Caraway, is in his senior year of high school.He's poised to graduate with a flawless GPA and head off to Harvard, when disaster strikes! Leo's falsely accused of cheating and loses his scholarship. He blames his unknown biological father, who he later finds out is King Maggot, the lead singer of a fictional punk rock band called Purge. In a misguided attempt to get money for Harvard, Leo ends up working on the biggest punk tour of the year as a roadie for his father's band.

Hilarity ensues, the super conservative Leo travels the country with his goth best friend, Melinda and genius gay friend, Owen. In between dogsitting, trips to the hospital, and a traumatizing cavity search Leo struggles to get to know his father. In the end he has to redetermine his values in order to get what he really wants.

Gordon Korman makes Born to Rock a fun time from beginning to end. His style wasn't edgy or unique but his use of humor made up for that. I thought I wouldn't like Leo from the very start but Korman makes you root for Leo to get the money he so desperately needs to get into Harvard by making him an open minded conservative. His eclectic mix of friends slowly show him the entertaining world of punk rock. You can tell that Korman is a fan of the punk rock scene but he writes about it as if he's discovering it for the first time through Leo's eyes.

I did have one problem with Born to Rock. Leo's parents were never really developed to show any emotion. His mother hid behind jigsaw puzzles throughout the whole book rather than face her son's questions about his biological father , and his stepfather who raised Leo from birth takes a backseat while Leo runs off in search of his legendary father.

I would recommend Born to Rock to high school kids especially to reluctant readers who are looking for something not as serious as most required high school reading. The issues of stereotyping, homophobia, and alternative families all come up in Born to Rock even though some will go unresolved Korman does make an effort to address them.