Could life as a foster kid lead to unexpected benefits? A teenager's link to animals gives way to human connection in a smart, incisive new novel. Sixteen-year-old Ted O'Connor's parents just died in a fiery car crash, and now he's stuck with a set of semi-psycho foster parents, two foster brothers—Astin, the cocky gearhead, and C.W., the sometimes gangsta—and an inner-city high school full of delinquents. He's having pretty much the worst year of his miserable life. Or so he thinks. Is it possible that becoming an orphan is not the worst thing that could have happened to him? Drawing on his trademark wit and sharp insight, master novelist Ron Koertge takes the lead with this smart, surprising story about a boy learning to run with a new pack.

Lately life has not been easy for Walker. His father has died, his girlfriend has moved away and the family finances are in a shambles. Finally, though, it seems as if things are looking up: Walker has a date with Rachel, the beautiful new girl in his class, and his mother has announced she's getting a job. Only it's not your average, run-of-the-mill mum's job. Walker's mother is going to be a stripper. What if his friends find out? What if Rachel finds out? Meanwhile, Walker's father has left him a piece of land on which Rachel's father is planning to build a mall. Walker must go about the hard work of farming the land - and the hard work of being in love for the first time.

Quick repartee. Unsparing wit. Insight, poignancy, and spot-on characters. Welcome the much-awaited sequel to the acclaimed Stoner & Spaz. Beautiful but troubled Colleen Minou is the only girl who ever looked at Ben Bancroft as more than a spaz - more than just that kid with cerebral palsy. Yet the more time Ben spends with her, the more glaring their differences appear. Is what Ben feels for Colleen actual affection, or more like gratitude? Then there's Amy (aka A.J.), who is everything Colleen isn't, and everything Ben's grandma wants for him: clean-cut and upper-class, academically driven, just as obsessed with filmmaking as Ben is. But what does A.J. see when she looks at Ben? CP? Or the person behind the twisted body? In Ron Koertge's sharp, darkly humorous follow-up to the award-winning Stoner & Spaz, Ben tries to come to terms with his confused feelings toward A.J. and his inimitable connection to Colleen, who is sometimes out of it, sometimes into him, and always exhilarating.

For sixteen-year-old Ben Bancroft — a kid with cerebral palsy, no parents, and an overprotective grandmother — the closest thing to happiness is hunkering alone in the back of the Rialto Theatre and watching Bride of Frankenstein for the umpteenth time. The last person he wants to run into is drugged-up Colleen Minou, resplendent in ripped tights, neon miniskirt, and an impressive array of tattoos. But when Colleen climbs into the seat beside him and rests a woozy head on his shoulder, Ben has that unmistakable feeling that his life is about to change. With unsparing humor and a keen flair for dialogue, Ron Koertge captures the rare repartee between two lonely teenagers on opposite sides of the social divide. His smart, self-deprecating protagonist learns that kindred spirits may be found for the looking — and that the resolve to follow your passion can be strengthened by something as simple as a human touch.