Digital audiobook performed by Jim Meskimen

This is a humorous coming-of-age story with a bit of a mystery thrown in and featuring an unlikely hero. Will Halpin is deaf, overweight and struggling to make friends in his new school. He's left the safety of "deaf school" and chosen to mainstream at the local public high school, but the teachers can't (or won't) get the hang of always facing him so he can read lips. He is a skilled observer, however, and he jots his notes on his fellow students and teachers in a notebook. His one friend is the uber-dork Devon Smiley, and when the school's quarterback (and all-around jerk) "falls" down a mine shaft on a school field trip, they channel the Hardy Boys to investigate.

I’m glad to see a book that features a main character with a disability, who finds ways to deal effectively in a world that doesn’t always made accommodations for him. Will (and Devon) also have to deal with the usual drama of high school – bullies, the “in” crowd vs the nerds, teachers who don’t really care, unrequited love, and the universally hated showers after gym class.

It's a fast read, and I loved Will & Devon's humor.

Jim Meskimen does a fine job of narrating the audio version. He set a good pace and I was quickly caught up in the story line. ( )

This was a great book -- funny, witty, touching and adventurous. Will Halpin, the main character, is deaf-mute and overweight. He admits to these three facts freely. Resigned to his place as an outsider, he uses his observer status to watch all of the other students around him at his school (often making hilarious observations in the process). Will Halpin is a great character to get inside, and I loved all of his sarcastic remarks. The book turns into a mystery halfway through, and Will suddenly uses his observational skills to become an amateur sleuth. It's all great fun, with the appropriate "whodunit?" revelation at the end. I could read this book several times and never get tired of it. ( )

This is a story about a teenage boy trying to live successfully in two worlds. Will Halpin is deaf and has been educated in all deaf schools his whole life. But as a high school sophomore he tries to mainstream. This angers his deaf classmates who question his deaf pride. But he's determined to make it in the hearing world. What I liked about this book was how natural Will was written. He wasn't exceptional in any way, he was just a typical teenager looking for typical teenage experiences. The great weakness of this book was its plot. It presented itself as realistic fiction, but read like a badly written boys' detective novel. So with 5 stars for Will and 1 star for the plot, the book gets a 3. ( )

Will Halpin is a social outcast, fat, and deaf. In his first year in a 'real' high school -- mainstreamed -- not a school for the deaf. His disability creates a lot of roadblocks but he manages to make one friend, Devon Smiley and when the star football player, Pat Chambers, is killed during a school field trip to the local coal mines, the boys suspect ...murder!

While a promising premise and a good voice, the author tries to do too much. Various subplots are introduced and then dropped... getting a new dog (a 'stray' that just literally wanders into his life... what, no lost and found posters?), Will's crush on Leigha (a fateful letter written, delivered, never acknowledged), Will's flirtation with the deaf-signing cop, etc.

Will's voice is good -- self-effacing and humorous -- but without the 'gift' of dialogue, the author stretches to include IMing and emails which, at times, seem stilted and unreal (would a kid really text "I apologize for the oversight"?)

Most troublesome for this reader, the moral compass of the book seemed askew. Will and Devin are routinely bullied (does this stuff really still go on? And where are the adults?) Will blithely rips off his Internet access, hacks his Dad's password, tears down a street sign, lies during a police interrogation, and casts a sexy eye on various adult females.... It was this moral disconnect that ultimately 'killed' the book for this reader. Too bad. ( )

It wasn't a terrible book but it wasn't amazing either! The biggest problem with the book is the like-abilty of the main character. He was not like-able or endearing to me in any way. Too angsty by far! I hate forcing myself to read a book but this was a book club donation so I muddled through. ( )