Beat the Band

Amazing

Sequel to Swim the Fly. Although the storyline isnt as good as the book before, it still very good and is a bit funnier. Very good book. Hopefully Mr. Calame will write a third book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

This cravked me up

Mr. Calame plz right some more. Ill die if i cant read more of coop matt and sean. And you cant forget heavanly Hellen

BEAT THE BAND-! A very funny and entertaining read. Calame did it again, next please!

In SWIM THE FLY we followed the story around the three friends Matt, Sean and Coop. We’ve got them back in BEAT THE BAND, now told from Coop’s point of view. Dirty mind Coop is talking so double notice the parental advice on the back of the book!

I was looking forward to hear Coop’s voice after Matt kind of found his happy end in SWIM THE FLY. BEAT THE BAND shows that his mind is exactly as dirty and wicked as I remembered from SWIM THE FLY. It’s great to finally have a character like Coop in the YA scene, because I like the way he thinks.
He goes through a major change of personality and his way of thinking which wasn’t very surprising and was to be expected, but still fascinating to see. Helen seems to bring out the best in him and somehow disable the connection from his pants to his brain. So in the course of the story he actually starts thinking with his upper body brain.

Music makes up a big part of the story since the boys decide to win the battle of bands. There’s also a string of action circling around Coop’s family or more his currently unemployed father.
Other than his funny jokes and winning the band contest, the blooming relationship between Coop and social outcast Helen is of high interest. Helen is a very convenient character and because she’s such a strong young girl it’s not difficult to like her. With the two of them we’ve got two strong contrasted characters with a lot of delicious tension between them.
The story also circles around sex and I felt that Don Calame totally represented the youth view of a boy on the topic.

BEAT THE BAND follows a similar scheme as SWIM THE FLY. And I must say it is exactly as badass as the first book in the series. What I like better about BEAT THE BAND is that Calame lays a larger focus on the major love story.

THE VERDICT

This book has a nice mix of topics to offer, with a protagonist searching for love, a group of boys following a common goal and many pranks, high-school intrigues and issues of all kinds. There are a lot of new funny actions that make BEAT THE BAND a funny delight.

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for Teens Read Too

Gold Star Award Winner! In the author note for BEAT THE BAND, Don Calame states, "It was hard saying good-bye to the characters in SWIM THE FLY. And then I realized I didn't have to. I just needed to find a way to get them back into trouble again." This reader is extremely pleased that Calame missed his characters enough to give them another chance in BEAT THE BAND. I found them even more engaging and entertaining this second time around. It is sophomore year, and Cooper Redmond has a new goal in life. He has decided that during his second year in high school he needs to find a way to hit all the bases, and he's not referring to athletic feats on the baseball diamond. Cooper has his sights set on Prudence, the leader of the hottest group of popular girls in the school. When Mrs. Turris announces the semester-long health project, Cooper sees it as his chance to shine. He is sure the odds are in his favor and he'll score Prudence, or at least one of her minions, as a project partner. When the Fates intervene and give him hated Helen Harriwick as a partner instead, his whole plan begins to crumble. And if having a disastrous partner is not bad enough, the subject of their partnership project is contraception. It's truly the end of the world for Cooper. Cooper thinks he may have the answer to all his problems when he hears the announcement about the upcoming Battle of the Bands. He and his buddies, Matt and Sean, have experimented some with the rock band idea. Maybe they could dust off their instruments and, with a little practice, wow everyone with their musical talent enough to get people thinking of Cooper as a cool dude and not as some loser stuck with "Hot Dog" Helen. What follows is a story hilarious and raunchy enough to hook every guy reader, and gross out most girls brave enough to crack the cover. Calame is right on target with the thoughts and antics of 10th grade boys. His gritty locker room banter combined with offbeat characters like Cooper's dad and his crazy schemes work to create a super sequel to SWIM THE FLY. This one has me waiting eagerly for what Calame has to offer next.

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