The Schernoff Discoveries

by Gary Paulsen

Overview

Harold Schernoff, 14-year-old science whiz and social nerd, has a theory for every problem, from dating, to bullies, to making money, to sports, to how to buy a car when you're underage. When he and his buddy team up to put his theories to the test, nothing goes according to plan. A ski lesson becomes: Mass x Acceleration x Slope of hill = eeeAAGGHHH. As for first dates, only Harold could mastermind such disaster. Only Harold could go fishing and get caught by the fish. And only Gary Paulsen could write such a wonderfully funny story of friendship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780440414636
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	07/06/1998
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 7.63(h) x 0.34(d)
Lexile:	950L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

GARY PAULSEN is the distinguished author of many critically acclaimed books for young people, His most recent books are Mudshark, Lawn Boy, Molly McGinty Has a Really Good Day, The Time Hackers, and The Amazing Life of Birds (The Twenty Day Puberty Journal of Duane Homer Leech).

Editorial Reviews

Two junior high boys lose their "uncool" status when they kiss girls and foil some football team thugs in this comedy set in the 1950s. "Joyfully unconventional thinking and quirky writing," said PW. Ages 10-up. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 4-8A slapstick novel about friendship set in Minnesota. The book includes autobiographical elements from Paulsen's own life (alcoholic parents, a stint in the army, running the Iditarod). Both the first-person narrator and his best (and only) friend, Harold Schernoff, are 14-year-old social outcasts. Harold also is a science whiz, complete with slide rule, who devises theories to solve all sorts of problems, from dating to dealing with bullies and learning to ski. The chapter on his solutions to first-date awkwardness is hilarious. Perhaps the best chapter is the one in which the boys, although underage, buy their very first car and drive it for a glorious eight miles before the engine explodes. Paulsen captures adolescent feelings perfectly; indeed, the novel becomes a survival story with a twistsurvival of adolescence. Asides are interjected parenthetically comparing then and now. An afterword lets readers know what happens to the characters so memorably drawn in the story. Simplicity of style, humor, and great characterization make this another winner from a popular author.Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME

School Library Journal

A rollicking tale that's dressed up like a novel but reads more like a memoir, from the new comedian on the block, Paulsen (Worksong, p. 304, etc.).

The never-named narrator, whom readers are led to believe is Paulsen himself, is a nerd just like his friend, Harold Schernoff; together they are "easily the most unpopular boys" in their junior high. But if Harold is a brainy geek, with theories about everything from girls to fishing to bullies, the narrator operates under a somewhat dimmer star, willing to help Harold test his theories and come up with results that are just short of disastrous. Under Harold's leadership they find a surefire way to meet girls—by enrolling in home economics—until the football team finds out and Harold has a bigger problem to solve. Other adventures involve skiing and fishing—spectacular failures; the job they get as pinsetters in a local bowling alley results in one of the funniest episodes in the book and, incidentally, leads to the narrator's small triumph over the bully Dick Chimmer. It's all flat-out goofy and great fun, as well as an inspiring story of shared experiences that, weird as they are, form the basis of a strong and affectionate friendship.

Kirkus Reviews