Serena smiled at me before she took her seat, but I’m not sure whether it was the kind of smile that meant, I think you’re nice, or whether it was the kind of smile that meant, which of your multiple personalities was I speaking to?
Thirteen-year-old McKay is a talented baseball player, but equally as untalented when it comes to algebra. If he doesn’t bring his grade up, his parents threaten to make him quit the team. His best friend, Tony, thinks the natural solution is for McKay to befriend Serena, a pretty girl in class who also happens to get straight A’s in algebra. Not only will that get McKay the tutor he desperately needs, but it will also give Tony the chance to flirt with Serena’s two best friends.
Unfortunately, if McKay follows Tony’s advice on how to “play the game,” he might find himself in an even worse spot than when he was merely failing algebra.
With a keen sense of wit and more self-confidence than he gives himself credit for, McKay will keep readers alternately laughing and groaning as he is dragged kicking and screaming into the subtle (and often not so subtle) world of teen dating. [from publisher's web site]
Society of School Librarians International Book Award, Honor Book, 2002