cover image The Whole Nine Yards

The Whole Nine Yards

Dallin Malmgren. Delacorte Press, $0 (137pp) ISBN 978-0-385-29452-2

Ninth grader Storm Forrest becomes obsessed with girls after his father dies of a heart attack. His whole life centers around finding new hearts to conquer. He even steals off to Ocean Grove, N.J. for the annual high school revels on Memorial Day weekend, but is too young to score. After a bad year in 10th grade with poor marks, Storm cracks up his mother's car, causing serious injury to his passengers, one of them the girl he had been dating. His troubles come thick and fast until he falls in love with Paula, for real this time. But Storm loses Paula's trust when he sleeps with a girl he picks up at a beach party. The relationship with Paula is rocky because Storm unconsciously sabotages it. Storm's best friend, Joel, is killed while raiding a garage for beer as a prank, and then Paula breaks up with Storm. Though he's devastated and almost flunks out his senior year, in the end he manages to pull himself out of his slump. This first novel, told in the first person, beautifully limns a teenage boy's conflicting feelings about romance, sex, grief, guilt and love. Readers will enjoy its refreshingly candid tone. (12up)