Book Recommendation

Way back when (in high school) I read a book called You Don't Know Me by David Klass. I highly recommend it because the main character, John, is a humorous teenager who is not only dealing with the awkwardness of high school and "Glory Halle-lujah", his crush, but he's also dealing with an abusive future step-father. The book culminates in a terrifying twist of events that resolves itself in... Well, I can't say or else I'd ruin it, but the book is extremely well-written and, despite the serious material that it covers, is both humorous and touching. It's a great way to approach the subject of abuse in a productive manner without completely scaring off those who may be squeamish. Also, it's a bit more real than those girl-and-her-horse stories...

The book is definitely well worth the read, and I actually read it one more time after initially reading it in high school and it was just as interesting the second time around. Also, as a former orchestra/band member, I appreciated his descriptions of his band teacher and the amusing animalization of his tuba (tuba as bullfrog).

P.S. - I'll be interested to hear everyone's opinions of American Born Chinese! I wasn't a huge fan.