ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards finalist
(Juvenile Fiction category), 2007
Alberta Children''s/Young Adult Book of the Year
Nominee, 2008
White Pine nominee, 2008
CCBC''s Best Books for Kids & Teens,
2008
Manitoba Young Readers'' Choice Award Nominee
2009
"I hate the world and everything in it. And that
includes me."
Asked to write something for English class that expresses who he
really is, 16-year-old Carson takes pleasure in blistering the page
with hate for everything in his life. Stuck in a private school for
kids who have repeatedly flunked out elsewhere, Carson knows he''s
got nowhere lower to sink to. "Flunk Out Academy" is the last
resort for Carson and his classmates, in a small town where its
deeply troubled students are decidedly unwelcome.
Then Carson meets someone who is even less optimistic than he.
Christine struggles to get by, living in a trailer by herself,
abandoned by her mother and father, so desperate that she has
become almost immune to the pain and loneliness.
Confronted by her deep sadness, Carson starts to care for her
and she for him. Once focused on someone other than himself, he
begins to notice the world around him and realize that there is
beauty as well as hopelessness, love as well as hate. Together the
two teenagers struggle to work out how they are going to live in an
imperfect world. There are no easy happy endings, but somehow the
journey eventually makes the pain worthwhile.