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Dunk
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Plot Summary of Dunk
"The slightly tawdry world of boardwalk arcades along the New Jersey shore is just one of the attractions of Lubar's (Hidden Talents) engrossing novel. From the first moment soon-to-be-11th-grader Chad hears the boardwalk clown hurling insults ("His voice ripped the air like a chain saw," the novel begins), the teen is mesmerized. The "bozo," whose witty barbs lure passersby to try and drop him into a water tank, represents all that Chad is not: "Nobody ignored him. Nobody looked down on him or told him he was a loser." The boy adds working as a bozo to his list of goals-along with seeing a certain girl again-for what he hopes will be "the greatest summer of his life." But plans go awry when a rival beats him to the romance punch, his best friend is struck with a life-threatening illness, and Chad has run-ins not only with the police but also with the bozo himself, a troubled man who sublets a room in Chad's house. As Chad surmounts each challenge, he shakes off the shadow of his deadbeat absent father and learns the difference between "a laugh that can cut you up worse than a knife" and laughter that heals. Lubar ably charts a watershed summer between boyhood and manhood; the boardwalk bozo serves as a deft metaphor for the power and control for which adolescents hunger. "
Cameron Langley, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Dunk
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - depressed
Time/era of story - present (2000-2010)
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Wild kid(s)? - committing crimes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - student
Age: - a teen
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - scholar
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 ()

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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David Lubar Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Cameron Langley  

SCHOLARS:


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