Wonderland: A Year in the Life of an American High School

Wonderland: A Year in the Life of an American High School

by Michael Bamberger
Wonderland: A Year in the Life of an American High School

Wonderland: A Year in the Life of an American High School

by Michael Bamberger

Paperback(First Trade Paper Edition)

$13.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

Pennsbury High School would be like any other were it not for one thing: its prom. Its spring dance is considered to be one of this country's best legacies. Wonderland is the inspiring true story of a dance floor and the kids who fill it: a tale of hope, sex, love, and loss. For one year, the students, parents, and teachers of Pennsbury invited Michael Bamberger, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, into their classrooms, their homes, their parties, and their dreams. He discovered an extraordinary and disparate group of everyday teenagers whose stories were touching, odd, funny, and beautiful.
In Wonderland, lives intersect in unpredictable ways and are never what they appear to be. The star quarterback hides the pain of not knowing where his father is. A student with cerebral palsy is desperate to learn to tie Eagle Scout knots, despite a useless left hand. And then there is Bob Costa, who dreams of bringing glory to the school by convincing John Mayer, whose song "Your Body Is a Wonderland" is an anthem for the students, to perform at the prom. Critically acclaimed in hardcover, Wonderland is published in paperback with a new afterword by the author.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780802141972
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date: 03/07/2005
Edition description: First Trade Paper Edition
Pages: 224
Sales rank: 1,110,167
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Read an Excerpt

Wonderland

A Year in the Life of an American High School
By Michael Bamberger

Grove Atlantic, Inc.

ISBN: 0-87113-917-0


Chapter One

Mike Kosmin and his friends started talking about her in September, the hot girl in the hot car, and now Mike's father was finally seeing her, on the day of the prom. The girl was a senior and from the start of the school year Mike and his buddies called her Jeans, for the low-slung, acid-washed jeans she wore on Tuesdays, with the zipper in the back. Kosmin was a junior at Pennsbury High, not a nerd, though he loved computers, not a jock, though he had made himself a good hockey player and skateboarder. He was a little chunky, funny, new to driving and the world of girls. Labor Day weekend, his parents had surprised him with the ultimate gift, a car, not some ratty old Dodge Omni but a brand-new triple black Acura RSX. Mike was saving up to improve the sound system. Still, some ride.

Only the most connected juniors could get parking spaces at the oversubscribed Pennsbury High School student parking lot, so Mike Kosmin was forced to rent a space at the pizza place next to the school. Each day, when the final school bell rang at 2:08 p.m., Mike and his friends would walk across the school parking lot and to the Marcelli's Pizza lot, turn up Eminem, and watch Jeans sashay her way to her black Corvette, flipping her long blond hair over one shoulder before slipping into the car and driving off to places unknown and unknowable.

(Continues...)



Excerpted from Wonderland by Michael Bamberger Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Day of the Prom 1

Chapter 1: Taking Attendance (September) 5

I. Principal Katz 5

II. Lindsey "Peanutface" Milroy 10

III. Bob Costa, JuniorClass President 13

IV. Alyssa Bergman, Corvette Girl 15

V. Rob & Stephanie 18

VI. Quarterback Bobby Speer 21

VII. Harry Stymiest, PHSTV Personality 23

Chapter 2: Our Town 26

Chapter 3: Homecoming (October) 39

Chapter 4: Expecting (November) 59

Chapter 5: Candlelight (December) 79

Chapter 6: Florida (January) 95

Chapter 7: Early Graduation (February) 107

Chapter 8: Unplugged (March) 128

Chapter 9: Showers (April) 141

Chapter 10: Primping (May) 158

Chapter 11: Reunion 193

Author's Note 209
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews