Book Review – King Dork by Frank Portman

A Look at Frank Portman's Novel About Growing Up Geeky

Apr 1, 2009

Musician Frank Portman makes his first foray into the world of Young Adult literature with this insightful look at a nerdy teenage boy's navigation through high school.

Frustrated with school, his parents and the various adults who consider The Catcher In The Rye to be the all-time greatest book ever -- people whom he deems The Catcher Cult -- Tom Henderson is a painfully shy, misunderstood kid who loves music and wonders exactly what happened the day his father died.

Written in the first person from Tom's perspective, King Dork gets into the head of a very specific type of person. Tom is smarter than most of the kids in his school. Arguably, he is brighter than most of the teachers, too, though that doesn't help him feel any less awkward when he tries to talk to girls. He looks for insight into his father's life in a pile of books that his dad read and made notes in when he was around the same age as Tom. When Tom realizes his dad's death may not have been an accident, the search for meaning gets even deeper.

Whipsmart and Humourous

Although somewhat targeted toward a younger audience, King Dork is similar to Sue Townshend's Adrian Mole series in that it may hold more appeal to readers who are looking at adolescence through the filter of hindsight rather than currently navigating their way through those years. It is a whipsmart and humourous book that describes high school as an awkward and confusing era when, for some, it was more pleasurable to listen to a record than to hold a conversation. For instance, Tom and his only friend, Sam, spend a lot more time making up band names and album titles than they do practising their instruments or writing songs.

Musical Background

While music references in books often seem forced, author Frank Portman deftly handles this terrain; the bands Tom likes make sense together and his brash statements sound like a music fanatic. So, when he says, "Now, Led Zeppelin is all right (good drums and guitar, anyway, though that singer should have been silenced or muzzled or somthing--frankly, I prefer it in Yardbird form to be honest)," it truly sounds like what a teenage music geek would say.

It makes sense that Portman has such facility with musical dialogue because for the past twenty-five years or so, he has been better known to music fans as Dr. Frank, the singer - and only remaining original member - of legendary pop-punk band, The Mr. T Experience. Some of his own band's album titles, Revenge Is Sweet, and So Are You, Love Is Dead, Our Bodies, Our Selves, are similar to those Tom comes up with in King Dork. Portman's attention to detail with every element, from clothes to dialogue, makes King Dork a superior young adult novel.

Movie Rights

According to the AV Club, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's production company, Gary Sanchez Productions, has the rights to the movie version of King Dork, though no further details are forthcoming thus far.

The copyright of the article Book Review – King Dork by Frank Portman in Teen Fiction is owned by Joanne Huffa. Permission to republish Book Review – King Dork by Frank Portman in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.