Bucking the Sarge -- Christopher Paul Curtis

Here it comes. Sparky was about to say something about the only thing the thief had left in my wallet.

I'm not ashamed, I'm not trying to hide anything, it was a condom. To be real, it was the oldest condom on the face of the earth. It'd been in my wallet so many years that I'd had to give it a name--I called it Chauncey. Chauncey and that wallet had spent so much time together that it wouldn've been a crime to separate them, not that there was any chance of that happening anytime soon. They're been together so long that Chauncey had wore a circle right in the leather, and a circle ain't nothing but a great big zero, which was just about my chances of ever busting Chauncey loose and using him.

Very different for his previous books, in that the setting is modern-day Flint--and that it is most definitely a YA novel. The major similarity? It was as good as his first two books. Easily.

My study of philosophy has taught me that there really are certain advantages to having the coldhearted, moneygrubbing, beastly sadist who runs your life be blessed with a good vocabulary and a real active imagination.

The Sarge is the biggest slum lord/loan shark in Flint. Her schemes would put Dr. Evil to shame. Luther T. Farrell, 15-year-old future philosopher, is her only son. He's been working for her, living in and running a group home for older men, since he was thirteen. All he really wants is to get out. And to win the school science fair for the third year in a row. To do that, he needs to beat the secret love of his life, Shayla "Queen of the Damned" Patrick, who just happens to be the local undertaker's daughter.

Luther's best friend, Sparky, doesn't get it. He thinks that Luther has it made, since he has credit cards, money, and an illegal legal driver's license. Sparky hade decided that his only way out of Flint is to team up with local lawyer Dontay Gaddy (1-800-SUE-EM-ALL) and get some quick money. Sparky's attempts at getting injured create some of the funniest scenes in the book.