In this YA novel, we follow Norris Kaplan, a Black French Canadian high schooler who is thrown into utter confusion by his move from Canada to the blistering heat of Texas; well, at least it’s Austin, right? The book is witty and Philippe has a nice sarcastic tone. I would say this book is above average for its genre which is the high-school comedy/drama. Philippe is interested in trotting out all the high-school stereotypes: the weird stoner, the stupid jock, the vapid cheerleader, the artsy nerd, etc. and then subverting them by exploring them and having them turn out to be different than Norris at first thinks. That’s appreciated and he manages to make a couple of them genuinely come to life, like Madison, the cheerleader; her scenes with Norris really work surprisingly well as Philippe develops her and their relationship. But is this really necessary? No, but if your YA reader wants to read a book like this, then this is one you can basically feel comfortable with, because it won’t insult their intelligence as much as most of these books do. 2 ½ stars.
tl;dr – somewhat above average YA novel is a typical high-school novel with some tropes subverted and a bit more character development than usual; far from great, but not bad. 2 ½ stars.