Thwonk [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Joan Bauer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2001 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

" 'You and I are going to drive to Peter's house,' I shouted with ecstasy. 'You are going to zap him with a poisoned arrow and I'm going to live happily ever after!' I grabbed my car keys, flung on my black bomber jacket, and headed to my Volvo and destiny."

A.J. has two passions-photography and her crush on Peter Terris, the most popular guy in school. Enter Jonathan, a tiny cupid offering A. J. a wish in one of three categories: academics, art or romance. Without hesitating, A. J. chooses romance-despite her dream of getting into arts college. But magic can be unpredictable, and ultimately A.J. will have to decide what's worth fighting for: Peter's charmed love or the truth she can find through her camera lens and in herself.

"It's to Bauer's credit that this wacky ride through adolescent affairs of the heart never grows predictable. ...A fine romance with plenty of hitches." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Bauer's buoyant narrative will elicit chuckles as it delivers its message (thwonk!) with the accuracy of a well-aimed arrow from Cupid." (Publishers Weekly)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bauer's (Squashed) lighthearted (literally) story subtly delivers a meaningful statement to its YA audience. A.J., a high school senior who is very serious about her future career as a photographer, is quickly approaching the final deadline for a big assignment: to take the cover photo for the Valentine's Day issue of her school paper. As it turns out, her inspiration for that task comes from a most unusual source. Driving home one day she almost runs over a box, out of which rolls a stuffed cupid. He comes to life, setting A.J.'s existence onto an amusing-if obviously unbelievable-roller-coaster of a ride. Not only does he lead her to the site of the ideal photo op for the paper, but he shoots his arrow into the heart of the drop-dead gorgeous Peter Terris, whom A.J. has long ogled from afar. Peter asks her out and then, much to A.J.'s embarrassment, insists on proclaiming his undying love in public-loudly. Catapulted into Peter's popular, decidedly vapid crowd, A.J. discovers that what she has wished for is more likely to suffocate her than to bring her happiness. Bauer's buoyant narrative will elicit chuckles as it delivers its message (thwonk!) with the accuracy of a well-aimed arrow from Cupid. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10?This silly, offbeat novel warns all readers: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR! A.J. McCreary, photographer extraordinaire, lovelorn, and invisible to school hunk, Peter Terris, is unable to capture a fitting cover shot for the school paper's special Valentine's Day edition. Then, she stumbles upon a stuffed cupid who comes to life and offers her one of three alluring choices: artistic, academic, or romantic assistance. In spite of the cupid's vehement protests against the last and his admitted previous failure in the arena of teen love, A.J. follows her heart. After Peter is smitten, and her date for the King of Hearts dance is secure, she finds that his slathering, abject devotion and unrestrained attention embarrass her, and that he is boring. Like Ellie in Bauer's Squashed (Delacorte, 1992), A.J. is a witty, intelligent protagonist whose fresh perceptions of her peers keep readers chuckling. In the end, a brilliant newspaper cover shot convinces her former-filmmaker father of her talent and makes the novel's ultimate statement about young romance. Thwonk revels in the vagaries, insecurities, and uncomfortable realities of teen love.?Alice Casey Smith, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, Manalapan, NJ
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile; 1st G.P. Putnam's Sons ed edition (June 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399237518
• ISBN-13: 978-0399237515
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,004,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"I had moved from journalism to screenwriting when one of the biggest challenges of my life occurred. I was in a serious auto accident which injured my neck and back severely and required neurosurgery. It was a long road back to wholeness, but during that time I wrote Squashed, my first young adult novel. The humor in that story kept me going. Over the years, I have come to understand how deeply I need to laugh. It's like oxygen to me. My best times as a writer are when I'm working on a book and laughing while I'm writing. Then I know I've got something." Joan's first novel, Squashed, won the Delacorte Prize for a First Young Adult Novel. Five novels for young adult readers have followed: Thwonk, Sticks, Rules of the Road (LA Times Book Prize and Golden Kite), Backwater and Hope was Here (Newbery Honor Medal). Joan lives in Darien, CT with her husband and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thwonk, March 29, 2000

By 

Roxy (California, U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thwonk (Library Binding)

I really liked this book. It was a good topic for a teenage girl. Even the book did not have a realistic plot every teenager at one time or another has wanted a little being whether it be a cupid or a genie to make there wishes come true. This book also goes to show you that no matter how bad you want love if you force yourself into it the results may not always be picture perfect. Because when a cupid pops into her life she has to make choices about her future but does not listen to what the cupid has to say. When she makes her wish not all the she wants happens. She thinks she has just gotten a dream date with the most popular guy in school but little does she know what a disaster the next few months will be. After things get out of hand she isnt really sure what she wants to do. All she knows she wants is the little cupid back. Will the cupid come back? Will her life take a turn for the better? Will her wish be undone? You have to read it to find out.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good find for any teenage cynic, December 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Thwonk (Mass Market Paperback)

Thwonk, is an excellent book for a teen who, like myself, scorns ordinary, flouncy teen romance novels (or romance novels period). The story journals A.J. a gifted, but somewhat tortured photographer, who is in her last year of high school and is plagued by several problems many students go through: One, being friction between her fathers pushing for her to enroll in a good liberal arts or bussiness school and get a "useful" degree and her desire to enroll in an art school to study photography. Another, being the common fretting over grades and exams. The last, the one that seems most important to her, the fact that she's seventeen years old and is having trouble holding on to a boyfriend, constantly picking up jerks and players. A.J. sets her sights on Peter Terris, who unfortunately is way out of the question. But when something extraordinary happens and A.J. is given the opportunity to magically wipe away one of the many problems plagueing her, she has to decide whether getting into the college of her choice or patching it up with dad, or getting Peter Terris (the one the most frivilous, but seems most benefitial at the time). Will the wishes be all they're cracked up to be? Bauer deleviers this story with humor and sarcasm any teenage cynic will appreciate.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars V-day gone Bad, January 16, 2002

By 

Kate (Beaverton,OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thwonk (Paperback)

Imagine your sixteen years old and you're a junior in high school. You've got your eye on the popular jock who's way out of your league. Another Valentine's Day is appoarching and you are again dateless. It's not like you're ugly or anything. You've had boyfriends, plenty of them! But when Valentine's Day rolls around the boyfriends just seem to dissappear. As this Valentine's Day appoarches you a get a special gift, a personal cupid. Welcome to life of A.J. McCreay. An average high school junior who finds out what love really is.