The Schwa Was Here

Fiction, fiction, fiction.  There are so many fiction stories out there to choose from. Finding a specific GENRE of fiction is hard enough... there's horror, suspense, mystery, romance, comedy, tragedy, adventure... my list can go on and on.  So to ask me to choose a singular fictitious book to recommend to a future UNC classmate seems like a very far reaching request, don't you think?  However, I think I might be able to name one fiction book that really caught my eye.  It's a simple story about a kid named "Antsy" Bonano and his 'conquests' as an eighth grader. However, the star of the story is Calvin Schwa, Bonano's classmate.  I know it might seem very elementary and in fact, this book is written at like a 7th-grade reading level.  However, I find the story line to be quite interesting and it does actually pertain to teenage social classes these days. Oh and by the way, the book's called "The Schwa Was Here."

The Schwa Was Here is actually a very deep
book, despite it's low-reading level

Calvin Schwa has this 'ability' (in the story, they claim it's supernatural, when in fact, it's not) to disappear and become completely unnoticed.  He's not actually invisible, but he just tends to blend in the crowd and goes unnoticed daily.  Bonano and him eventually become companions throughout the story, and it is written with an emphasis as Bonano as the main character.  However, I couldn't help but to feel sympathy for Schwa.  All his life, he goes unnoticed because he 'blends in with the background.'  The people at his school barely see him.  The people in the grocery store tend to bump into him.  His parents barely even notice his existence.  Although throughout the book, Schwa is deemed as 'easy-going,' you can tell that he's very troubled by the fact that he is ignored.  He even mentions that he's disappointed in the fact that he's never included in thing. The book is trying to be an easy-to-read comedy, but the true reason underlying the plot is quite sad and it actually pertains to kids in today's society.

There are so many times in which children go unnoticed these days and there's no exaggeration in that.  In the high school crowd, I'm pretty accurate when I say there are only 40% of teens that actually get noticed by their peers, acquaintances, and teachers. That other 60% is the normal kids that blend in with the background and long to be included.

This is why I would recommend this book to my classmate. It's funny and easy to read, but it has a true meaning under it that actually pertains to a lot of teenagers these days. :O!