King Dork, written by Frank Portman, indulges young adult readers into the fictional teenage world of Tom Henderson, aka Chi-Mo. This coming of age story reflects his journey from confusion about his father’s death, societal issues, the purpose of life, and mysterious annotations on his father’s old books to even more confused about all of these. This hilarious yet meaningful novel is filled with relatable high school experiences and archetypes, Catcher in the Rye references, mystery, geometry, interesting family dynamics, that awkward best friend, girls, and more girls.

King Dork documents the thoughts and experiences of Tom, from August to December in his sophomore year of high school, with Portman writing as Tom in stream of consciousness.