Product Description

Elias, Shohei, and Honoria have always been three united against That Which is The Peshtigo School. But suddenly understanding and sticking up for a best friend isn't as easy as it used to be. Elias, reluctant science fair participant, finds himself defying the authority of Mr. Ethan Eden, teacher king of chem lab. Shohei, all-around slacker, is approaching a showdown with his adoptive parents, who have decided that he needs to start ``hearing'' his ancestors. And Honoria, legal counsel extraordinaire, discovers that telling a best friend you like him, without actually telling him, is a lot harder than battling Goliath Reed or getting a piranha to become a vegetarian.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #972818 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8-Friends since grade school, Elias, Shohei, and Honoria are smack in the middle of a rather sticky phase of their lives. Elias is entering his exclusive private school's science fair with about as much enthusiasm as a prisoner walking the plank over shark-infested waters. Shohei is the Japanese-born adopted son of parents who are force-feeding him bits and pieces of his native culture and slacker partner in Elias's science-fair project. Honoria is a serious participant in the fair and has undertaken the extraordinary task of trying to teach a pair of piranhas to prefer bananas over meat. She is also trying to figure out how to tell Shohei that she likes him as more than just a friend. Each of these characters must navigate through personal minefields made up of family and emotional time bombs in order to survive "That Which Is" life. Smith uses a diary format for the chapters, each of which reveals part of the story from a different character's perspective. A fresh, unusual story of friendship and honesty, riddled with wit, intelligence, and more than a few chuckles.
Donna M. Knott, The Lovett School, Atlanta
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 5-8. Poor Elias. Secretly in love with one of his best friends, Honoria, he is constantly reminded that she likes Shohei, another seventh-grader at their Chicago magnet school. Shohei can't see it--he's too busy writing anonymous e-mail love letters to Honoria for Eli. Both boys are pushed by their parents into the science fair, which Honoria hopes to win by turning her pet piranhas into vegetarians. When Elias stumbles on the brilliant plan of reproducing one of his brother's award-winning experiments, Shohei begs to be his partner. The plan backfires and lands Elias in Student Court. Honoria's brilliant strategy for Eli's defense means a crisis of conscience for Shohei, who will have to admit that he has copied his experiment's results. Alternating first-person narratives make for a fast-paced, hilarious send-up of school life. Smith achieves just the right balance of intelligent wit and drama in his first novel. Louise Brueggeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Greg Leitich Smith grew up in Chicago and graduated from a science magnet high school. He went on to complete degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Texas at Austin, and a University of Michigan degree in law.

Greg drew on his own Japanese-German American and adopted background in crafting Elias's and Shohei's families. He now lives with his wife, children's author Cynthia Leitich Smith, and their four cats in Austin, Texas.