Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sleeping freshmen never lie is a 2006 young adult novel by David Lubar. It is a story
about the high school experiences of a fourteen-year-old boy. The narration is peppered
with lists, journal entries and Scott's creative writing attempts. While generally lighthearted in tone, the novel explores heavier subjects such as bullying, peer pressure and
teenage suicide.
Plot synopsis
The story centers around the story of Scott Hudson and his freshman year of high school.
Scott is the youngest member of his family, but his position is about to change, as his
mother becomes pregnant again. Scott begins to keep a journal of his high school
experiences to help his new sibling when he or she turns fourteen and begins freshman
year. During the course of this, Scott deals with bullies, crushes, gym class, and finding
himself.
Characters
Scott Hudson
Fourteen-year-old Scott Hudson is the narrator and protagonist of the story. He is a high
school freshman with a love for words and a somewhat impaired social life. He has an
integrity and a good sense of humor to him, and can find something good in the worst of
things. He is a little too impulsive when it comes for handling his crush, which reslts in
taking part in way too many extracurricular activities such as stage crew, the school's
newspaper and the student council. He is horrible at singing. Beside literature (in
particular "spooky stuff"), his interests include fishing.
Scott's friends at the start of the book
Scott calls his company "The Three Musketeers" since there are four of them.
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Kyle: Scott's friend since kindergarten, a fearless but obnoxious teenager. He
eventually makes the wrestling team, starts hanging out with the jocks, dumps
Scott (and even helps Vernon get his revenge on him) and is on a path to
becoming a bully.
Patrick: Scott's friend since second grade. He is honest and very perceptive, and
is also the gentlest of Scott's "Three Musketeers". Midway through the book, he
moves to Texas and then to Japan due to his father's job transfer. Doesn't like
books very much, though enjoyed Ender's Game.
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Mitch: Scott's friend since sixth grade. The most good-looking of the "Three
Musketeers". Gets lost early in the story due to getting a girlfriend at least a year
older than himself and starting to spend all his time with her.
Scott's friends later in the book
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Wesley Cobble, Jr: the high school's most feared senior. Always calm and
collected, he takes spare change from freshmen, drives a Mustang, rarely abides
to speed limits, comes unscathed from fights, steals soda from vending machines,
never pays for his gas, skips class, steals knives and saltshakers from restaurants
and often modifies his file to remove his misdeeds from the permanent record.
Despite his rowdy behavior, he abides to a set of principles (which Scott can't
figure out). He eventually befriends Scott and repeatedly stands up for him.
Wesley's father is an owner of a company that rents limos, snowmobiles and jet
skis, which Wesley sometimes "borrows". Wesley likes hot chocolate with little
marshmallows.
Lee: a new girl at the high school. She sits with the popular girls (though she
ingnores them and vice versa). Lee, although called "Weirdly" (as in Weird Lee)
around the school, is not afraid to be herself and to step from the safety of her
chosen identity if the situation demands it. Lee has many piercings, including one
on her tongue, and her hair is dyed green (later black and, later yet, orange). She
has rather morbid interests, a deadpan sense of humor, a love for books and a zest
for life. Lee creeps Scott out but he finds himself talking to her more and more
nevertheless. They are friends by the end of the book. Lee is a daughter of a
phlebotomist and a lawyer whose specialty is getting around antipollution laws.
Louden "Mouth" Kandeski is an annoying motormouth and Scott's neighbor.
He is a book reviewer for the high school newspaper, though he approaches the
matter lightly and skims most of the books he is supposed to review. Nobody
likes him, but he seems oblivious to the fact and is seemingly incorrigibly
optimistic until the day he has enough and unsuccessfully tries to commit suicide
by hanging himself. After that he's transferred to another school, but stays in
touch with Scott, who was always nice to him.
Scott's family
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Bobby Hudson: Scott's brother, four years senior. His high school experience
was a nightmare for his parents, since he skipped history seventeen times in a
row, was caught making out nine times with nine different girls and dropped out
of school half a year before his graduation. Bobby is tall, strong and good with
tools. He also has trouble reading; he figured none of his teachers would notice
that if he caused enough trouble, which turned out to be the case. Bobby is also a
talented guitarist and eventually joins his old band, who all soon get their lucky
day and are offered to perform as an opening act in a tour.
Scott's dad: tall and good with tools. Never went to college. Likes fishing and
repairing his corvette. Works in auto repair. He reminds Scott of Atticus Finch
since he's quiet, but not a wimp.
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Scott's mom: kind. During her pregnancy, often gets cravings. She likes cooking
and never went to college.
Sean Hudson: Scott's younger brother, born at the end of the book.
High school students
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Vernon Dross: a wrestler and the football team's quarterback. He is angry and
very full of himself, despite being a poor athlete. He's gutless without his crew of
friends. At one point in the story, he dated Julia and beat up Scott for liking her.
Julia Baskins: the smart and beautiful girl of Scott's dreams. He shared his
crackers with her in kindergarten. She became a beauty during the summer before
freshman year and at one point started dating Vernon. By the end of the novel,
she's going out with a nicer guy.
Kelly Holbrook: Julia's friend. Helped Vernon get his revenge on Scott for liking
Julia (though she was unaware he was planning to beat Scott up and later
apologized to him). She seems to be smart like Julia and had a part in the school
musical.
Mandy: a senior ad an editor of the high school's newspaper. She wears "killer
tops". Went out with Bobby at some point.
Terry Swain: a good-natured jock who is on both the basketball and the football
teams. According to Scott, he is so fast he burns the field, and the girls think he's
sweet. He is nice to both Scott and Lee.
Sheldon Murmbower: an unpopular freshman who the older students always hit
on the head on the bus.
Ben: a skinny, acne-faced student in charge of the stage crew. He usually sits
around playing poker and makes the freshmen do most of the work. At the last
high school dance of Scott's freshmen year, he keeps Vernon's friends from
coming to his aid and beating up Scott. He is a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies.
High school teachers and staff
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Mr. Franka: the Honors English teacher. A natural in his field, he educates
without analyzing literature works to the point they are boring. He can make his
class fun without any gimmicks or jokes, and the books he chooses for his lessons
range from well-known classics and poetry to graphic novels and movie scripts.
Mr. Cravutto: the gym teacher. He often pushes his students to the limit and
even sometimes insults them, but is a nice guy underneath that.
Mr. Perchal: the director of the musical.
Ms. Pell: the good-natured life skills teacher.
Ms. De Gaulle: Scott's first Spanish teacher. She is French and speaks Spanish
with a French accent.
Mr. Kamber: Scott's second Spanish teacher. Speaks with an Australian accent.
His catchphrase is "N'warries, might" (meaning "No worries, mate").
Ms. Phong: Scott's third Spanish teacher. She is Vietnamese and doesn't know
English.
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Ms. Cabrini: Scott's fourth, and final, Spanish teacher. She was born in
Argentina, lived in Mexico and Spain, visited Puerto Rico and most of the
countries in Central America. As such, she is the first competent Spanish teacher
Scott gets.
Other
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Charley and Wayne: Bobby's friends and bandmates.
Literary allusions
Throughout the book, many literary works are mentioned. Those include Ender's Game,
To Kill A Mockingbird, Bunnicula, Kubla Khan, The Giaour, Dorothy Parker's The Waltz,
The Princess Bride, Tuck Everlasting, Sideways Stories From Wayside School, The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, Hatchet, Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory, A Spell for Chameleon, Dragonflight, Understanding Comics, and
others.
Tom Swifties
At one point in the story, Scott discovers Tom Swifties. Some of the funnier ones
include:
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"I have lost my legs below the ankles!" Tom said defeatedly.
"Have they started on the new condominiums?" Tom said constructively.
"I refuse to read Shakespeare!" Tom said unwillingly.
"I will not clean the toilet seat." Tom said peevishly.
"The worms are eating my internal organs." Tom said wholeheartedly.
"I'd like a hot dog," Tom said frankly.
"Stop this horse," Tom said haltingly.
"I don't know the words to this song," Tom said humbly.
"I lost my fingers," Tom said disjointedly.
"I lost my wrists," Tom said offhandedly.
"I lost my elbows," Tom said disarmingly.
"I lost my ribs," Tom said decidedly.
"The worms are eating my organs," Tom said halfheartedly.
"I've been sliced in half," Tom said intuitively.
"Who sneezed up on the hamburger," Tom said snottily.[citation needed]
http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/showreview_pub.cfm?Num=25957
clip of audio
http://www.english-test.net/shop/high-school-audio-books.html
clip of audio
http://www.fun-with-words.com/tom_swifties.html