Girls for Breakfast

Nick Park is the only Korean American youth growing up in a white suburb. He is good at sports, but not popular and he has problems with girls, to say the least. He has low self-esteem and tries to cover it up by going out of his way to get attention. In fact the book starts out with Nick missing his graduation rehearsal, because he made a jerk of himself in front of a girl at the prom. He blams the fact that he's Korean for his problems when really his problems lie within himself. He wants to belong, to be popular, but he makes it difficult for others to get to know him with his embarrassing antics. This is at times a shocking book and at other times very funny. David Yoo has somehow put a bit of all of us in Nick Park, making him a very real character who you will be thinking about long after you finish this book. I just loved it.

I'm not a teen, but just feel like one, reading this excellent semi-autobiographical fiction. Funny and touching, reminiscent of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers, but for teens. This quick paced books will make you laugh, grimace in embarrassment and shared angst, and root, root, root for Nick.

This is a wonderfully-written, highly-entertaining, and often hilarious novel. Nick Park's just a kid and he's just trying to get by. And yeah, he likes girls. It's nice to see a young adult book tackle the subject of blooming masculinity head on, and Yoo skillfully weaves the issues of race, gender, and sexuality into an intelligent, humorous story. The book will make you laugh throughout, and the ending is beautiful.

I was pleasantly surprised by young master Yoo's book about a young Korean boy growing up in the stogy suburbs of Connecticut, going from confrontations with "those guys" to experimentation with women and sex David Yoo has done a great job with this coming of age story, it's got everything you would want in a book, from humor to drama. If you're interested in a great read, pick it up!!!

A very clever and funny cover that resembles a cereal box greets readers of GIRLS FOR BREAKFAST. This witty read chronicles the story of Nick Park, who is missing his high school graduation rehearsal to think back over what led him to humiliate himself in front of a wonderful girl the night before at his Prom. Nick is the only Korean in his white suburb, and he begins to think that his race might be the cause of his unpopularity. As he reflects over everything he has done through junior and senior high, though, he realizes that he has never been comfortable with anything about himself, and that there may be other reasons why he has trouble with girls. Nick's stories are as funny as they are cringe-worthy, and everyone will recognize themselves in some of his embarrassing escapades. From offering fake martial arts lessons to gain friends as a boy, to trying to ignore the Korean church youth group his parents desperately want him to join, Nick has tried too hard to avoid his true self and to be like people he perceives as popular. It all comes to a head at the Prom and it takes hours of reflection the next day for Nick to sort through what will happen next. Readers will only receive hints until the end of the book, but they will be too busy enjoying Nick's funny and ironic narration about himself. --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio