King Dork
Cover of the 2006 hardcover edition, resembling a torn and doodled-in paperback edition of The Catcher in the Rye with the original title and author obscured by correction fluid.
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| Author | Frank Portman |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press |
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Publication date
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April 11, 2006 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 60516780 |
| LC Class | PZ7.P8373 Ki 2006 |
| Followed by | Andromeda Klein |
King Dork is the first novel by Frank Portman, published in 2006. A work of young adult fiction, the first-person narrative follows 14-year-old Tom Henderson during the first few months of his sophomore year of high school. Tom navigates the daily difficulties of a school filled with cruel peers and uncaring administrators, attempts to start a rock and roll band with his only close friend, negotiates the complexities of relating to girls, tries to piece together information about his deceased father through clues found in old novels, and evolves his relationship with his mother, stepfather, and sister. Titled after a 1999 song by Portman's band The Mr. T Experience, King Dork makes many references to rock bands, albums, and musicians.
The novel was named one of the Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association in 2007, and the filmmaking option was picked up by Gary Sanchez Productions. It was followed by Andromeda Klein (2009), which uses the same fictional setting but is set some years later and follows different characters, and by a direct sequel, King Dork Approximately (2014).
Portman's novels are set in the San Francisco Bay Area in the fictitious Santa Carla County, which includes the neighboring cities and towns of Hillmont, Clearview, Clearview Heights, Salthaven, Salthaven Vista, Old Mission Hills, and Rancho Sans Souci. The events of King Dork take place between late August and early December 1999.
Tom Henderson begins his sophomore year at Hillmont High School, which he describes as laughably dumbed-down and senselessly brutal, with rampant bullying by the "psychotic normal" students. Tom is derisively nicknamed "Chi-Mo", originating from an aptitude test indicating a possible career in the clergy, which his classmates associated with child molestation. His father Charles, a police detective, died six years prior in what was ruled a hit and run collision, though Tom has been given vague and contradictory details about the incident by his mother. He finds a collection of his father's books from the 1960s, including The Catcher in the Rye, a novel Tom particularly disdains, comparing its popularity among baby boomers to a cult. He begins reading the books as a way of relating to his father; in them he finds many handwritten notes, some mentioning a "tit".
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