Product Description

When Tony's mother's fourth husband dies, Tony ends up taking care of his mother and himself. As the new kid in high school, he vows to blend in with the crowd and avoid attachments. But he soon meets Jordan, who's both intriguing and flamboyant, dressed in black, adorned in padlocks and chains and a sign saying "Instant Chastity."

It's no wonder Tony often dials a self-help hotline called Confess-O-Rama. While Tony pours out his heart and secrets, little does he know that Jordan runs Confess-O-Rama and plans to use all the dialogue for an auditory art exhibit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1765042 in Books
• Published on: 1998-03-09
• Released on: 1998-03-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 176 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A lonely teenage boy confesses his secrets to a self-help hotline. But there's more to Confess-o-rama than meets the eye. And the boy's kooky feminist girlfriend seems to know its secret. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10?For Tony, it's another new beginning, albeit temporary. His mother's fourth husband has died and they have just settled into a borrowed apartment in West Paradise until all the probate stuff gets settled, and Tony is starting at another new high school. He doesn't want to get involved with anyone, since his mom needs so much of his emotional attention. But there's this girl...When Tony meets Jordan, she is wearing all black, fastened with chains and padlocks and a big sign that says "Instant Chastity." She intrigues him like no one else he's ever met. Confused over his feelings, Tony repeatedly calls a self-help hotline called Confess-O-Rama, which guarantees anonymity. He reveals his attraction to Jordan and his ambiguity of emotions about his mother's role as professional widow. He isn't aware (until the end of the book) that Jordan runs Confess-O-Rama and is using all the dialogue for an auditory art exhibit that she's been working on. Koertge's quirky characters and snappy, humorous dialogue, along with unique situations (how many kids' mothers have four dead husbands?) and universal themes of finding one's place in this world make this book a wonderful read. It's sure to be a big favorite among teens.?Susan R. Farber, Chappaqua Library, NY
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 7^-9. While his mom (four times a widow) is at home reading books on grieving, 15-year-old Tony enrolls in yet another new school. His friends are all aspiring artists, and one girl, Jordan, views Tony as her new project. Tony views school as a holding zone. Cooking is his passion; watching over mom and fitting in at school are his worries. To ease the tension, he calls Confess-O-Rama, a mysterious hotline: just state your problems and hang up. Meanwhile, Jordan continues her other work in progress, a series of embellished bras, worn outside her clothing, protesting the travesties of the world. School administrators threaten suspension if she continues to wear these pieces of art, and the parent and student community rally to her support, except for Tony, who is crushed to discover that Confess-O-Rama is another one of Jordan's works in progress. She knows his secrets! Koertge's first-person narrative, characterization, setting, and pacing are realistic, humorous, and insightful. Karen Simonetti

Customer Reviews

Awesome!!!!!!!!
I cannot even say how much I enjoyed this book. Although I picked it up for my younger sister (10), at 14 I had a great time with it. While not drowning in romance, or that kind of drippy friendship that most new literature is pressing on us these days this book managed to get across the kind of relationship any teenager needs. Insightful, smart, humorous, and an easy read, this is a great book for anyone who feels like they don't belong, are being discriminated against, is an artist, or likes cooking. What an incredible book!!!

Confess-O-Rama is good for the soul.
Koertge is one of America's finest writers of books foryoung people, and Confess-O-Rama keeps his string of hitsgoing. Tony's mother has a knack for marrying men who die too soon, starting with Tony's father and going right through his 3 subsequent stepfathers. Now, as Tony and his mom are recovering from the latest death and living [temporarily?] in West Paradise, CA, Tony meets an unusual group of high school artists and begins sharing his problems with a phone service called Confess-O-Rama, little suspecting that his voice and others will become source material for a performance piece.

New Kid at School
Tony had a real father once, then had three stepfathers. All of them died, leaving Tony's mother heartbroken and feeling like she's some sort of bad luck charm. Tony has become accustomed to moving to new places, so he isn't very upset when he and his mother move to a new town to live in his aunt's place for a few months. He will do part of his high school time there, making no friends or connections, and then move onto someplace new to finish.

Things don't go the way Tony planned, though. The very first day of school, he meets a weird group of students, artists who immediately pull him into their group even when he doesn't try to be friends with them. One of them in particular, a girl named Jordan, intrigues him. She seems to be running on fast forward all of the time and she doesn't easily take no for an answer.

Tony tries to resist Jordan, but finds himself drawn to her. He is able to calm her down when she gets out of control with stress, and she helps to teach him that his mother isn't as fragile as he thinks and doesn't need him to watch over her every second. But when Tony feels like his trust has been betrayed, will they be able to remain friends?

I liked that the artist characters were all very interesting and unique; I'd actually like to have read more about them as individuals. I also liked the details of Tony's cooking, from the things he cooked to how he went about it and why he liked to cook so much.

I thought that some of the characters were over the top, though. Jordan, especially, seemed really irritating and not at all endearing as Tony seemed to think she was. I also thought that her betrayal was incredibly obvious; I knew from the start that it was going to happen and I thought it was strange that Tony didn't figure it out.