BookTalk: Zen and the Art of Faking It

Zen and the Art of Faking It
By Jordan Sonnenblick

Have you ever pretended to be somebody you’re not?
San Lee decides that blending in is impossible, so he might as well stand out! San Lee has to move to a new town and decides to invent a new past which makes him sort of popular. In fact, the whole school sort of worships him because he sort of accidentally gave the impression that he’s a reincarnated mystic who practices the Zen Buddist religion. In reality, he knows nothing about it. He looks Asian, but was adopted as a baby by Caucasian American parents. The problems come when all the lies he’s told start to unravel, and he has to come up with the cover stories, or get caught being the biggest fake ever. Can he continue to hide his secret about his dad? Can he make things right with his family, save himself from bodily harm, stop being an outcast, and not lose the coolest girlfriend ever? If he tells the truth, everyone is going to hate him, but now he has to “fess up” to everyone. San Lee has to decide whether to keep trying to be a fake and maybe an outcast, or just be San Lee, himself. To read about San Lee’s hilarious (for us), and traumatic (for him) school year, read Zen and the Art of Faking It
by Jordan Sonnenblick.