Title: The Edumacation of Jay Baker
Author: Jay Clark
Release date: January 31, 2012
Publisher: Henry Holt
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher

A few “sexy” bullet points about Jay:
• He is in love with a cheerleader named Cameo “Appearance” Parnell
• He is forever losing “Love-15” to tennis-playing goddess Caroline Richardson
• He rocks a touché array of pop-culture references, jokes, and puns
• His family-life cookie is about to crumble.

Live vicariously through Jay as he faces off against his mortal enemy, gets awkward around his dream girl(s), loses his marbles in a Bermudian love triangle, watches his parents’ relationship implode, and, finally, learns to get real and be himself(ish).

The Edumacation Of Jay Baker let me down.  I expected too much from it instead of going in with no expectations.  Readers, if you don’t expect anything mind-blowing from this book, you will like it. Just go in open-minded.

Jay Baker is very much a teenage boy.  He has girls, sex, food, and fart jokes on the brain.  Occasionally he has thoughts about school and his dysfunctional family that is falling apart.  Mainly though everything that comes out of his mouth is immature and sarcastic.  He clearly used sarcasm to mask his feelings and that is understandable but it was just too much.  There are times when you need seriousness and Jay Baker never delivered that.  As for the two love interests, I couldn’t see it.  There was no connection between Jay and Caroline or Jay and Cameo. Caroline was quiet and shy and they played tennis together but never seemed to actually get to know each other.  They just randomly started dating.  And Cameo is this cheerleader how has a new boyfriend each week but all of a sudden is in love with Jay as soon as he gets a girlfriend.  I just couldn’t see either relationship happening realistically.

The pop culture references were the most redeeming aspect of this book.  They were current, easy to understand, and hilarious.  I particularly liked the Katy Perry and Twilight references.  I’m all for books making fun of pop culture.  =)

I also have to admit that all of the characters (except Caroline) were pretty hilarious.  Ms.Lambert has to be the funniest though.  She is the coolest teacher ever.  Her interactions with Jay were the funniest parts of the book. Jay’s and Mike’s interactions were also pretty comical although a little offensive.  This book really toes the line of being offensive.

Overall, if you are a big fan of pop culture references and humor, give this one a shot.  If you are into more serious books with deeper meaning, I’d say pass.  This book is hit or miss and sadly it was a miss for me.

Rating: B-