When oddball Nolan Li accidentally smacks a softball into the face of popular kid James Crombie, he sets off a chain of events that will rock Highview Grammar, a prestigious Melbourne private school.
Outraged that the establishment won’t compensate him for his injuries, the Machiavellian Crombie enlists browbeaten outsider Edward and the bookish Nolan to topple the school’s house competition system.
Together, the unlikely trio band together as ‘Common Sense’ (because who can argue with that?), rallying fellow students with an early-hours poster blitz and an email hack. While Edward sometimes makes for a frustratingly blank protagonist, Poster Boys is a lively read. It’s got plenty to say about the depressingly recognisable Highview and its homophobic and blindly conformist culture, and it asks thoughtful questions about whether underhanded tactics can be justified in pursuit of a noble goal.
Painting a scabrous picture of high school life in all its sweaty, pimply non-glory, this is an arresting debut from Scott Woodard.
Reviewed by Daniel Herborn
Age Guide 13+
This review is supported by
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Woodard worked in train stations, call centres and bookshops around Melbourne, before landing his first commercial radio gig in outback South Australia.
Across seven years, three states and six radio stations, he’s raced pantomime horses, annoyed reality TV stars, tossed thongs with politicians, copped abuse from puppets, MC’d music festivals, broadcast through fires and floods, championed communities around Australia, and played a lot of Ed Sheeran.
Scott holds a Bachelor of Creative Writing from RMIT under the tutelage of Toni Jordan. His debut chapbook You Haven’t Found Anything was published in 2015, and is still available in all good landfills. He’s an ardent advocate for youth mental health, and his comedic fiction emphasises the importance of empathy, self-acceptance and independent thinking for an Australian teenage audience.
0 Comments