Gordon Korman

Korman, Gordon. 2006. Born to Rock.

Born to Rock is an enjoyable novel narrated by Leo Caraway. Leo's life may not seem typical at the outset--he's president of the Young Republican's club, has a 4.0 GPA, and has already been accepted by Harvard on scholarship--but his life is about to get even more untypical. When Leo is falsely accused of cheating, his future looks bleak--at least if he's determined for that Ivy League education. But things get even weirder when he reads his friend's essay on her punk rock idol. Let me explain. As a child, he had no idea that his 'father' wasn't his biological father. When he discovers his birth certificate with a stranger's name on it--Marion X. McMurphy--he's confused. Fast forward ten years or so in the future when he reads in his friend's paper that King Maggot was born Marion X. McMurphy and you've got some idea of his reaction.

"I'd always assumed I'd learn about my father in the long run. But it would be from Mom. . .whoever thought that such pivotal, life-altering information would come from Melinda Rapaport's essay on punk rock?" (41)
"When I finished the essay, I wasn't done yet. Google came up with 175,000 hits on the keywords "King Maggot." I thought of the years I'd spent agonizing over the identity of my stealth sire. If I'd bothered to do a simple Internet search, I'd have learned the truth on day one" (44).

Armed with this knowledge, Leo embarks on a new adventure: to meet his famous dad. Luckily, a reunion tour is just beginning. Will Leo's dad believe his story? Will he welcome Leo with open arms? Will be become 'Prince Maggot'? Or is Leo's future as uncertain as ever?

http://gordonkorman.com/