Banana Seat Summer

Yeah, yeah. We know what you're thinking. 1974. Period piece. And, judging by the cover, a little happy-go-lucky kid's story.

Didn't your teachers ever tell you not to judge a book by its cover?

Okay, sure. It's a cheery tale . . . at times. And yeah, it's set in the early '70s. Kudos to you, Baker Street. Ya figured it all out

Except, of course, for the corpse buried in the neighbor's yard that the boys decided to dig up, UFO sightings, Bigfoot stories, a haunted portrait hidden deep in the attic, first kisses (gross, right?), AM radio contests, midnight horror movie marathons, suppositories that look suspiciously like candy, Marvel comics, walkie-talkies, baseball cards, a haunted forest, a bonafide Ouija board, tick-tacking (we'll assume you have no idea what that's about), a showdown with the town bully, and yes, bicycles with big, bright banana seats.

Look at those silhouetted kids on the front cover. Cruising around on their bikes. Fun, right? Fun being nine. Got news for you, pal. It sucks being nine. Well, sometimes. Other times, yeah, it's freakin' awesome. Weren't you a kid once? But don't take our word for it, skip past the frontmatter (such a stupid word) and turn to Chapter 1. It's only eight pages. Correction . . . eight totally amazing, thrill-a-sentence pages. Do it. We all know you've got nothing better to do at this exact moment.

And who knows? You might even learn a thing or two.