Rash by Pete Hautman
SUMMARY: In the late twenty-first century Bo Marsten is unjustly accused of a causing a rash that plagues his entire high school. He loses it, and as a result, he's sentenced to work in the Canadian tundra, at a pizza factory that's surrounded by hungry polar bears. Bo finds prison life to be both boring and dangerous, but it's nothing compared to what happens when he starts playing on the factory's highly illegal football team. In the meantime, Bork, an artificial intelligence that Bo created for a science project, tracks Bo down in prison. Bork has spun out of control and seems to be operating on his own. He offers to get Bo's sentence shortened, but can Bo trust him? And now that Bo has been crushing skulls on the field, will he be able to go back to his old, highly regulated life? Pete Hautman takes a satirical look at an antiseptic future in this darkly comic mystery/adventure. (from the inside flap)
OPINION: This is a humorous take on the dystopian future fiction genre. In Hautman's version of the future, Americans are so consumed by safety issues that they wear helmets when they take a walk, and roadrage is a offense that lands people in jail. Bo is an average teenage boy with a lot of energy and a fiery temper. It's only a matter of time before he lands in prison, but he is more than surprised by what he finds there. The prison's illegal football team shows Bo that he is a gifted athlete in a world that doesn't allow any "dangerous" behavior. This book is like Holes meets Chris Crutcher meets dystopia. It was a fun and quick read!
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