The House of Tomorrow

Bognanni, Peter. The House of Tomorrow. ISBN-10 0399156090, ISBN-13 9780399156090. Amy Einhorn Books. 2010.

Summary
After years of isolation with his grandmother in their geodome in the middle of Iowa, Sebastian Pendergast is about to break out. His unlikely liberators come in the form of punk-rock-wannabe Jared Whitcomb and his mom who come to tour the geodome. Sebastian’s eccentric grandmother has kept him in the dome for over eleven years on a steady diet of organic food and the teachings of Buckminster R. Fuller, but when she has a stroke, Sebastian must venture out and maneuver his own course in the real world with the help of Jared, his sister, his mom, punk rock, a stolen bass guitar and a church music competition.

Critical Evaluation
Sebastian and Jared are unlikely friends who have a common need to escape from the controlling women in their lives—Sebastian’s grandmother, and Jared’s mother and sister. They come together through Jared’s insistence that they start a punk rock band and that Sebastian needs to learn to play the {stolen from the church basement} bass guitar. But the music is just a cover for these scared boys to cling to each other as they emerge as young adults. Young adults reading this book will appreciate Jared and Sebastian’s desperate need to break away from parents/grandparents to create their own identity. As a crossover novel, adults will be reminded of the times in their own youth when breaking all of the rules seemed like the only way to survive.

Reader's Annotation
A beat-up mini-van, a stolen bass guitar and punk rock bring on a series of hilarious events bring sheltered Sebastian out to the real world after years of living with his grandmother in a geodome in the middle of Iowa.

About the Author
Peter Bognanni is the author of several short stories, and humor pieces in addition to his novel The House of Tomorrow. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and currently teaches Creative Writing at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.

And he also played in a high school punk band

Genre
Young Men
Friendship
Death and Dying

Challenges
Parental Angst
Language
Sexual Content

Curriculum Ties
Philosophy: Fuller R. Buckminster

Booktalking Ideas
When you live in a glass geodome are you watching the world go around you from the dome, or is the world watching you in your dome…

Awards
n/a

Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 15+

Why I included this title...
I was given this book at a conference and met the author who made me laugh, so I figured his book would make me laugh too.