When Joe Bunch is told to write his autobiography- his life from A to Z- for an English assignment, his first thought is: Bo-ring. Even worse, each chapter has to end with a life lesson to share with others, which is just SO Oprah. But a funny thing happens as Joe writes each letter, which corresponds to and important person, event, or emotion in his life. Joe finds himself writing about the real stuff. The truth. Especially when he gets to C, which is for Colin Briggs, a boy that Joe has had a huge crush on for, like, forever. (And get this, Colin likes him too!) But Colin isn't ready to tell everyone he's gay, so they must date secretly. That's bad enough, but when the boys start getting harassed by two macho class bullies, Joe's friend Addie decides that they need a GSA-
a gay-straight alliance- so that the school has a forum for kids to talk about these issues. The thing is, not everyone at Paintbrush Falls Middle School is ready for that kind of change...including Colin himself.
As the year goes on, letter by letter, Joe's autobiography gets pretty personal. Still, when it's time to hand it in, Joe decides not to censor it. It is 100% him. Totally Joe. And the skill and grace that it takes to tell an honest, intriguing, and very funny story in this innovative format is Totally James Howe.
