Follow aspiring comedian Brian Stark as he survives the daily dramas of his posh high school in Malibu and all the events leading up to the lavish spring musical.

Reviewed by Jeremey for TeensReadToo.com

Imagine a private school where beauty is a must. Imagine that the school musical is the coolest after-school activity. Imagine when everything goes wrong.

Bryan Stark narrates the lives of himself and those around him as the school production of The Wizard of Oz draws nearer. This Wizard of Oz is one unlike many have seen. The play follows the traditional storyline of Dorothy and her dog, Toto, going over the rainbow to a magical world. The only twist is that there are too many characters. Four Dorothys? Two Scarecrows? Two Wicked Witches? Bryan already knows the play will be a disaster, but nonetheless, he will do his part as Scarecrow #2. When things begin to go wrong Bryan must do some detective work to find the real culprit behind all of the attacks on the play's participants.

Follow Bryan and the unforgettable cast as questions are answered (is that one of the four Dorothys posing naked on the school website?), frowned-upon relationships are formed (a junior dating an underclassman?), and near death experiences are questioned (was that an accident?). Watch as the drama unfolds and find out if the biggest question of all is answered: Will there be an opening night?

Paul Ruditis' novel is a story you won't soon forget. From the very first sentence you know that the book will be funny and will make you smile all the way through. ( )

It is an outrageously fun and over-the-top mystery. Ruditis’ character Bryson is indeed a “narrator extraordinaire.” Observant, quick witted and honesty ring and make even the most ridiculous parts of the plot believable. It was much more entertaining than I had anticipated. I marked a question for 12-13 only because talks openly about liking boys, but it is done without any vulgarity and does tie into parts of the solving of the mystery. Amy – my 14 yr. old said it reminds her a lot of the movie “camp.” AHS/LB

Twitter review @book_kungfu (http://twitter.com/book_kungfu):
Flamboyant theatre boy tells all in the world of drama high school dramas. His voice dances and sparkles and shines! ( )

Susan says: I had read this book sampled in my email book club, and thought I would like it. As it turns out, I didn’t like it quite as much as I thought, but it was okay. Bryan and his two best friends are in the school play of the Wizard of Oz. Because of a lot of complicated factors, there have to be four Dorothys in a two act play. Then the Dorothys start being hurt or otherwise made to not be in the play, and Bryan starts wondering why. This book was unnecessarily complicated – I could pick out almost from the beginning who the culprit was, and so did Bryan. But there were double crosses and continued sabotage for no good reason. This book was just okay, and it tends to remind why Ruditis is usually just a series book writer. ( )