What do you think?
Rate this book
Pike High School Book Club #0
Patrick's Basement
June 1987, the Summer of ….LOL! Not saying it's a cruel summer but Rusty sure has a lot of questions:
Can Shakespeare in a park be good?
Why do fireworks have such strange names?
How many times can you lead a tour through a cave before going insane?
Can his uncle's strength save his lover?
Why does he keep checking out this guy?
Is he going to hell for doing so?
What does his mom really want?
Can he actually get the trombone solo for marching band?
Is his best friend cute?
This coming of age story and story of coming out evokes nostalgia, fear, longing, and hope.
Patrick's Basement is a prequel to Kissing Practice by Jordan Meadows and part of the Pike High Book Club Series. The story of this stealth LGBT club continues in Meadows' Not Just Friends
Can Shakespeare in a park be good?
Why do fireworks have such strange names?
How many times can you lead a tour through a cave before going insane?
Can his uncle's strength save his lover?
Why does he keep checking out this guy?
Is he going to hell for doing so?
What does his mom really want?
Can he actually get the trombone solo for marching band?
Is his best friend cute?
This coming of age story and story of coming out evokes nostalgia, fear, longing, and hope.
Patrick's Basement is a prequel to Kissing Practice by Jordan Meadows and part of the Pike High Book Club Series. The story of this stealth LGBT club continues in Meadows' Not Just Friends
230 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 21, 2022
1 person is currently reading
9 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 27, 2024
A coming of age story based in 1987 in Colorado Springs. 16 year old Patrick loves his trombone and marching with it in his high school band, lives with his mum and spends a lot of time playing games with his friends in Patrick's basement. He has a gay uncle who's lover Jimmy is dying of AIDS whom his mother has banned from her life. But Patrick is developing feelings beyond friendship for Patrick, so the struggle starts for him. Not as good as the first in this series, Kissing Practice, but ok, if a bit sad at times. 3 stars.
July 8, 2022
Patrick's Basement is a warm and sincere PG-13 coming-of-age / coming out story, and I sincerely hope that it will reach the audience of kids going through similarly challenging experiences. It's not a promise that everything will be okay, but more of a reassurance that you're not alone, and that there are many good times along with the bad ones, and that you CAN survive it and even find happiness along the way.
It can take years for a writer to find a voice that is truly their own, but PJ Appleton's personality is abundantly present in every page in this story of a painfully self-aware high school student trying to come to terms with himself while maneuvering through a life thick with traps and pitfalls. Although the story takes place in the late 1980s, I think it will resonate with a lot of young people today (and I say this as someone with a decade and a half worth of experience teaching high school students).
The writing is a bit raw, but not in a way that will distract most readers, and there's an extent to which that suits the narrator's tone and point of view. More importantly, the novel moves at a good pace with plenty of humor and an admirable amount of insight into how people think and act. It's a very good book, especially as a debut effort, and I hope it finds the audience who will benefit from it, whether it's the kids going through similar struggles or the people trying to understand what those kids are dealing with. It's a book with plenty to teach its readers, but don't worry, it's also exceptionally entertaining and engaging.
It can take years for a writer to find a voice that is truly their own, but PJ Appleton's personality is abundantly present in every page in this story of a painfully self-aware high school student trying to come to terms with himself while maneuvering through a life thick with traps and pitfalls. Although the story takes place in the late 1980s, I think it will resonate with a lot of young people today (and I say this as someone with a decade and a half worth of experience teaching high school students).
The writing is a bit raw, but not in a way that will distract most readers, and there's an extent to which that suits the narrator's tone and point of view. More importantly, the novel moves at a good pace with plenty of humor and an admirable amount of insight into how people think and act. It's a very good book, especially as a debut effort, and I hope it finds the audience who will benefit from it, whether it's the kids going through similar struggles or the people trying to understand what those kids are dealing with. It's a book with plenty to teach its readers, but don't worry, it's also exceptionally entertaining and engaging.
August 10, 2022
Great first book by PJ Appleton. I definitely will be looking out for more books by this new author.
October 10, 2022
Fast-paced book about a high school boy who is figuring out his sexuality, and his life in general. Great book for teens of all genders.
July 13, 2024
coming of age
Written much like a memoir, this tale is lovely and heartbreaking at the same time. Fantastic debut offering from PJ Appleton. Can’t wait to read more from this new author.
Written much like a memoir, this tale is lovely and heartbreaking at the same time. Fantastic debut offering from PJ Appleton. Can’t wait to read more from this new author.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews