The House of Tomorrow
Posted by: Misha Stone
I am a sucker for first novels. The good ones, I mean.
I stumbled upon a delightful debut on the new shelves at my local library branch. I have to admit that I picked it up based on its cover and upon seeing the words “punk rock.”
The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni is a coming-of-age novel about two boys who become unlikely friends. Sebastian, 16, lives in a geodesic dome in Iowa with his grandmother, homeschooled in the life and philosophies of R. Buckminster Fuller. Sebastian doesn’t act or sound like the average American teenager and his well-meaning but controlling grandmother has all but kept him from being a teenager in her quest to further Fuller’s dreams of a “Spaceship Earth.”
Enter Jared, a mouthy 16-year-old with a heart transplant who loves punk rock circa The Misfits and the Sex Pistols. Jared and his mother Janice visit the geodesic dome for a tour when Sebastian’s grandmother has a collapse. Once Jared enters Sebastian’s orbit, neither of their lives will be the same.
I found myself chortling frequently as I read this winsome story of teenage boys trying to figure out themselves and each other. This would be a great cross-over book for teens as well, whether they like punk rock or not.
