Buddha Boy

by Kathe Koja

Book Overview

The kids at school call Jinsen "Buddha Boy"--he wears oversize tie-dyed dragon T- shirts, shaves his head, and always seems to be smiling. He's clearly a freak. Then Justin is paired with him for a class project. As he gets to know Jinsen and his incredible artistic talent, Justin questions his own beliefs. But being friends with Buddha Boy isn't simple, especially when Justin realizes that he's going to have to take sides. What matters more: the...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142402095
• ISBN13: 9780142402092
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Speak
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 4.3" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Buddah boy

Buddha Boy review Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja is a realistic fiction story of a religious young boy named Jinsen, who is new at Rucher High School. The kids make fun of him for his dragon t-shirts and peaceful ways. Especially McManus, a popular hot-shot that likes to put others down. McManus does things like shoving Jinsen into lockers and jamming Jinsens locker. Justin, another student at Rucher High became friends with Jinsen despite the names other people were calling him. Justin's father is an artist and does not visit Justin very often. Jinsen just happens to be the best artist in the school. This draws Justin to Jinsen. Can Jinsen overcome what other people think and sketch his way to the top? You will have to find out yourself. I would have to give this book a 4.5 out of 5 star rating. I enjoyed this book so much because of the simple writing style that was easy to follow yet effective to tell the story. This author really puts you in the shoes of Justin who is becoming friends with Jinsen. One thing that I didn't like about this book is the fact that it was a mere 117 pages which really turned me off when I saw this book. I really wish I could have kept on reading this book. I believe that you will love the story of Justin and Jinsen, 2 boys trying to make their way at Rucher High School.

Koja makes the Best of the Year list. Again.

Kathe Koja, Buddha Boy (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2003)I got to the point about eight years ago where I finally gave in to the temptation to predict an author. After the back-to-back triumphs that were Skin and Strange Angels, I figured that from here on out, anything Kathe Koja would release would be brilliant, and every book she released would find its way onto my top ten for whatever year in which I read it.Then she started writing kidlit. I approached Straydog with some trepidation, but it not only made last year's best-of list, it topped it. So I had no such qualms hunting down her second piece of young adult fiction, Buddha Boy. Needless to say, I wasn't surprised, at least not by the quality.Justin is an Everyman in an Everyman's high school; if you went to high school in America, you'll probably recognize all the archetypes to be found here. The school gets a new student, Jinsen. To call Jinsen, an aspiring Zen monk, different would be the understatement of the year. And we all know what happens to different kids in high school.Justin, however, assigned to a class project with Jinsen, discovers that Jinsen is one of the finest artists Justin has ever come across, and thus grudgingly befriends the kid the others at school call Buddha Boy. From all this springs this small, delicate tale.Koja's writing is, as usual, short and to the point. Even the slowest reader will probably get through Buddha Boy in no more than a couple of days. Most people will be able to find someone here to identify with (though many won't like what they see in the book's looking-glass), and the story is compelling enough to draw the reader through, perhaps in a single gulp. Nothing surprising there.What is surprising, perhaps, is the language she chooses. It seems, especially in comparison with Straydog, that Koja's language is slipping back towards that she used in her adult novels. Not that she talked down to the audience in Straydog or that she elevates them here; it's a slight difference in tone, a barren quality from Skin and Strange Angels that was (despite the painfulness of Straydog's subject matter) absent from the previous book.She's got a new one coming out any day now, The Blue Mirror. I can't wait. **** ½

Great book for all ages... or at least tweens

There are coming-of-age books that deal with some things that are simple -- like love and sex. And then there are those that handle the harder topics - such as fighting cliques, going against the social order, or confronting inertia. This book is in the latter category, and is more about Justin, than about Jinsen (the Buddha Boy). Jinsen is harrassed daily by his classmates. This is half high school tale and half mystery, as new facets of the chracters are revealed in each chapter. There is also a dollop of karmic buddhism to give the story some uniqueness. The author has created a realistic story of Jinsen, a teenager who decides to live as a monk with a shaved head, calming smile, new name, and begging bowl. Justin, who is assigned to an Econ class project with Jinsen, must then face guilt by association, and decide what choices to make when confronting his parents, teachers, class leaders, bullies, drama club members, and friends. What sounds like a canned stereotypical story turns out to have much deeper nuances.

Devoured it in one sitting.

Great book--similar to Stargirl by Spinnelli in that it portrays an individualistic teen who flaunts the established social behaviors. Would be great for discussion!

Richie's Picks: BUDDHA BOY

"That's right: You can't play tug of war with someone who refuses to hold the other end of the rope." That's how a friend of mine characterized what I was excitedly telling her about BUDDHA BOY, the superb new book by Kathe Koja. It was a foggy early morning on campus--I'd just come from voting--and I was explaining how, in contrast to the many stories where the bullies/jocks/student "leaders" had the satisfaction of seeing their victims beaten down and acting victimized, here you had a new, "strange" kid (Jinsen) who won't give them that satisfaction. There's a point in the story where one of the school's predators (part of the group who'd jumped Jinsen/"Buddha Boy" the day before) corners the story's narrator, Justin, and complains: " ' Why do you hang out with him? Why do you stick up for him? The kid's a freak, he doesn't even belong here.' I opened my mouth, but he wasn't done; in a weird way it was like he wasn't even talking to me, but to Jinsen somehow through me, like I was a translator, a gateway. 'He wears freak clothes, he acts like a freak, he sure talks like a freak--'" ' Well, ignore him,' my voice a little better, a little stronger, but not much. 'Just, just pretend he's not--'" ' Ignore him! How can you ignore him? You know what he said to me yesterday? when he, when we were-- He said, "If it makes you happy." That's what he said. "Go on, if it makes you happy." What the hell is that supposed to mean?' Yelling now, but again not at me: it was as if he were arguing with Jinsen, arguing with himself, his face getting redder and redder and 'You tell him,' poking me in the chest, big fat hot-dog finger, 'tell him to stay the hell away from me. Just tell him that.' " As the story begins, Justin tells us that: "Our little group--we'd been buddies since middle school, Jakob and Megan and me--was mostly somewhere in the middle, never invited to the big-deal parties but not exiled to the outer limits, either. It's not a bad place to be, the middle: it's comfortable, it's easy, and it's safe. And I'd probably still be there if it wasn't for Jinsen." A big part of Justin is clearly reluctant to leave that safe place. Frequently, we find him mumbling to himself that he's not Jinsen's friend--they just hang out together sometimes. Even Justin's friends think that he is nuts. But Justin is truly intrigued and impressed by the boy with the bald head, beatific smile, and incredible artistic ability: "I was still watching Jinsen: calm gaze and careful hands, no wasted motion, working on his print as if it were any day, as if yesterday's bad news or the great news today were all just...part of everything, and he was just taking everything as it came, how could he do that? How could he keep on doing that? Balls? Luck? Karma?" And what is Justin's role when Jinsen consistently takes it all and smiles? Justin, who has become more and more furious about what he sees happening, muses: "In history, in a movie, in a book, you can always tell who the hero