---

From San Francisco’s Green Apple Books’ wonderful newsletter, author Kim Wong Keltner, with much truth and humor, answers the question: The big question: Why I Read:
When I was younger, I read because no one wanted to talk to me about the things I wanted to know about. I read because there was no place in the real world for a freak like me, but through books I learned the world is filled with a lot of people even more freaky. Roald Dahl, anyone? I read to avoid homework, get turned on, and find out about sex. Now I read to avoid doing housework and avoid talking to people. The quietest place is in your own head if you can just get yourself to shut up. I read because the world is going to hell in a handbasket and the only thing that keeps my spirits up is fluffy pink bunnies. I read to my daughter so she doesn’t become a TV zombie ...

This is too savvy not to blog. What do you do if you can't afford a book tour? Answer: you do it on the internet. New York media maven and mp3 blogger Andy Krucoff has organized this kind of "virtual book tour" for the week of King Dork's release with Day One (Monday) at Gawker, featuring the song "I Wanna Ramone You." Who would have thought a book about high school, even though it is not about high school, could cause such a sensation? Frank Portman serves up a delightful, unabashedly bright and sometimes ironic little book, with cheery Americanism dotting pages that express a strange teenagehood indignation. Like every artist, Frank needs reassurance and encouragement. He needs all the help he can get. Will you at least read it?