33 Minutes
The title notwithstanding, it takes 95 eventful minutes between 11:41 a.m. and 1:16 p.m. for nerdy middle-school math whiz Sam to experience the terror of knowing that he is going to get his butt kicked by former best buddy Morgan; possibly acquire a girlfriend; be clobbered by a salad bowl during a massive food fight; and then actually get his butt kicked after joining a chaotic science-lab evacuation due to arson. Along with making protracted fun of clueless teachers, school lunches, and other traditional targets, the story chronicles the dissolution of a long childhood friendship due to diverging interests and abilities. Sam fills in the background history and grudgingly reveals that the widening rift is at least as much his fault as it is Morgan’s. This portrays a common preadolescent life change with fair insight; readers will enjoy the general tumult and perhaps find reassurance in seeing that, by the end, Sam and Morgan have so thoroughly gone their separate ways that even their enmity has vanished. Grades 5-8, --John Peters