On the day of his high school graduation, debate captain Denis Cooverman makes his valedictorian speech. He stands up in front of the podium, and it starts off typical and boring enough. Until he says the following five words: “I love you, Beth Cooper.” This declaration of love for the head cheerleader – as well as a few other choice statements – stuns the crowd, and sets into motion a series of events that turns Graduation Night into the craziest, most dangerous, and exhilirating night of Denis’ life.

I Love You, Beth Cooper is clever, shocking, and unbelievably funny. Larry Doyle, former writer and producer for The Simpsons, has created a romp of Ferris Bueller proportions, except that I actually liked this book and didn’t like Ferris Bueller, and also that Ferris was decidedly cool and Denis is decidedly not. Sure, the story is unbelievable and ridiculous, but it’s a great comedy with awesome wordplay and situations that most high school kids only dream about (sometimes in their nightmares). And the illustrations that lead off each chapter (by Evan Dorkin, one of my favourite cartoonists) are a great touch: they set the mood for each new part of the evening, with Denis’ face adorned with some new wound or facial expression.

I Love You, Beth Cooper is a quick read, and as soon as I was done I wanted to talk about it with someone else, any one of my friends who was an outcast in high school like me. Some people might get turned off by the pop culture references that they might not get, but I didn’t really care about them. I had a problem with the final chapter, which I feel softened the impact of the rest of the book a little, but otherwise I have no problem recommending it.