How to make it through high school in an all boys boarding school

The book "Spud" by John van de Ruit is easily my favorite book of all time. John Milton (nicknamed Spud) finds himself in an elite boys only private boarding school. Little does he know, the Crazy 8 (Spud and his dorm mates) are in for a bizarre year. Now, Spud got his nickname since he is a pre-pubescent boy in high school, and gets made fun of mercilessly because of it. While I was reading this book, I realized that although Spud having major setbacks in becoming respected in the school, he still finds out how to work his way around being massacred daily.

First, Spud gets pretty lucky since he is in the same dormitory as the biggest kids in their year (Rambo and Mad Dog). Since he is in their dormitory, he is in their group, keeping him safe from anyone else. Second, he becomes good friends with a few of the teachers, including the crazed English teacher nicknamed The Guv. With these two friendships, he is covered by both schoolmates and teachers. Finally, he has to have a reputation of his own as well, so he uses his "spudness" to his advantage. He joins the choir, and it turns out the he has an amazing high-pitched voice, which will work to his advantage in the future. With these three basic things: friendship with fellow schoolmates, friendship with teachers, and a bit of a reputation of his own, he finds a way to make it through the first year of this crazy boarding school.

I got hooked on this book and couldn't put it down until I had finished it. Luckily, when I finished the book, I found out that there are 3 other books in this series. So, I found these other three books and I eventually finished all of them as well. The other three books: "Spud- The Madness Continues", "Spud-Learning to Fly", and "Spud- Exit, Pursued by a Bear" are all as amazing as the first one. Each character have are so complex that you start to think you know the character, then suddenly it is like a different person. Another reason I love "Spud" is because the school is absolutely crazy. He likes to think of himself as "a island of sanity in  a sea of madness", which I definitely agree on. Spud is such an amazing book, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is able to process a book that you need to be a bit mature to be able to read.