In a book club and starting to plan your reads for next year? Check out our 2025 picks.

Excerpt from The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Richard (Rick) Yancey, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Readalikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Richard (Rick) Yancey

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp

by Richard (Rick) Yancey
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Oct 1, 2005, 375 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2007, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this Book

Print Excerpt


"Uncle Farrell," I told him. "I don't want to play football."

"You're high-risk, Al," Uncle Farrell answered. "You're running around with all the risk-factors for a major psychotic episode. One, you got no dad. Two, you got no mom. Three, you're living with an absentee caretaker — me — and four you're in a strange town with no friends.

"There was another one, too. Oh, yeah. And five, you're fifteen."

"I want to get my license," I told him.

"Your license for what?"

"For driving. I want my learner's permit."

"I'm telling you that you're about to go off the deep end and you want to talk about getting your learner's permit?"

"That reminded me, the fact that I'm fifteen."

"Dr. Peddicott thought it was a great idea," Uncle Farrell said.

"A learner's permit?"

"No! You're going out for the football team. One, you need some kind of activity. Two, it's a great way to build confidence and make friends. And three, look at you! For the love of the Blessed Virgin, you're some kinda force of nature! Any coach would love to have you on his team."

"I don't like football," I said.

"You don't like football? How can you not like football? What kind of kid are you? What kind of American kid doesn't like football? I suppose next you're going to say you want to take dancing lessons!"

"I don't want to take dancing lessons."

"That's good, Al. That's real good. Because if you said you wanted to take dancing lessons, I don't know what I'd do. Throw myself over a cliff or something."

"I don't like pain."

"Ah, come on. They'll bounce off you like — like — pygmies! Gnats! Little pygmy gnats!"

"Uncle Farrell, I cry if I get a splinter. I faint at the sight of blood. And I bruise very easily. I'm a very easy bruiser."

But Uncle Farrell wouldn't take no for an answer. He ended up bribing me. He told me he wouldn't take me to get my learner's permit unless I tried out for the football team. And, if I didn't try out for the team, he promised he would put me on so much anti-depressant dope I wouldn't remember to sit when I crapped. Uncle Farrell could be gross like that.

I really wanted my permit — I also didn't want to be so doped up I couldn't remember how to crap — so I went out for the team.

© Rick Yancey 2005. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the publisher.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket
    The House of Doors
    by Tan Twan Eng
    Every July, I take on the overly ambitious goal of reading all of the novels chosen as longlist ...
  • Book Jacket: The Puzzle Box
    The Puzzle Box
    by Danielle Trussoni
    During the tumultuous last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, a 17-year-old emperor known as Meiji ...
  • Book Jacket
    Something, Not Nothing
    by Sarah Leavitt
    In 2020, after a lifetime of struggling with increasingly ill health, Sarah Leavitt's partner, ...
  • Book Jacket
    A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens
    by Raul Palma
    Raul Palma's debut novel A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens introduces Hugo Contreras, who came to the ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

There is no worse robber than a bad book.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

H I O the G

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.