David Lubar’s young adult novel Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie (2005) was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults in 2006 and a BCCB Blue Ribbon Book. Lubar, a computer programmer-turned-author, has published many books for young readers, including Hidden Talents (1999) and the Weenies series.

The story follows 14-year-old Scott Hudson as he navigates his first year of high school with both hilarious and tragic results. Lubar’s novel humorously addresses coming-of-age issues such as changing relationships, forging new identities, and discerning a person’s true nature beyond stereotypes. This guide references the 2007 paperback edition published by Penguin Young Readers Group.

Content Warning: This guide contains references to suicide.

Plot Summary

Scott Hudson doesn’t know what to expect in high school. He is bookish and nerdy, unlike his handsome but troublemaking brother Bobby. His best friends—Kyle, Patrick, and Mitch—are also clueless, but they promise to stick together. On the bus, he only knows the talkative “Mouth” Kandeski and Julia Baskins, whose beauty intimidates him. He’s in College Prep classes while his friends take Technical Prep courses. Upperclassmen bully him and Mouth, and a senior named Wesley Cobble takes their lunch money. At home, Scott discovers his Mom is pregnant. Overwhelmed, he begins writing a survival manual about high school for his unborn sibling, whom he nicknames Smelly. Bobby moves back and warns Scott nothing will be the same after the baby is born.

Scott learns Julia is writing for the school newspaper and joins the staff to spend more time with her. However, she only is a guest columnist, while Scott is assigned to cover football. Scott runs for student council when Julia runs for president; only he is elected. Learning she will audition for the school play, he joins the stage crew, but she is not cast. While his efforts to connect to Julia fail, he forges a new identity through extracurricular activities. He learns to love sports writing and hones his skills by covering the basketball and wrestling teams.

When Vernon Dross, the varsity quarterback, reads Scott’s first article, he is furious not to be mentioned. Scott escapes his wrath only because nobody knows him. Covering football means Scott must attend the Friday night games. Buried in schoolwork and extracurricular activities, he has less time for Kyle, Patrick, and Mitch. Soon, Mitch gets a girlfriend and ditches them. Kyle and Patrick initially attend the games but stop when the team can’t win. By Christmas, Patrick has moved to Texas, and Kyle has joined the wrestling team and found new friends. 

Things are complicated at home. Mom and Dad renovate the guest room into a nursery, and the noise deprives Scott of sleep each weekend. Dad trades in his car for an old Corvette. Bobby joins him in fixing it, but Scott doesn’t know one tool from another. One morning, Mom falls, and Dad rushes her to the hospital. Although she and the baby are okay, Bobby decides things are too stressful and leaves. Scott pretends he’s fine with all the changes in his life. He writes about his feelings to Smelly and shares lessons he’s learned about escaping bullies. A further complication is the monthly Friday night dances. Initially, Scott, Kyle, and Patrick stand around the snack table, too shy to talk to the girls. Mouth asks every girl to dance, but all reject him. When Scott’s friends drift away, he still attends, standing alone and watching Julia dance with Vernon Dross. 

Lee, a new student, transfers to Scott’s homeroom. Scott is intrigued by her quirkiness, green hair, face piercings, and black attire. He admires her taste in books but is terrified of what other students will think if he talks to her. Lee offers to bring him a poem he is curious about, but he refuses. Later, he is unsettled to see her wrists bandaged, and thinking she has thought about suicide, he brushes her off. In time, Scott begins meeting Lee by her locker, where she posts enigmatic statements. One day, he removes a slur scrawled on the locker so Lee won’t be hurt. Rather than taking it personally, Lee arrives the next day in a shirt with the slur printed on it. On New Year’s Eve, only Lee calls to wish Scott a Happy New Year.

Scott begins changing physically in the second semester. Weightlifting in gym class has given him muscles, and working on stage crew has built him up more. Wesley is still terrifying, and when Scott finds himself sitting next to him in the office, he pretends he is there for “perambulation.” Wesley likes Scott and begins to sit with him at lunch and pick him up every day before school in his Mustang. When the newspaper prints Scott’s satire about the football team, Wesley defends Scott from the angry Vernon. Scott decides that although Wesley may have questionable ideas about property, he does have a personal honor code.

One day, Scott finds everyone talking about a student’s attempted suicide. He immediately thinks of Lee, who seems depressed, but after finding she is okay, he learns Mouth tried to hang himself. Racked with guilt at not helping Mouth with the bullying, Scott visits him in the hospital. Mouth says he attempted suicide because nobody likes him, which inspires Scott to try to improve things for other bullied kids. He asks Wesley not to take money from first-year students and physically stops another student who jokes about Mouth. Although Mouth doesn’t return to school after leaving the hospital, he and Scott stay connected by letter.

By now, most athletes know Scott because he has attended every game. Scott helps his father at the car dealership, using his new skills from Spanish class. Scott realizes Bobby can’t read, which explains his troublesome past. Bobby, Wesley, and Lee attend the play, and Bobby congratulates Scott on his success. Emboldened, Scott asks Kyle to ask Kelly, his girlfriend, to mention him to Julia. Kyle insults Scott and reveals he wrote the slur on Lee’s locker. Enraged, Scott fights Kyle, and to their surprise, Scott wins. Kyle turns against Scott and joins Vernon and Kelly in luring Scott into a deserted room the next week. When Scott walks in, Vernon attacks him from behind and brutally beats him. Wesley and the Hudsons ask Scott if they can help, but he tells them the problem is over. 

Meanwhile, Lee asks Scott to the last school dance, but he thinks she is joking. Hurt, Lee refuses to talk to Scott. He tries to make amends by asking her to the dance, promising to pick her up. However, when Bobby gets a chance to play guitar in a touring band, Scott tells him to take the family’s only functioning care, depriving himself of a ride to the dance. Wesley agrees to drive Scott and Lee to the dance. A few days later, Julia asks Scott to the dance after she has a fight with Vernon, but Scott tells her that he already has a date. The night of the dance, Wesley shows up in a borrowed limo. Scott dyes his hair red for Lee, only to find she has dyed hers back to its natural color and is wearing a dress. En route, they see Mom and Dad stranded on the side of the road; Mom is in labor, so Wesley speeds everyone to the hospital and then drives Scott and Lee to the dance. There, Lee urges Scott to dance with Julia, who looks lonely, which incites Vernon to fight with Scott. Scott’s friends stand up for him, and Vernon backs down. Scott returns to Lee, realizing she is the girl he likes. After the dance, he introduces Wesley and Lee to his new baby brother in the hospital.

In the final chapter, Scott reveals that he, Wesley, and Lee are going out to celebrate Wesley’s graduation. Scott writes to Mouth and maintains his journal. Bobby’s tour is so successful he buys a new computer for the family, and Scott discovers that the community college can help Bobby learn to read between tours. Despite the demands of a new baby, Mom and Dad find even more time to spend with Scott. But for Scott, the best news is that he survived his first year.