The laughter, the memories, the pain, and the happiness. These are just some of the feelings that run through your heart when you read this #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, Gordon Korman’s book, A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag. This book is about two juniors in high school named Sean Delancey and Raymond Jardine. Sean Delancey is an ordinary popular boy who rocks at basketball and Raymond is a strange guy who thinks he has no luck whatsoever. The two meet officially for a poetry assignment where they talk about a trip to Theamelpos which is said to be lucky for those who visit and their friendship continues from there whether it is hosting a Halloween party, impersonating Gavin Gunhold, or getting in trouble. These boys have done it all and learned much from the mistakes they’ve made. The three main themes that emphasize the long way these boys have come are always following your heart, never lying and nobody’s unlucky.

The first important theme illustrated throughout the book is always following your heart. This theme is shown when Sean agrees to ask Gramp to impersonate Gavin Gunhold because of Raymond’s constant nagging. This is totally against what Sean’s heart feels he should do and he expresses his disagreement to the idea when he says, “Oh, no you don’t! Not Gramp! No way!” (Korman, Pg. 136). Sean knows what he’s doing is wrong and that they will surely get caught, but he still follows along and this leads to them lying to one of their closest friends (Ashley). Another example of following your heart from the novel is when Raymond does things he truly doesn’t believe in just to get to Theamelpos. Even though Raymond doesn’t get in trouble for this, the author portrays him as wrong by showing how Sean doesn’t participate in the contest because he knows the windmill doesn’t work at all and is a total flop. Raymond’s true reason for participating in the contest is shown when he says, “ So no we have to try twenty times as hard as everyone else. We have to butter up the windmill so big that Q-Dave’ll fall at our feet.” (Korman, Pg. 182). The theme of following your heart is also shown when Howard  (a friend of Sean and a minor character in the book) expresses his distaste for the windmill (SACGEN project) by dressing up as a mockery of the windmill for the Halloween party and makes an entrance by saying, “ Make way for the windmill!” (Korman, Pg. 82). This theme in the book tells that your brain isn’t always right and sometimes you have to use your heart.

Throughout this whole novel, many of the characters tell little white lies that eventually get a lot bigger until they finally get into loads of trouble and this brings about the theme, don’t lie. An example of this theme is when Raymond doesn’t tell Sean about writing him an essay for the SACGEN Contest and Sean finds out himself. This small lie defies everything Sean stands for and makes him furious with Raymond. Sean’s anger is shown when he says, “ You have no right to do that!...You know exactly what I think of that stupid windmill!”  (Korman, Pg. 198). Another lie told in this novel was when Sean lied to Ashley about Gavin wanting to meet her so that she couldn’t go on her date with Steve. Sean does this because he’s jealous and this results in them having to disguise Gramp as Gavin Gunhold so they can keep up the act. Sean lies to Ashley by saying, “Ashley, we’ve finally convinced Mr. Gunhold to let you come into the city and see him on Friday night.” (Korman, Pg. 133). One of the biggest lies in the novel are told by Sean and Raymond when they try convincing everyone Gavin Gunhold is real and they know him. They tell Mr. Kerr this as an excuse for not having much research on the Canadian poet. Raymond says instinctively,  “As you know, we’ve been working on Gavin Gunhold. Well, Mr. Kerr, you see, we know Mr. Gunhold, and-“ (Korman, Pg. 133). In all these situations, the author shows that lying always results in trouble and eventually all lies come out at the end, and this is shown when Gramp is exposed for not actually being Gavin Gunhold.

There are no such things as superstitions; therefore nobody’s unlucky unless that’s what they let themselves believe similar to Raymond in this novel. Raymond is always blaming things that go wrong on his luck even if that isn’t true. An example is when Raymond blames it on his luck that the poet they chose for their poetry assignment turned out to be dead even though it’s their own fault that they didn’t start the assignment earlier instead they picked their poet the night before it was due. Raymond blames this on his luck by saying, “...There’s no fight left in him! A broken man with a broken dream...You hear that Jardine surrenders! You win! You’re the better chess players... I quit!” (Korman, Pg. 96). Another time, Raymond blames it on his luck that Ashley likes Steve Semenski even though he had nothing to do with this and it’s not his fault. Raymond shows his irritation at this by looking up at the ceiling and saying, “She likes Cementhead.” (Korman, Pg. 58). Even though Raymond might not agree with, looking at the novel, it seems that Raymond really isn’t unlucky and just uses luck to blame things that go wrong on.
The novel, “A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag” has many morals and themes to tell and explains what high school can be like. Whether you’re going to the same high school as your friends or alone; high school is a whole other experience you take once you jump the threshold from grade 8, even though it isn’t as expressed in this novel. You meet new people, maybe even those who are as weird as Raymond or as sporty as Sean and hear many different opinions. Good influences and bad influences come your way, but you have to remember to always be truthful, always follow your heart, never think you have no luck, and have the time of your life because you only get to live high school once, so why not live it having fun!