The Trouble with Troop 94 by Joe Paul follows Robbie McDaniel, 14, who moves across the country to Seattle a couple of years after his father’s death. There, he is thrust into a large, new city with a school of 1,700 strangers. He feels lonelier and more isolated than at any point since his father died. During the unpacking process, he finds a photo album showing his dad as an Eagle Scout surrounded by close friends. Suddenly, Robbie wants the life shown in the picture – a tribe. So, he joins a local Boy Scout troop and, with other outcasts, forms his own patrol, The Magnificent Seven. But Kyle Kelly, the Senior Patrol Leader of the rival Red Devils, and his mother make things difficult for the new patrol. Robbie realizes their patrol needs an adult supervisor. He calls upon his dad's old friend, Johnny Burnside. He agrees to take on the role and begins helping them with badge challenges while also teaching them how to stand up to bullies like Kyle. Will the patrol persevere and win the end-of-the-year competition trophy?

The Trouble with Troop 94 is narrated in Robbie’s first-person voice. The prologue creates the setting with a midnight chase through a forest. The book then explains how an ordinary kid ended up there. One of the most interesting twists that Joe Paul incorporated is what I term “bonus chapters.” Readers learn the backstories of the members of The Magnificent Seven, Kyle Kelly, and Johnny Burnside. This makes the ending quite impactful. The photo album becomes Robbie’s roadmap and his trap. While it gives him the courage to try something new, it also convinces him that he can rebuild his father’s life. The main lesson Joe Paul leaves readers with is that belonging is built, not won, and you can’t bring someone back by copying their life. The book ends with a sequel hook – “see you next summer.” I certainly hope so!

The Trouble with Troop 94 by Joe Paul is a fun, young adult adventure. Fourteen-year-old Robbie McDaniel is trying to cope with the unexpected work accident that killed his father. He and his mother have uprooted from their home in Rochester, N.Y., and moved across the country to Seattle, Washington. Now Robbie must try to find his place in a new city at a new high school. Feeling lost in his large high school, Robbie tries out for soccer but soon discovers that there is already a clique that doesn’t welcome newcomers. After going through a box of his father’s old photos, Robbie finds an album of his father’s friends that shows them having an absolutely great time as Eagle Scouts. Robbie determines that joining the Scouts may be the answer. Joining Troop 94, he finds a dysfunctional and disorganized group led by a bullying Senior Patrol Leader. He does find a group of boys, though, who, like himself, feel out of place and unsure of what to do. With the help of one of his father’s former bandmates, Johnny Burnside, they form a new patrol group who are determined to do scouting “their way” and to heck with what anyone else thinks.

The Trouble with Troop 94 is a well-written and at times hilarious recounting of adventures that so many of us will recollect from our younger days. Author Joe Paul has perfectly captured the psyche of teenage boys and their competing emotions of wanting to be accepted and yet embarrassed and ashamed of their need to be accepted. I also appreciated the different backgrounds and personalities that made up the troop. I loved Sawyer, with his “don’t give a damn” attitude about what people think or say about him. I appreciated the time the author spent exploring the different backgrounds of the boys who made up Robbie’s patrol, especially Arnav. The culture shock for him, coming from India, where he was a great lover of cricket, to a country where cricket wasn’t even a sport they knew about or understood, made it exceptionally difficult for him to find his “team”. Fortunately, the members of Robbie’s patrol all contributed their own different yet complementary skill sets to make this patrol one of the best in the Troop. I was thrilled to see there is a sequel and more mayhem planned for this group of friends. I look forward to reading it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

After the death of his father, fourteen-year-old Robbie McDaniel and his mother relocate to Seattle from Rochester. Robbie joins Queen Anne High as a freshman, but as he had feared, he struggles to fit in or make friends. He not only becomes enemies with Kyle Kelly, a freshman bully from a wealthy family, but also quickly learns that Kelly’s family fights over control of sports and social clubs in the school. While settling into their new house, Robbie finds a box of items that reveals his father’s past. His father was not only once a member of an underground punk rock band with a close-knit group of friends, but also an Eagle Scout with the same friends. Robbie wants to be part of something like his father and joins the school’s Boy Scout club. He finds his tribe in a mismatched group of four other boys. However, the Kelly family, desperate for control, is ready to destroy their friendship and the club’s integrity. The five boys must rely on each other and the mentorship of Robbie’s late father’s former bandmate to beat the odds. Find out how it all goes down in The Trouble with Troop 94 by Joe Paul.

If you are looking for a young adult adventure laced with drama, action, thrills, and suspense, The Trouble with Troop 94 by Joe Paul is a great pick, immersing readers in steady narration and cinematic depictions. It was like I was watching a Hollywood teen drama. I got insight into the dynamics of teenage friendships, feuds, and school politics. I relished the sporting action, camaraderie, jokes, and banter. I kept looking forward to the scenes involving Sawyer and Kyle. Sawyer is just an ordinary boy, but he refuses to cower before Kyle. Aside from showing how family dysfunction and toxic domestic relationships affect teenagers and influence their behavior toward their peers, Paul also highlights how institutional systems protect and embolden bullies. Kyle is a good example of the saying 'hurt people hurt people.' Kids will learn a lot from Robbie, including how to deal with grief and form meaningful friendships.

The Trouble with Troop 94 by Joe Paul is a funny, rebellious coming-of-age story set in Seattle in the autumn of 1999. Fourteen-year-old Robbie McDaniel has moved across the country with his mom after his dad’s sudden death, and he’s lonely, anxious, and cut from the soccer team before he’s even settled in. Then he finds his dad’s old Boy Scout album and decides to join the local troop, hoping to find the kind of friendship he sees in those photos. Troop 94 isn’t what he expected. It’s ruled by Kyle Kelly, a bullying Senior Patrol Leader with no patience for anyone who doesn’t fit in. Robbie teams up with a group of fellow misfits and a wild-haired glassblower who used to play punk rock, and with a district competition on the way, they set out to prove they’re a real patrol.

The Trouble with Troop 94 by Joe Paul is told in Robbie’s sharp, informal voice, full of 1990s teenage banter and skate culture slang, and it’s funny from start to finish. Each chapter opens with lyrics from a fictional punk band, which sets the mood and ties in with the music running through the story. The author takes his time at the start, building the friendships, then the pace picks up once they head off to the weekend competition, with plenty of action and some very funny mishaps. Extra chapters step away from Robbie to show what’s going on in other characters’ lives, so even the bully is more than a simple villain. Alongside the humor, the book deals honestly with grief, racism, and standing up for others without ever feeling preachy. Readers should be aware that it contains explicit language, which suits the characters but won’t be for everyone. A great read for teens and adults who enjoy a funny yet serious coming-of-age story.

In Joe Paul’s The Trouble with Troop 94, fourteen-year-old Robbie McDaniel moves to Seattle in 1999, carrying memories of his late father and facing his first year of high school. Old photographs reveal his father’s Boy Scout friendships, while a box of punk rock records leads Robbie to Rumspringa, the band those scouts eventually formed. Robbie joins Troop 94 and befriends Sawyer, a skateboarder who shares his interest in music. When senior scout Kyle Kelly threatens to split their friends among the troop’s smaller groups called patrols, Robbie recruits more boys and persuades Johnny Burnside, his father’s former bandmate, to sponsor them. With Kyle’s mother supporting his efforts to dominate the troop, the newcomers prepare to compete against his Red Devils patrol in Olympic National Park. Victory could qualify Robbie to run against Kyle for senior patrol leader, threatening Kyle’s plans for the troop.

The Trouble with Troop 94 by Joe Paul is a coming-of-age adventure with punk rock running through its veins. The writing style is brilliant, and Robbie’s conversational first-person voice is funny and authentic, with each of the boys fully fleshed out. This includes the characterization of troop bully Kyle, who we have to remember is still a child. A jerk, but still a youngster. When his parents question his score of 92 on a statistics quiz, the pressure behind his arrogance becomes painfully apparent. Throughout, we are continually reminded through the actions of Robbie and the others about how genuine friendship shapes their ideas about responsible leadership. I love when Robbie helps younger scouts from another patrol pitch their tents during a competition. Original lyrics from the fictional punk band Rumspringa introduce each chapter, giving the story a soundtrack that suits its rebellious spirit. Well written and immersive, readers who enjoyed Hinton’s The Outsiders will adore this, as the same camaraderie for teenage outsiders is depicted.