Literature / The Kids of Pine Hill

Who says blood has to mean you're family?

"We’re gonna have some weird years at this place."

— Vance

The Kids of Pine Hill is a 2021 Young Adult comedy novel by Dennis Msatida. It is written in the style of a sitcom with each chapter being equal to an episode with numerous plotlines happening simultaneously.

The story follows a group of seven friends on their journey through high school together with their personal and academic struggles:

Fourteen-year-old Vance Jones wants nothing more than to finish high school early in hopes of building a successful music career. In doing so, he forms a group of old and new friends, getting caught up in caring about them and their problems rather than his own.

• Leesa: Cheerful cutie who longs to find the love of her life. Goes through a lot of boys just to find the one...
• Luke: Adorkable nerd who has a love for computers. Somehow ends up in two love triangles in eight months...
• Greg: Charismatic and talented cook. Except that he's pretty much done with it and ready to take a gap year in his first year of high school...
• Melanie: Neurotic and insecure overachiever. Determined to impress everyone in her path and finish writing her book...
• Raven: Selfless badminton player who wants to get on the team. Ends up catching feelings at the worst time possible...
• Mr Dunn: Manipulative jerk who wants to get rid of the group. Reveals his true self to them after an accidental mishap involving homework...

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The Kids of Pine Hill contains examples of:

• Alliterative Title: Some episodes have this for no particular reason:
  • "The Equus Caballus Complex".
  • "Creative Control".
  • "Puddin' Pride".
  • "Adjustable Assignment".
  • "Familial Feast".
  • "Breaking Badminton".
  • "The Youthful Race of Romance".
  • "Discriminatory Date".
  • "Unregistered Rules".
  • "Photographic Fury".
• All Love Is Unrequited: Raven is this to Luke for the majority of the book, however nothing is initially stated, making the audience understand for themselves through interactions between the two.
• Always in Class One: The group are all in the same classes together with no explanation given In-Universe for it.
• An Aesop: Usually every episode has one that the characters learn from and grow with each other afterwards with.
• Bad Future: Leesa has a dream of a bad future in "Psychological Education" in which she continued to pursue boys and married Harry, Emilio and Levi.
• Befriending the Enemy: Subverted. Vance and Luke accidentally do this with Sarah Lang due to them not knowing which Sarah they were talking to.
• Betty and Veronica:
  • Raven's the Betty to Vanessa's Veronica for Luke's Archie.
  • Leesa's the Betty to Sarah's Veronica for Harry's Archie.
• Big Bad: Mr Dunn is this for the first few episodes before he befriends the group and earns some Character Development.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Luke and Raven share one in "Examinations of Talented Individuals".
• Bilingual Bonus: Vance discovers the word "salchicha" in his Spanish class in the first episode and goes on to use it as an affectionate nickname without knowing that it translates to "sausage".
• Birthday Episode: Luke's fifteenth birthday is celebrated in "Contrasts in Ageing".
• Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Ingrid's passing is revealed on Luke's birthday.
• Black Comedy Pet Death: Louis, Raven's Nana's tarantula, is treated as such in "Experimental Parenting" when Luke (unknowingly) beats it to death out of fear of him.
• Book Ends:
  • The first and last episode have parallel opening lines.
  • The first and last episode have the same opening with Vance and Leesa walking into school and getting hit in the face with a paper ball.
  • The first and last episodes are the only ones without The Tag.
• Bottle Episode: "Therapeutic Building", other than the final scene and The Tag.
• Call-Back: Episodes are full of these that they can be hard to miss at times.
• Catchphrase:
  • Vance and Leesa's shared one in response to people saying they don't look like twins: "We get that a lot".
  • Luke's: "It's okays".
  • Melanie's in response to Vance's nickname for her: "Stop calling me that".
  • Leesa and Melanie's shared one: "Aww!".
• Chain of Deals: This is a subplot in "Pricey Camaraderie", involving the teachers that Leesa and Melanie have to put a stop to.
• Character Development: They all end up going through some before the end of the book:
  • Vance learns to care for others and lift their spirits in what they do.
  • Leesa stops looking for love and finds her passion in Drama.
  • Luke learns to stand up for himself and be more open with his opinions to others.
  • Greg learns to make his own decisions and follow his dreams without anyone else's input.
  • Melanie learns to accept that some things are just the way they are and cannot be perfected.
  • Raven learns that she can't save everyone, no matter how much she wants herself to.
  • Mr Dunn learns how to be kinder to others and help them with their problems.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Mr Dunn's (love for his) mug in "Welcome".
  • Subverted with the key to the break room in "The Equus Caballus Complex". It is brought up by Luke at the beginning, leading the audience to believe that it will save the group from Mr Dunn finding them but Melanie doesn't lock the door, making it easy for them to be caught.
• Chekhov's Skill: In "Breaking Badminton", Raven sends Leesa back on her feet in badminton club by sending the shuttle to her chest, stating that "any higher and she could’ve knocked her out". Emilio does this exact thing to Leesa in the climax of the episode.
• Childhood Friends: Vance, Leesa, Luke and Greg have been friends since kindergarten.
• Christmas Episode: "Familial Feast".
• Cliffhanger:
  • "Consequences of Temperature Attraction" ends on one with Vanessa revealing her feelings for Vance.
  • "Contrasts in Ageing" ends on one with Greg revealing that Ingrid has passed away.
• Colour-Coded Characters: Each of them are described wearing different colours: Vance is red, Leesa is yellow, Luke is purple, Greg is green, Melanie is blue, Raven is black and Mr Dunn is pink.
• Coming of Age Story: Overall, the book focuses on the struggles of growing up and dealing with academic problems.
• Continuity Nod: Episodes are full of these that they can be hard to miss at times.
• Deadpan Snarker: Everyone in the group is this to a certain extent but some more than others. It ends up taking it to Snark-to-Snark Combat in some episodes.
• Debut Queue: Each character is given a proper introduction leading their own episode:
  • ...starting with Luke in "Creative Control".
  • ...next with Greg in "Puddin' Pride".
  • ...then with Melanie in "Realistic Fiction".
  • ...after that with Raven in "Extreme Dieting".
  • ...later with Vance and Leesa in "Virtual Reproduction & Vicious Humiliation".
  • ...and finally with Mr Dunn in "Adjustable Assignment".
• Downer Ending: The ending of "Investigating Artistic Pranking" concludes that The Purple Prankster remains unidentified and implies that it could have been any of the main characters.
• Duet Bonding: Despite Mr Dunn's arguing for no music in his car in the previous episode, he and Greg end up doing it at the end of "Therapeutic Building".
• Dysfunction Junction: Even with all the love the group have for one another, they all have their own personal traumas that all stem back to their parents:
  • Vance and Leesa's father left them when they were children, leading the former to grow narcissistic and form a shield around his heart while the latter forced herself to find love in order to prove to herself that it was real.
  • Luke's parents neglected him from a young age, leading him to be socially awkward and lost in a world of technology, believing it was his only way of communicating with others.
  • Greg's parents don't support his dreams at all and want him to carry on the family business.
  • Melanie's parents expect her to be perfect all the time, leading her to spend all her time working, having no friends and expecting herself to be the best.
  • Raven's parents divorced when she was at a young age and left her with her grandmother, leaving her emotionally closed-off from the world.
  • Mr Dunn pushed away his own family in an attempt as a successful career but led him to be lonely as they shut him out completely.
• Egg Sitting: This is the entire plot of "Experimental Parenting" that ends up stressing out the group (bar Leesa and Greg) to the point of blaming each other and wanting to switch partners.
• Embarrassing First Name: Mr Dunn's first name is revealed to be Bruce and Vance later pokes fun at him for it.
• Ensemble Cast: The book consists of seven main characters who each share a focus throughout the book.
• Episode Tagline: This happens quite often with certain episodes:
  • "Puddin' Pride": "There's (always) someone worse than you out there".
  • "Extreme Dieting": Someone pouting and pleading to help/for help from someone and saying "Please, please, please..."
  • "Experimental Parenting": "I want a baby so bad".
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Librarian and The Janitor's names are not given at all.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Most of the episodes take place during a whole day with the climax occurring at lunch time or some time after, however, this does not apply to all episodes:
  • "Bonding" takes place during the last two classes of the day, making the events of the episode last roughly ninety minutes.
  • "The Equus Caballus Complex" takes place all before school starts, including home room, making the events of the episode last about an hour.
  • "Therapeutic Building" takes place all in one room which sparks a debate between the group, making the events of the episode last about an hour or two.
• Five-Token Band: Vance, Leesa and Greg are white, Luke and Mr Dunn are black, Melanie is Latina, Raven is mixed (South Asian and white).
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • The Sanguine: Leesa.
  • The Phlegmatic: Luke and Greg.
  • The Choleric: Vance.
  • The Melancholic: Melanie, Raven and Mr Dunn.
• Freudian Trio:
  • The Boys:
    • Id: Vance - Impulsive, entirely interested in helping himself.
    • Ego: Greg - Level-headed, balanced between the others' craziness.
    • Superego: Luke - Sensitive and logical, reliant on rules.
  • The Girls:
    • Id: Leesa - Very sweet, driven by love. Can be very tearful at the inconveniences in her life.
    • Ego: Raven - Sensible between the two but fails to look after herself at times.
    • Superego: Melanie - Motivated and neurotic, adamant on keeping things in check.
• The Friends Who Never Hang:
  • Leesa and Luke talk to one another in group scenes but don't have any plotlines together.
  • Greg and Mr Dunn don't have any plotlines together but have a nice moment at the end of "Therapeutic Building".
  • Greg and Raven share one plotline together and a few lines of dialogue in other episodes but don't hang out much more than that. This is lampshaded in "Contrasts in Ageing" when (tired) Raven tells him they should hang out.
• Full-Name Ultimatum: The letter Ingrid leaves for Greg is addressed to him as "Gregory Ryan Young".
• The Ghost:
  • Mr Dawson, the music teacher, is mentioned in the first episode and onwards throughout the book but is never seen.
  • The Janitor is mentioned multiple times, even having a rivalry with Vance but doesn't make an appearance.
  • The Purple Prankster, however, this is clearly to add suspense to who it really is, especially when it is implied that it could've been any of the main characters.
• Group Hug: The group like to have one of these after some reconciliation, usually initiated by Vance.
• Happily Married: Mr and Mrs Friar, to the point where they were voted the cutest couple in the yearbook.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Luke and Greg are the closest friendship in the group and they have no shame about it, most of their subplots being fun things between one another. They're the characters who mainly lead The Tag at the end of each episodes.
• High-School Dance: "The Youthful Race of Romance" has a Valentine's dance where one of the subplots and the end of the episode take place.
• Humans Are Bastards: This is clearly the aesop for "Therapeutic Building".
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode is titled weirdly with long words, some being alliterative or scientific or Latin.
  • "The Equus Caballus Complex" - Equus Caballus is the scientific name for horses, foreshadowing what pet Greg is going to bring in while the group try to guess what it is.
  • "Intricate Pedibus Exercise" - Pedibus is the Latin word for feet, referring to the two forms of exercise in the episode that require the movement of feet: basketball and dancing.
• Last-Name Basis:
  • Mr Dunn only refers to the group by their last names.
  • Everyone calls Sam Rivera by his last name.
  • Everyone calls Daniel Kent by his last name.
• Limited Social Circle: The group don't hang out with many people except each other, and they don't seem to mind.
• Love Triangle:
  • Early on, it is hinted at that Raven likes Luke while Luke likes Vanessa and she feels the same way for him (Raven/Luke/Vanessa).
  • Midway through the book, things begin to change as Luke's feelings grow stronger for Vanessa, hers start to fade away and she begins to like Vance (Luke/Vanessa/ Vance).
• The Main Characters Do Everything: Lampshaded twice by Vance when the group are forced to introduce the new transfer student around the school and invesitgate the Purple Prankster, however, both reason given justify them: The Purple Prankster is believed to be a freshman and the transfer student will fit in better with the freshmen.
• Mistaken for Gay: There's a rumour going around that Raven is a lesbian but the reasons why are unknown.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: Mr Dunn is when Leesa tells her mother she is friends with him.
• Mystery Episode: "Investigating Artistic Pranking" follows the group investigating The Purple Prankster, a bandit who runs around the school splashing paint on people's faces.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • This happens at the end of "Photographic Fury" in which Greg reveals that Ingrid has left but switches to humorous when Kent dismisses it entirely.
  • This happens again at the end of "Contrasts in Ageing" where Greg reveals that Ingrid has passed away.
• New Transfer Student: Martin Bao is one for an episode, then disappears but it is mentioned he is only there for the day.
• No Periods, Period:
  • Averted in "Bonding" when Melanie questions Mr Dunn on if she and the girls might need to go to the toilet for another reason after the group have been told they can't have anymore bathroom breaks for the rest of the day.
  • Once again in "Contrasts in Ageing" when Leesa asks Vance and Mr Dunn to buy her some pads. They have no idea which ones to get.
• Official Couple: Luke and Raven as of "Examinations of Talented Individuals".
• One-Steve Limit:
  • Inverted. It is revealed in "Breaking Badminton" that the reason Vance and Luke spoke to Sarah Lang was because they didn't know which Sarah it was as there are other girls named Sarah in their grade.
    • This becomes a Brick Joke later in "The Youthful Race of Romance" in which Vance remarks that he can't tell which Sarah has given him a Valentine's card.
• Once per Episode: Vance calls someone "salchicha", always being deadly serious to the point where no one questions him on it.
• Out of Focus: Some characters end up going out of focus due to them not being relevant to the plot or having anything else to do:
  • This is first done (and lampshaded) with Vance and Leesa in "Creative Control" in which they say that they've done nothing all day while the other four have had their own problems.
  • This happens to Leesa and Melanie in "Intricate Pedibus Exercise" where they don't get their own subplot.
  • This happens to Vance and Mr Dunn in "Odd Interests in Musicology" where they don't get their own subplot.
• Parody Episode: "Investigating Artistic Pranking" is a parody of crime shows and serial killer films.
• The Place: The Kids of Pine Hill.
• Platonic Declaration of Love: Raven utters one to Melanie when she's extremely tired and telling everyone how she feels about them.
• Polyamory: It is shown in Leesa's Bad Future dream that she has married Harry, Emilio and Levi (with a fourth on the way).
• The Power of Friendship: This is used a lot to solve the problems between the group.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: A version of this happens to Mr Dunn as he finally gets a POV in "Adjustable Assignment".
• Pun-Based Title: "Breaking Badminton" is a play on the TV Show, Breaking Bad.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Vance gives one to the group when they don't believe that he was trying to help Mr Dunn in "Adjustable Assignment".
  • Melanie doesn't give one to Professor Corrigan but rather tells him to his face that he sucks and proceeds to lead the class into throwing paper balls at him, as in "Experimental Parenting".
  • Greg gives one to Leesa when she's mad at him for liking the same boy as her, when in truth it was only attraction, as seen in "The Youthful Race of Romance".
  • Mr Dunn gives one to the group about how they're all bad people in "Therapeutic Building".
• Romantic Rain: Luke and Raven share a kiss in the rain when they get together.
• Running Gag:
  • Vance calling someone "salchicha" despite not knowing what it means.
  • Vance and Leesa being told they don't look like twins and them replying with "We get that a lot".
  • Someone saying "Anyhoo" at the beginning of their sentence, sometimes to avoid a conversation topic.
  • Melanie's gasping someone's name when they say something insensitive.
  • Vance calling Melanie "Mel" and her replying with "Stop calling me that".
  • Leesa and Melanie cooing at cute or sad things.
  • Luke saying "Vanessa. Vanessa Andrews." when someone asks who she is.
  • Someone thinking That was not supposed to happen when something hasn't gone as planned.
  • Raven getting called "Rae" much to her dislike.
  • Greg's love for moustaches.
  • Vance's love for apple juice.
  • Vance's love for the Bahamas.
  • Vance having naturally amazing hair.
• School of No Studying: Most the group's problems revolve around their personal lives but are often linked with their academic lives too.
• Second Episode Introduction: The break room isn't introduced until "Bonding" where the group (bar Vance) escape the isolation room and discover it as an old classroom that isn't being used. It is quickly turned into their own room and becomes the setting for the next Cold Open(s) in the book.
• School Forced Us Together: Luke claims that this is happening to them in "Experimental Parenting" when tasked with looking after the baby dolls.
• Secret Test of Character: Mr Dunn pulls one off on Melanie in "Unregistered Rules".
• Serious Business: Paint being thrown on students is treated as such in "Investigating Artistic Pranking" with the group investigating it themselves, even changing outfits to fit the situation at hand.
• Share Phrase:
  • Vance and Leesa: "We get that a lot".
  • Leesa and Melanie: "Aww".
• Shout-Out:
  • At the beginning of "Bonding", there is a shout out to The Breakfast Club when Vance suggests that the group's punishment be a Saturday detentions instead of being put in isolation for two hours.
  • In "Examinations of Talented Individuals", Ingrid appears as a Spirit Advisor to Greg, shouting out the force ghosts from Star Wars.
• Sitcom Homage Episode: Not a full episode but Leesa's Bad Future dream in "Psychological Education" parodies one with the laugh track in the background.
• Sixth Ranger:
  • Technically eighth, but after Emilio is expelled, in the Cold Open of "Pricey Camaraderie" the group discuss if they should bring in another member; Vance, Luke and Raven say no while Leesa, Melanie and Greg say yes.
    • This goes on to set up the main plot for "Unregistered Rules" where the group are introduced to Martin Bao, the potential Sixth Ranger. It is left ambiguous on whether or not he will join the group next year.
• So Proud of You: In "Examinations of Talented Individuals", the day after the talent show, Mr Dunn tells Vance this after everything they'd been through over the year but they both start crying afterwards.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • In "Bonding", the group end up causing a food fight in the cafeteria after a confrontation with a bully, while it was fun while it lasted, it didn't stop them from getting intro trouble.
  • In "The Equus Caballus Complex", Greg brings a horse to school for Bring Your Pet to School Day, of course Mr Dunn's initial reaction is to call animal control because there is no excuse for a farm animal to be on school grounds.
  • In "Extreme Dieting", Raven starves herself in order to become fitter for the badminton tryouts to the point where she passes out after not eating enough. This episode highlights the issues that women have when it comes to society's standards of body image.
  • In "Psychological Education", Raven constantly leaves badminton practice so that she can help the group with their problems but when her PE teacher finds out, he almost kicks her off the team.
• Switching P.O.V.: Every episode switches POV to view what is happening with that character's storyline and/or plotpoint.
• Tag Line: Who says blood has to mean you're family?.
• The Tag: Due to the book being structured like a sitcom, these are at the end of every episode (except the first and last) to lighten the mood, usually involving Luke and Greg.
• True Companions: Throughout it all, the group do care for each other, even if it isn't always voiced.
• Truth-Telling Session: Happens in "Therapeutic Building" as the group go through a list of bad things they've done until Mr Dunn breaks it up.
• The Un-Reveal:
  • Happens at the end "Investigating Artistic Pranking" in which the identity of The Purple Prankster is never revealed.
  • Vance's middle name is teased after he makes fun of Greg's but it is never revealed.
• Valentine's Day Episode: "The Youthful Race of Romance".
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Vance and Melanie argue the most between the group but there are moments in other episodes that show that they do both care about each other.

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