The Graveyard Book - Classics and Awards

1.  Gaiman, Neil.  The Graveyard Book.  New York:  Harper Collins Publishers, 2008.

2.  Plot Summary.  He was only eighteen months old when his mother, father, and older sister were brutally murdered while they slept.  By by some twist of fate, the toddler had managed to leave the house before the killer reached his room at the top of the house.  At the top of the hill, he squeezed through the iron bars of the fence into the graveyard and was immediately taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Owens who had inhabited the old cemetery for over a hundred years.  With the help of the rest of the cemetery's residents and Silas, the guardian, Nobody Owens grew from toddler to young man.  Unable to leave the graveyard due to the continuing threat to his life, Nobody, Bod as he was called, was given the Freedom of the Graveyard which allowed him access to all areas of the cemetery, as well as providing him with many skills that would protect him should he find himself in danger.  As Bod grows up, he encounters gouls, the ancient Indigo Man, the Sleer, and the graveyard witch.  But his only human friend Scarlett unintentionally leads him to the greatest danger he will ever encounter.  Will the ghosts be able to protect him?

3.  Critical Analysis.  Neil Gaiman won the Newbery Award for this work of fantasy that pits a young boy and his supernatural caretakers against a very real and dangerous threat.  As in many works of fiction for Young Adults, Bod does not have parents.  While he has loving, caring surrogate parents in the forms of the ghosts Mr. and Mrs. Owens, he fits the orphan archetype and must in the long run take care of himself and prove his ability to make the decisions that will ultimately save his own life. 

After finding out what happens to Bod's family, the story moves through a series of seemingly unrelated events as Bod grows up that provides the backdrop for Bod to learn what he will need to know when the story eventually circles back around to the danger that has been threatening him his entire life.  Once Bod becomes aware of the Jacks of All Trades, he puts the education that seemed useless before to use as one after another he uses the skills he has been taught to protect himself from the fate that is determined to take him.  In the end, Bod successfully defeats the enemy and the danger is finally passed, his ghost parents and his guardian send him from what has been his home for 15 years to live the life that all humans should live - a life of adventure, excitement, and experiences. 

Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, the novel is 307 pages, broken into eight chapters.  These long chapters might be daunting for reluctant readers.  However, the illustrations by Dave McKean that are spaced throughout provide support for the story in interesting, sometimes creepy scenes.  The pictures range in size from small sketches on the corner of a page to full two-page spreads.  As Bod converses with the residents of the graveyard throughout the story, their years and epitaphs are provided parenthetically for many of them, adding interest for readers who have a background in cemeteries and headstones.  Readers will meet characters such as Digby Pool (1785-1860, As I Am So Shall You Be) and Miss Euphemia Horsfall (1861-1883, She Sleeps, Aye, Yet She Sleeps with Angels). 

My favorite line in the book happens when Bod is discussing the reason some of the ghosts who live in the cemetery died.  When Bod has the realization that some have killed themselves, he asks his guardian, Silas, if they are happier once they are dead.  His answer is, "Mostly no . . . . Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.  If you see what I mean."  Indeed, wherever we go, we take ourselves with us. 

4.  Review Excerpts. 

Amazon.com Review:  In The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman has created a charming allegory of childhood.

School Library Journal:  Gaiman has created a rich, surprising, and sometimes disturbing tale of dreams, ghouls, murderers, trickery, and family.

The New York Times:  “The Graveyard Book,” by turns exciting and witty, sinister and tender, shows Gaiman at the top of his form.

A Day No Pigs Would Die - Classics and Awards

1.  Peck, Robert Newton.  A Day No Pigs Would Die.  New York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 1972.



2.  Plot Summary.  Young Rob Peck lives on a Vermont farm, the son of Shaker parents.  When the Pecks' neighbor, Mr. Tanner, offers 12-year-old Rob a piglet as a thank you for Rob helping his old cow calve her twins as well as removing a goiter from the old cow's throat (resulting in great injury to himself), Mr. Peck declines the offer at first. "We thank you, Brother Tanner," said Papa.  "But it's not the Shaker Way to take frills for being neighborly.  All that Robert done was what any farmer would do for another."  (p. 21)  However, with some gentle persistence, Rob's father is persuaded to allow Rob to accept the piglet, and Rob begins a journey with Pinky, the first thing to ever really belong to him.  As summer turns to winter, Rob must face harsh obstacles which force him to grow up and by the time he is 13, his life is completely changed.

3.  Critical Analysis.  At exactly 150 pages, this book is a relatively short, easy read, if by "easy" we mean a book which can be read quickly.  However, the content of the novel is anything but easy at times.  The story includes events which can be hard for adults to read, let alone young adults, events such as the repeated forced, brutal mating of Pinky in an attempt to breed her, and the death of a family member.    However, from an adolescent's point of view, what might make the book difficult to read is a lack of background knowledge of rural life.  The story is generally told in a slowly unfolding manner without much of the adventure or excitement that young adults are used to in this era of video games and the constantly moving and changing experiences of urban and suburban life.

Peck's novel is a classic.  A Day No Pigs Would Die was one of the earliest novels for young adults, along with S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders and Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War.  While the the subject matter can be difficult to digest, Peck handle's it realistically, yet with sensitivity.  When it was first published in 1972, more adolescents were rural dwellers than they are now, which may have drawn readers in more readily than it would now.  However, many adult readers still discover the book and often comment on not only finding a powerful story, but also a humorous one.  After Rob brings home a D in English on his report card, his Aunt Matty takes it upon herself to teach him grammar.  After a particulary strenuous time of trying to diagram a sentence, Rob's mother asks, "How was the first lesson?"  "Next time," said Aunt Matty, "I'll teach the pig."  (p. 60)

The characters are well-developed, and the story is told from the viewpoint of Rob, who turns from 12 to 13 from beginning to end of the story.  While the plot is a little slow at times, Rob's character passes through this "coming of age" story by successfully meeting the challenges with courage and strength.  The emotions dealt with are emotions that are universal to young adults - fear, anguish, and uncertainty are all handled well by Rob without glossing over how difficult some of the situations are for him to confront.  While the story has a tragic ending, the reader will feel the hope which Rob feels that despite the difficulty of the situations, he will be alright.

If this novel has a weakness, it will be that many young adults today will not relate to the setting of the farm.  Adolescents who are used to fast-paced adventure stories with various and unique formats that are so readily available in YA fiction now may classify this novel as boring.  On the flip side, the fight Rob describes on the first page which leads to him skipping school and consequently rescuing Mr. Tanner's cow from her distress may be enough to hook some readers where they will quickly find the graphic descriptions of the birth of the calf, the removal of the goiter, and the dragging of Rob through the cactus-infested field rendering him unconscious.  The strength of the descriptions will keep readers engaged once they are involved in the story.

A Day No Pigs Would Die has had its share of controversy.  It ranked seventeenth on the American Library Association's "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000" generally due to the graphic depictions of animal treatment and death.  (Geoffrey Skinner, MLIS, Sonoma State University).  Yet it also received several awards upon its release:

WINNER 1973 - School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

WINNER 1973 - Library of Congress Children's Books of the Year
WINNER 1972 - Colorado Children's Book Award
WINNER 1973 - ALA Best Books for Young Adults

4.  Review Excerpts.  

“Reading this book is like sipping hot cider in front of a crackling potbellied stove. Every page is suffused with wit and charm and glowing with warmth.”–Newsweek

“A lovely book. . . . Honest, moving, homely in the warm and simple sense of the word. . . . It is small, accepting and loving and it succeeds perfectly.”–Boston Globe

“You’ll find yourself caught up in the novel’s emotion from the very opening scene. . . . Love suffuses every page.”–The New York Times

"With plenty of Yankee common sense and dry wit, and some pathos as the boy at 13 takes on the duties of a man. For boys of this age and for the young of any age."--School Library Journal.

Young Adult Literature

The next postings will focus specifically on Young Adult literature.  A wide, deep, and interesting "genre," YA literature has changed from being geared mostly toward 12- to 18-year-olds to being more broadly aimed at ages 11 to 25 - the MTV generation. 

We will explore several types of literature for Young Adults over the next several weeks, some you may have heard of and some which will be new - all will provide some interesting exploration.

New Fiction - TouchBlue

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lord, Cynthia. 2010. TouchBlue. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN 9780545035316

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Tess knows them all – “Touch blue and your wish will come true” or “Start your journey with your right foot and good luck will walk with you.” When the state of Maine decides to close the island school where Tess lives, her family and others face the prospects of having to move to the mainland. However, the island residents have a plan. They decide to take in foster children in order to increase the number of children at the school, and Tess’s family decides to take in 13-year-old Aaron. Unfortunately, things don’t go as smoothly as Tess has envisioned, and suddenly it isn’t as much about keeping the school open as it is about helping Aaron feel like he has a place to finally belong. Tess invokes all the good luck she knows hoping to make her wish for a happy family, including Aaron, come true. But will it be enough for this boy who has been bounced from home to home?


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

TouchBlue is realistic fiction that will appeal to a wide range of readers. While TouchBlue is said by Scholastic to be for ages 9-12 or grades 4-7, this novel will appeal to older readers as well. Tess is eleven years old, but her voice is well beyond her years. While she hopes and wishes like an eleven-year-old might, her wisdom and understanding feel much more like a high school student. Younger readers will most certainly connect with Tess’s over-zealous attempts to make Aaron feel welcomed and at home. Older readers will be drawn to the themes that are portrayed in the older voice of this young girl. Themes include love of home, the importance of belonging, and the hope that things will “turn out right,” feelings most readers of any age will understand and to which they will be able to relate.

Tess invokes all the superstitions she knows to help things turn out right, and who among us hasn’t avoided stepping on cracks or pulled the petals off a daisy while reciting “he loves me, he loves me not” or thrown a coin into a fountain? Each chapter begins with a superstitious saying, and when Tess’s mom says, “You make your own luck,” Tess thinks, “Why take chances? Especially when it’s so easy to let the universe know what you want by touching blue or turning around three times or crossing your fingers.” (p. 48) Her pockets are filled with good luck objects, and she is constantly repeating the sayings or doing the rituals she believes will insure the best outcome in her family.

Tess is an endearing character. Her wishes – as well as those of the entire island – start off rather selfishly: they want to save the island schoolhouse. But quickly Tess’s wishes become more centered around Aaron and hoping he will be truly happy. Her thoughts are compelling, and the reader finds herself pulling for Aaron and Tess as they struggle through the difficulties of adjustment, bullying from another island kid, defining “family,” and learning to trust.

TouchBlue is a story that will leave older readers thinking and all readers satisfied. As the story comes to a close, Tess talks with Aaron about whether he will stay with her family or not, giving him reasons to consider it. “Stay because you want to be here. Stay because we would miss you. And stay because you can belong in more than one place, and one of your places is with us.” What a beautiful reminder of the realities of belonging.


4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

*Horn Book (starred review): “Features a thoughtful first-person narration by Tess that gives readers a real feeling for island life, with vivid descriptions of the sights and sounds and smells of the place Tess loves and desperately doesn't want to leave.”

*Kirkus Reviews: “Realistic characters, humor, and a charming setting make this a great choice for collections of all sizes.”

*Christian Science Monitor “...a truly timeless novel, perfect for sharing.”

*Booklist: “The tight-knit community and lobster-catching details make for a warm, colorful environment. This is a feel good story about letting go of your expectations and accepting the good things already in front of you.”

*Publishers Weekly: “Lord interlaces themes of loss, luck, superstition, family, and belonging, but at the heart of this tightly woven story is Tess's longing to help Aaron overcome his hurt and anger at having been taken from his alcoholic mother (years before) and shuffled among foster homes, and to make him feel like he's part of her close-knit family.”

*School Library Journal: “Each chapter opens with a different saying that is used in the context of the story, which keeps readers guessing about its significance. They will feel an enormous amount of hope as they read Tess and Aaron's story. It delivers the message that everything happens for a reason, and that sometimes all you need to do is believe.”

*Girl's Life: “Touch Blue is a great novel about new beginnings, family and friendship. Plus, readers will learn tons of cool facts about the ocean, islands and boats! (Psst, did you know that an island is the top of an underwater mountain? Too cool!)”


5. CONNECTIONS

*Students may enjoy keeping track of Tess’s superstitions and adding to them with some of their own. Look up other superstitious sayings at
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0769362.html
or
http://everything2.com/title/Things+on+which+you+can+make+a+wish

*Write about experiences with making wishes. When is a time you remember a wish coming true? Have you ever regretted a wish you made?

*Read other stories about making wishes. Some possibilities:

• Midas

• “Those Three Wishes” by Judith Gorog http://www.fortbend.k12.tx.us/campuses/documents/Teacher/2007%5Cteacher_20071116_1636.pdf

• “The Monkey’s Paw” by W. W. Jacobs

• Wand Wishes and Other Stories by Emma Thomson

Dad, Jackie, and Me - Inclusive Literature

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY


Uhlberg, Myron. DAD, JACKIE, AND ME. Illustrated by Colin Bootman. Atlanta: Peachtree, 2005. ISBN 1561453293.


2. PLOT SUMMARY

In the summer of 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers made history when they signed new first baseman Jackie Robinson. Jackie’s grace under fire of prejudice and discrimination is inspiring to one young white boy and his deaf father who begin to go to Dodgers’ games to watch and cheer for Jackie during this special summer.


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Told in first person, Myron Uhlberg delivers a wonderful story of a boy who “was glued to the radio, like every other ear in Brooklyn” on the opening day of the 1947 baseball season, the first season where a black man plays for a major league team. When his father comes home with tickets to a Dodgers’ game, and the boy gets to see Ebbets Field for the very first time, he knows he will never again see anything as beautiful. But many in the crowd yell at Jackie, calling him horrible names, and other players treat him disrespectfully. Additionally, the boy is a little embarrassed by his father who begins yelling for Jackie. The boy’s father is deaf and his call of “Jack-ie, Jack-ie” comes out more like “AH-GHEE, AH-GHEE” causing the crowd around them to stare at him. Yet as the game progresses, father and son notice the grace with which Robinson plays, ignoring the taunts and names, and the boy notices that the crowd is paying less and less attention to his father as well. This story progresses through the entire season, ending with a surprising and touching final scene at the last game.

The watercolor paintings by Bootman are simply magical. My favorite might be a sequence scene in the painting where Robinson is up to bat, hits the ball, and slides into base. (This book has no page numbers). The illustrations throughout support the text nicely, in once instance even giving me the meaning of a term I was not familiar with. During a Cardinal / Dodger game, a Cardinal crossed first base and “spiked” Jackie on purpose. The painting clearly shows the Cardinal player stepping squarely on Robinson’s leg, the spikes from his shoe going into his ankle as he gets to first base knowing he’s going to be out. Bootman, who has won the Coretta Scott King honor award for his illustrations in Almost to Freedom does a superb job here as well. Facial expressions are genuine, skin coloring is varied, street and crowd scenes are complex and full of detail, and his portrayal of the game are spirited and lively.

At the end of the story, Uhlberg, in his “Author’s Note,” explains that this story is fiction with some grounding in real life. His father and mother were both deaf, and his father took him to many games. His father explained that Jackie would have a chance to show the world that he is as good as they are, despite the color of his skin. That note also goes on to tell the story of another baseball player, William Ellsworth Hoy, who was deaf and proved that he was as good as – actually even better than – any other baseball player. The hand signals used by umpires to signal balls and strikes was a direct result of Hoy’s efforts. (Did other hand signals used in baseball come about as a result of Hoy as well? Perhaps that is also a direct descendent of the balls/strikes signals, but the note doesn’t say.) The endpapers of the book are reproductions of scrapbook pages with actual newspaper articles and pictures taped in.

An excellent read-aloud for younger children, and a great addition to any collection that can be accessed by baseball fans of any age, this story weaves fact and fiction together into a wonderful story of perseverance under adversity.


4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

*Publishers Weekly: “Ultimately, this is an affecting tribute to Robinson, to a dedicated son and to a thoughtful, deep-feeling father. And, of course, to baseball.”

*School Library Journal: “Bootman's lovely watercolor paintings add detail and wistful nostalgia. Baseball fans may be disappointed with the narrative's slow pace and the fact that Robinson is little more than an iconic figure, but others will appreciate the story's insightful treatment of deafness as viewed through the eyes of a child.”

*Children’s Literature: “Bootman’s watercolor illustrations work beautifully in conjunction with the text to bring to life the 1940s neighborhood and Ebbets Field. He has successfully captured the emotions of the story and the action on the baseball diamond. This is a fine book for fathers and sons to share together, and a thought-provoking piece for a middle school or a high school class to share together. Readers can glean an interesting perspective on history from the newspaper clippings and the photographs that comprise the scrapbook end papers.”

*Library Media Connection: “The discrimination shown to Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player, as well as the prejudices against his hearing impaired father are sensitively written. Robinson's determination to overcome thoughtless intolerance in order to prove himself worthy parallels the life of the author's father in his everyday trials. This is a great read-aloud and discussion starter for its historical information and emotional treatment of inequality.”


5. CONNECTIONS

• Research Jackie Robinson. This story actually uses Robinson as background for the central story of the boy learning about his father, so more information about Robinson’s time as a major player might be interesting to older students, particularly those who love sports.

• Depending on the age of the readers, research into prejudice and discrimination during his years in major league baseball.

• Research deafness. What difficulties and challenges have deaf people historically had to overcome. (The book talks about how deaf people were labeled as “dumb,” and deaf children weren’t thought to be able to participate in athletics.) Learn to finger spell a simple, positive message.

Habibi - Inclusive Literature

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY


Nye, Naomi Shihab. HABIBI. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0689801491.


2. PLOT SUMMARY

Liyana and her family have lived in St. Louis her entire life when the summer before she is to begin high school and her brother Rafik is to begin middle school, her parents tell them the family is going to move to Jerusalem where her father was born. This seems like a good time, her mother explains, for the family to make a move. Liyana’s parents have always talked about moving so that the children could experience both sides of their history, but it has always been a faraway rumor until now. So Liyana leaves the only life she has known to encounter a new one that includes cobblestone roads, refugee camps, and violent political uncertainty while also introducing her to a grandmother she’s never met, friends who hope for the same peace that she wishes for, and a handsome young man named Omer who may just replace the boyfriend she had to leave behind.


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Naomi Shihab Nye creates two sympathetic characters in Liyana and Rafik. The difference in their ages is shown through a happy-go-lucky Rafik who is excited about the adventure of moving across the ocean, and less-than-excited Liyana who is not only about to enter high school, but has just gotten her first kiss. However, Liyana sets her mind to making the best of a bad situation and embarks on a journey that will at times be difficult, but will be full of hope and excitement, and happiness. The story is told in chapters almost resembling vignettes. Each chapter reveals new experiences for the family: the estate sale in anticipation of the move, the first meeting of the extended family in Jerusalem upon their arrival, the butcher shop with live chickens slaughtered on the spot, and the clashing of modern western culture with the older culture of the Middle East. The stories are interesting and draw the reader into the vicarious experience of moving far away to a new place.

Young adult readers who have experienced this type of cross-global move themselves should relate to the experience of Liyana or Rafik, while those who have not can gain an understanding of the feelings associated with leaving the home one has always known for one that is literally foreign. Even Liyana’s parents experience unexpected events that emphasize the dichotomous life they are living – neither fully American nor fully Arab. “Sometimes she [even] heard her father say, ‘We are Americans,’ to his relatives” – her father who had always been Arab before. The push and pull of living in a culture that is completely different is felt throughout the story. The danger that lurks just around the corner if you forgetfully do something unacceptable in this new place, the stressful relationships between Arabs and Jews balancing precariously in this torn city, and the difficulty of making friends when you do not speak their language are deftly portrayed. However, the difficulties are nicely paired with the joys of new adventures, the love of family, and the hospitality of strangers.

This semi-autobiographical novel “feels” realistic without having cultural markers packed in so tightly as to feel didactic. With nice, short chapters, children from fifth through ninth grade should enjoy this novel, told by an Arab-American who was born in St. Louis of an American mother and Palestinian father like Liyana, and has lived in Ramallah (Jordan), Jerusalem, and San Antonio. Journal entries and essays written by Liyana and Rafik are interwoven into the story, and while these sometimes feel disconnected from what is happening, they are short and easy to read through.

Habibi is the winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, given by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.


4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

*Publishers Weekly: “This soul-stirring novel about the Abbouds, an Arab American family, puts faces and names to the victims of violence and persecution in Jerusalem today. . . .Nye's climactic ending will leave readers pondering, long after the last page is turned, why Arabs, Jews, Greeks and Armenians can no longer live in harmony the way they once did.”

*Booklist: “The story is steeped in detail about the place and cultures: food, geography, history, shopping, schools, languages, religions, etc. Just when you think it is obtrusive to have essays and journal entries thrust into the story, you get caught up in the ideas and the direct simplicity with which Nye speaks. She does try to cover too much--no book can tell the whole story of the Middle East--but this is a story that makes us ‘look both ways.’”

*School Library Journal: “Though the story begins at a leisurely pace, readers will be engaged by the characters, the romance, and the foreshadowed danger. Poetically imaged and leavened with humor, the story renders layered and complex history understandable through character and incident. Habibi succeeds in making the hope for peace compellingly personal and concrete...as long as individual citizens like Liyana's grandmother Sitti can say, ‘I never lost my peace inside.’”


5. CONNECTIONS

• Read some of Shihab Nye’s poetry and compare the language in the poetry to the language in the novel. Notice poetic language in the novel. Lines such as “For years the word floated in the air around their heads, yellow pollen, wispy secret dust of the ages passed on and on. Habibi,” (p. 204). While reading, keep a notebook of lines and phrases that catch your attention.

• Listen to Shihab Nye reading her poetry on youtube.com. One of my favorites is “One Boy Told Me,” a ‘found’ poem that is a collection of lines said by her son when he was young. She emphasizes the fact that we all are poets, some of us just stop trying to find that poetry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biJ3FP8aDjY&feature=related
Her deep voice is a pleasure to listen to as she reads her own poetry.

• Youtube.com also includes interviews with Shihab Nye, her father Aziz Shihab, and speeches Shihab Nye has made at colleges and in other settings about her writing and her wish for a world where we share with each other. Go to youtube.com and type in “Naomi Shihab Nye.”

• Have students write stories that give vignettes of their experiences in going someplace they’ve never been before, whether it’s a new country, a new city, or even a new school (moving from elementary to middle, or middle to high school).

Boy Meets Boy - Inclusive Literature

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY


Levithan, David. BOY MEETS BOY. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. ISBN 0375824006.


2. PLOT SUMMARY

Paul is a sophomore in high school. He’s known he is gay for as long as he can remember, but it was confirmed when his kindergarten teacher made a note on his report card to that effect: “PAUL IS DEFINITELY GAY AND HAS VERY GOOD SENSE OF SELF.” Many of his friends carry the same self-confidence as he does, and some do not; some have understanding families like Paul’s, while another gay friend has a family trying to pray their child from Satan’s grip while grounding him to his room. However, some of Paul’s self-assurance is shaken when Noah - his new boyfriend, Kyle - his ex-boyfriend, and Tony and Joni - his best friends, intersect in his world in unexpected ways. Will it all work out?


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Paul is a dynamic character. Almost too self-assured at the beginning of the novel, his life reads like a gay-rights activist’s resume. Aside from the note from his kindergarten teacher on his report card, he 1) is the first openly gay class president in the third grade, 2) asks Cody to the fifth-grade semi-formal, 3) forms the first gay-straight alliance in sixth grade with several friends, and 4) in eighth grade has a gay food column in the local paper called “Dining OUT.” However, by the end of the novel, Paul has had to figure out how to help his friend Tony whose parents have freaked out after his revelation that he’s gay. He has also had to grapple with feelings he has for an ex-boyfriend while experiencing the excitement of falling for a new guy at his school. Paul shows courage in sticking by Tony and helping Tony face his family, and he grows through the painful experience of losing his longest-standing friend over her choice of a boyfriend.

The back cover says Paul is “at a high school like no other,” and it’s true. This is obviously a fantasy setting which creates a world more as it should be, not as it is; a world where teenagers are just teenagers, accepted no matter what they are like or how they express themselves. Students who are truly this self-confident in who they are rarely exist in the real world. Much of the self-confidence is really bravado used to hide the fear, confusion, and doubt that tends to run rampant at this stage of life. However, Paul is absolutely comfortable with who he is, as are many of his other friends including other gay students, as well as the straight students who are truly their friends. This high school, as well as the community, includes a group of “Joy Scouts” who left the Boy Scouts when they decided that gays had no place in their organization (p. 66). The community also has P-FLAG – Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays – that “is as big a draw as the PTA” (p. 115). The school’s quarterback is 6’5” and nicknamed Infinite Darlene, a cross dresser who is both the star quarterback and the homecoming queen this year.

While Paul says that Infinite Darlene “doesn’t have it easy,” and he mentions the time he himself was tackled by wrestlers who were actually insulting him when they called him queer and faggot, this story displays very little of the angst that kids who are gay or transsexual have to put up with from their peers. Tony’s parents and people from their church completely lose their objectivity when they think Tony and Paul are a couple, but the rest of the community seems to be completely at peace with the gay and cross-dressing community.

Nevertheless, the kids deal with some serious issues, but humor infuses the story with lighted-heartedness that makes this a fun read. The gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn to dance. The cheerleaders ride Harleys. But even with the levity, the kids in the story are facing issues such as learning how to handle shifting relationships, how to support each other during difficult experiences, and how to confront each other when they believe their friends are making serious mistakes.

While the high school and community are idealized, this story will still be meaningful to high school students who are trying to figure out who they are and how they fit into the social schema around them.


4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

*Booklist: “Though at times arch and even precious, this wacky, charming, original story is never outrageous, and its characters are fresh, real, and deeply engaging. In its blithe acceptance and celebration of human differences, this is arguably the most important gay novel since Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind; it certainly seems to represent a revolution in the publishing of gay-themed books for adolescents.”

*Kirkus: “With wry humor, wickedly quirky and yet real characters, and real situations, this is a must for any library serving teens.”

*Children’s Literature: “This touching story focuses upon the emotions and humor involved in teenage relationships. If the book did not start with an introductory chapter filled with gay stereotypes, it would have a strong appeal to any teenager. The stereotypes serve to de-humanize the characters rather than present them as ordinary teens with human problems. Positively, the story progresses with strongly developed characters that carry the rich storyline, making the book an enjoyable read.”

*CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center): “David Levithan constructs a remarkable and hopeful fantasy: a world where gay teens and straight teens are all just teens. By the third chapter of this remarkable novel, that world feels like something that seems quite possible.”


5. CONNECTIONS

• Make this book available to students by placing it on classroom or library bookshelves for students to pick up to read. Perhaps do a book talk so students know it is there. This book would be a great read aloud for high school teachers who feel like their classes can handle the subject matter.

• Have students keep journal entries as they read the story documenting their connections to the story; whether they are gay or straight, they are likely to relate to the characters in this novel who are grappling with normal teenage issues.

• Display this book among others in a rotating display of multicultural literature in the classroom or the library.