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Boy Meets Boy
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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2003 10:00:54 -0600
I second Nancy's appreciation for Boy Meets Boy by David Leviathan. In fact, this book makes me think of a comment Nancy made on CCBC-Net back in May, when we were talking about the "edginess" in young adult fiction:
"I hope that maybe we're gradually moving toward a time when a YA with a non-straight protagonist or non-straight content won't by definition be considered edgy."
In Boy Meets Boy, the plot plays out in an ideal school and community where there is total acceptance of anyone who is gay, lesbian, or transgendered. It is in one sense a fantasy--a world I wish we had. So we the love story unfolds unburdened by gayness as an "issue"--it simply is. And it's a funny and heartfelt story.
The real stroke of genius to me in Boy Meets Boy is balancing the love story within this ideal school and community with the situation of Tony, who lives outside the ideal. His story is so painful and real as he strives to be who he is within a family that condemns and denies it, and the book succeeds with its balancing act of moving back and forth between the two, and has, for me at least, a powerful impact.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Mon 08 Dec 2003 10:00:54 AM CST
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2003 10:00:54 -0600
I second Nancy's appreciation for Boy Meets Boy by David Leviathan. In fact, this book makes me think of a comment Nancy made on CCBC-Net back in May, when we were talking about the "edginess" in young adult fiction:
"I hope that maybe we're gradually moving toward a time when a YA with a non-straight protagonist or non-straight content won't by definition be considered edgy."
In Boy Meets Boy, the plot plays out in an ideal school and community where there is total acceptance of anyone who is gay, lesbian, or transgendered. It is in one sense a fantasy--a world I wish we had. So we the love story unfolds unburdened by gayness as an "issue"--it simply is. And it's a funny and heartfelt story.
The real stroke of genius to me in Boy Meets Boy is balancing the love story within this ideal school and community with the situation of Tony, who lives outside the ideal. His story is so painful and real as he strives to be who he is within a family that condemns and denies it, and the book succeeds with its balancing act of moving back and forth between the two, and has, for me at least, a powerful impact.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Mon 08 Dec 2003 10:00:54 AM CST
