I found this slim, fair-condition softcover among the charity-sale books at a local Hannaford's, and had to give it a shot. It's about the budding romances of several sixth-grade boys - with each other, which is even trickier because they attend a Catholic school...

I admit that I found it a bit more explicit than I'd have expected given the age group, and perhaps its dialogue is more accurate to modern-day schools than to the ones I recall (or perhaps I just never noticed!). It does have some good (if painful) scenes of bullying, and of various responses to same, and it also features the very volatile relationships common to that age.

I'm putting this book in my LGBT-themed shrinking bookbox, which will soon be on its way to its first stop with quietorchid in Minnesota. Hope everyone enjoys the bookbox!

I picked this out of the bookbox, and read it last night. It was a little odd, realizing that it is set in my neighborhood. The Catholic school is several blocks away, and I recognize several features in the neighborhood.

This is essentially a tale of 3 boys who don't ultimately fit into their school. The 2 friends, James and Andy, are nerdy outcasts, tormented by other kid's taunts. They both have a crush on the cool kid that fits in, a boy named Mark, who plays sports, has a girlfriend. The book seems a little unreal, part painful recollection of taunts and loneliness, and part wish-fufillment (cool kid Mark, who consistently stands against calling other kids 'faggot' turns out to be gay himself). No real resolution, and one small scene where sexual contact is glossed over, so I don't quite get the feeling that this book is anything but a message: the torment eventually ends, and life can be better.

I do wish (as Andy wishes often) that Andy was a little nicer to his friend James. Other caveat, why is there a picture of a young african-american adolescent holding a skateboard with a bare chest on the cover when the book is about a white-bread catholic school in Minnesota, where the students all wear uniforms (plaid no less, although the author doesn't mention that sartorial nightmare), and they play baseball and basketball after school with NOT one skateboard?

Gave to a young man who would enjoy reading it.

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