Edwin Hanratty and his only friend, Flake, are two marginalized 8th graders who spend their miserably long days at school dodging the twin bullets of bullying jocks and sarcastic teachers. Edwin, who worries chronically about getting his locker open, spends many sleepless nights reminiscing about his childhood, when he felt connected to his parents and school was a place he enjoyed going. As Flake’s unstable temper grows shorter, he begins to convince Edwin that the only way to solve their problems is to kill themselves with his father’s guns and take as many people as they can with them. Edwin loves his parents and little brother Gus, but can’t see his future ever being anything but wretched. But when the moment of truth comes, and the gun is in his hands, Edwin is surprised and humiliated by his own extreme reaction…This is one for parents and teens to read together, to start discussions that help us avoid another Columbine. There’s powerful stuff between these pages–don’t be fooled by the short length. It really packs an emotional wallop.
Category: Boy Meets Book
Books from the male perspective for everyone.
Out of Order by A.M. Jenkins
Colt Trammel is masquerading as a dumb jock. He plays a mean game of baseball, which is what most of school career is riding on, since his grades are nothing to write home about. However, Colt’s first-person narrative reveals a sharp wit underneath his coarse exterior, and a painful self-knowledge of how stupid he appears to others. But the whole school scene is nothing compared to dealing with the women in his life. There’s his gorgeous girlfriend Grace who refuses to give him any real play; green-haired Corinne who is the first person to ever stand up to his wisecracks and see beneath his carefully constructed surface; and finally quiet Dory, with a rep. as the school slut, who would give him what Grace won’t, even though Colt knows he shouldn’t take it. Not much happens plot-wise in this book, but it is one of the best character-driven novels I have ever read, and gives great insight into the mind of a guy. Teenaged males, do you agree? Leave a comment if you think Jenkins has nailed the male high school persona.
The Afterlife by Gary Soto
In a few memorable days, Chuy makes it a point to fulfill all the dreams he’s ever had as a 17 year old chico growing up in the barrios of Fresno, California. He asks out a beautiful girl, gets great seats to a Raiders game, and tells his mother how much he really loves her. Why is Chuy doing all this now, when he never had the courage to do it before? Because on page 2 of Soto’s daring novel, Chuy is knifed to death on the dirty bathroom floor of a club, and as his spirit begins to float away, Chuy decides to make the most of his quickly dissolving Afterlife. A sort of Lovely Bones for guys (and the girls who love them)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Christopher Boone’s life is full of rules. Rule #1: No touching. Rule # 2: No lying. Rule #3: 5 red cars in a row on the way to school=Super Good Day. Rule #4: 4 yellow cars in a row on the way to school=Black Day. Rule #5: Nobody goes to heaven when they die because there is no heaven, only the universe, and so on and so forth. Christopher’s rules make sense to him because he is autistic. Because of his autism, he feels very little emotion, and needs strictly enforced routines and patterns to feel safe. When he discovers his neighbor’s dog dead on her lawn in the middle of the night during one of his nighttime rambles, he is frightened (because it doesn’t conform to his rules and routines) but also intrigued (because it seems like the beginnings of a good mystery; who killed the dog? and why?). As Christopher begins to conduct an amateur investigation into the dog’s mysterious death, he uncovers not only who was behind this brutal neighborhood crime, but also some deep and uncomfortable truths about himself and his family. Christopher’s voice is utterly unique, and I have found this original, brilliant book impossible to forget. I think you will, too.
33 Snowfish by Adam Rapp
Boobie is a teenage pyromaniac who has killed his parents and kidnapped his baby brother with the intention of selling him to the highest bidder. Custis is an orphan who, for most of his wretched life, has been the sexual slave of middle-aged pedophile. Curl is a teenaged prostitute who has a dangerous crush on Boobie. These three miserable outcasts have formed a tenuous bond and are all on the run for Boobie’s murder. The heartbreaking struggles they experience together as a sort of nightmarish family unit will leave two of them dead, and only one left to learn what real love and trust feel like through the kindness of an elderly black man named Seldom, and his chicken Deuce. This is a hard, hard book to read. It is disturbing and graphic and strange and sad. Snowfish contains great rewards for those who can handle its horrific descriptions, but go easy on yourself if you think this sounds like something you’re not ready for yet. I’m 30-something, and I wasn’t ready for how truly sad this book is. Read this one cautiously, maybe even with a friend or parent, so you can help each other understand the terrible beauty of this story.
Prep by Jake Coburn
Just as Nick is getting confident that he can handle the straight and narrow life, ghosts from his old life as rich, upper east side Manhattan punk graffiti artist start beckoning him back with a spray can and a smile. Almost against his will, he’s getting drawn back into the gang life when he tries to help out the mixed-up little brother of his best friend and secret crush, Kris. Now he’s found himself in the middle of a turf war, when all he wanted to do was to see how close he could get to Kris before she pushed him away–again. Can Nick save himself a second time, and make Kris see how much he really cares about her? It feels like author Jake Coburn is channeling the voice of Ponyboy, the amazing narrator of S.E.Hinton’s classic The Outsiders, and giving that voice an urban spit and polish through Nick. This is an authentic and strongly felt first novel.
Tribes by Arthur Slade
Percy Montmount is the ultimate loner. Ever since his dad, an anthropologist, died on the Congo three years ago from a tsetse fly bite, Percy’s been acting a little strange–not like he was Mr. Popularity before, but stranger than usual. He’s started keeping an extensive field journal of his observations of that exotic group known as Grade Twelve. He has identified several different strains of that larger group, including the Lipstick/Hairspray tribe, the Logo tribe, and the Madonna Cult. All this observation leaves very little time for actual human interaction, but Percy doesn’t mind. As long as he’s writing, he doesn’t have to think about his dad’s death, his mom’s weird hippie habits, or his best friend’s suicide that resulted from an unrequited love with a member of the Lipstick/Hairspray tribe. But then, Graduation, that huge Rite of Passage, approaches, and with it, a secret about Percy’s family that could be just what Percy needs to shock him out of observation mode and back into the real world.(and I don’t mean the TV show)
America by E.R. Frank
America started out in this world with a lotta strikes against him. Born to a drug-addicted mother and shuffled through foster home after foster home, America has been molested, abandoned and broken too many times to count. Now, after a botched suicide attempt, he has ended up in the office of Dr. B, a caring psychiatrist who has decided to help America no matter what, despite his potty mouth and huge attitude. Rock-star YA author Frank (who is my all-time fav., check out my rave for her first book on the Short Cuts list) avoids the notorious sophomore slump and scores another hit record with her awesome follow-up to Life is Funny. America is a smart, scared teen whose heart of gold can be glimpsed periodically under his nasty exterior. And Frank can write in both a convincing kid and teen voice. My favorite part of this book is when America is forced to go and visit his crack-head mom and she leaves him and his two half brothers (all under the age of eight) alone for days and America, in a confused, little boy way, keeps writing his foster mom’s phone number over and over on any surface he can reach, because he doesn’t want to forget it since there’s no working phone in the apartment. Both heartbreaking and amazing, America is so moving that Rosie O’Donnell has already bought the film rights. Which means America could be coming soon to a theatre near YOU! Keep your peepers peeled for it!
Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz
Just some good, James-Bond-ian fun, Point Blank is an exciting, thrill ride of a spy story, that grabs you from the first line of the first chapter, and rockets you all the way to the end. Alex Rider is a 14 year old spy who works for MI6, England’s version of the CIA. His latest assignment is to check out what’s going on behind the scenes of the posh, ultra-exclusive French boy’s boarding school, Point Blanc. Outfitted with all kinds of cool spy toys (including a single gold stud he wears in his ear that, if pulled out, becomes a tiny bomb that detonates into a big explosion!) Alex discovers that the evil, red-glasses wearing headmaster and his goony female assistant (who is built like WWF’s former Chyna, but has the face of a bulldog) are using the school in the remote French Alps as a cover-up for a much nastier, diabolical plot to take over the free world!! Evil clones, secret passageways and heart-stopping snowmobile chases are just a few of the close encounters Alex has as he searches for the truth hidden in the walls of Point Blanc. And the ending is a kick-ass cliff hanger that can only be answered in a follow-up sequel that I can’t wait to read! If you become as hooked on Alex’s “Alias”-like existence, be sure to read about how he first came to work for MI6 in Horowitz’s first Alex Rider book, Stormbreaker.
Three Clams and an Oyster by Randy Powell
High school juniors McCallister, Beaterson and Deshutis are the four-man flag football team Three Clams and an Oyster, except there’s only three of them. There used to be four, but their best bud Cade Savage can’t be depended on anymore since he’s become so interested in drinking and partying. Now it’s the final weekend before the September deadline of listing your team members on the roster, and the three Clams are up a creek. Do they officially dump Savage for a.) Big Man on Campus Thor, who’s a local football legend, but smokes a little too much weed, b.) Tim Goon, he of the unfortunate last name, “man breasts,” and Wayne Newton resemblance, but also owner of a ski cabin he might let the guys use, c.) or Rachel Summerfield, the best jock of them all, but so pretty and confident that the guys aren’t sure they can deal with her upstaging them. Over the course of one weekend, these three dudes have some of the most realistic conversations and arguments I’ve ever read in a teen novel that range from hilarious to heart-breaking as they try to make the most mature decision, learning a lot about themselves and each other in the process. And if you’re not a huge fan of flag football, don’t worry about it. Because this super-smart, funny book is about just about everything else BUT football.
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
TJ, a high school senior of black, Japanese and white heritage, is tired of all the jocks making the rules at his school, especially when he’s just as gifted athletically—he just chooses not to be a “team player.” He decides to challenge all the muscle-heads by assembling a swim team made up of the school’s biggest “losers,” knowing it will just kill all the jocks to see the guys they make fun of on a daily basis sporting letter jackets. Can he handle the fallout and his own uncontrollable anger when the situation gets out of control? A great guy read full of flying fists, brave hearts and tough decisions.
The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier
Jason is a loner, and one of those sweet guys who likes babysitting and helping out with younger kids. Except now one of his little friends Alicia has been murdered and dumped in the woods, and Jason was the last one to see her alive. Now the local police have brought in their top interrogator, Trent, a mysterious man known for ALWAYS getting his confession. And Jason has a secret…or does he? Will Trent force Jason to confess, whether he’s guilty or not? Become a fly on the wall of the interrogation room in this tense, hyper-suspensful psychological thriller by the late, great Robert Cormier.
The Buffalo Tree by Adam Rapp
Sura has been thrown into a hard core juvie center for “clipping hoodies.” His cock-sure, sensitive, yet unsentimental voice chronicles the abuses and brutal conditions he suffers in authentic sounding street slang that sounds like The Clockwork Orange meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. While madness and rage swirl all around him and threaten to beat him down, Sura manages to keep the evil of the place at bay by concentrating on the sanctity of his home, which he never plans to take for granted again. With more instinct than intellect, he knows how to keep his head low even as both of his roommates get sucked in and destroyed by the system. With a perfect ear, Adam Rapp has done the nearly impossible–written a book about a boy that sounds like it was written by a boy and not a well-meaning adult. He joins the ranks of Laurie Halse Anderson and E.R. Frank as one of my all-time, stand-out YA favs.
Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star by Randy Powell
Hardcore skater Grady Grennen isn’t too thrilled about what life’s been dishing out to him lately. First, his heavy metal rock star mom overdosed a year ago, leaving him high and dry with his grandma. His half-brother, Louie, while loveable, is developmentally disabled, which doesn’t exactly make him the greatest sounding board for Grady’s thoughts and feelings concerning his mom’s death. Now, he’s been sucker-punched with more bad news: his grandma wants to take off across America in a Winnebago with her octogenarian lover, so Grady has to decide if he wants to go to school abroad on his mom’s remaining fortune, or live with Louie and his rigid, religious-right stepmom (and she’s no Julia Roberts!) Plus, there’s going to be this big concert in honor of the first anniversary of his mom’s death, and the band wants Grady to say a few words. But all Grady can do is wonder what the hell he’s going to say about his absentee mom who toured constantly and died choking on her own vomit. This book is just too cool for school. I recommend reading it as soon as possible before it is watered down and made into a CW Wednesday night series.
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Steve Harmon is on trial for a crime he may or may not have committed. And by using a unique viewpoint, W.D. Myers turns you, the reader, into Steve’s judge and jury. By telling Steve’s story in alternating chapters of his personal journal entries and a transcript of the trial proceedings, you are presented with all the evidence of the supposed crime and allowed to come to your own conclusions by novel’s end. Did Steve act a lookout in a convenience store robbing and murder, or was he just an unsuspecting witness who happened to be at the crime scene? Will Steve’s dream of becoming a screenwriter be fulfilled, or will he spend the most important years of his life behind bars? Well? What do YOU think?