Back when this book was challenged for being a homosexual recruiting tool, I mentioned that I wanted to read it. Happily, the challenge didn't succeed, but being the good little librarian that I am, I read it anyway.
There are three main characters--Nelson, Kyle and Jason. Nelson is out--defiantly so--with a mom who not only supports him, she's the VP of the local PFLAG chapter. Jason is in--he hasn't even really come to terms with his sexuality in his own head, never mind the possibility of telling his parents, friends or girlfriend (Nelson calls him a TCJ--a Tragic Closet Jock). Kyle is kind of in the middle--he knows that he's gay, doesn't lie about it to people, but doesn't volunteer the information, either--especially not to his parents.
I certainly wouldn't call it a "recruitment tool". I might call it a "coming out guide". While it's a decent book, and an important one, the writing itself isn't all that super. It gets a message across, which is good, but I felt that it was a little too obvious that the author was trying to get the message out there. Great writers are sneakier.
But that's just my opinion--I talked to an actual teenager about them, and she loved them both, with zero reservations.
Someone probably should create a homosexual recruiting tool. And a heterosexual recruiting tool. And then they can come to the career fairs at high schools and colleges... You'd have the gays next to the Navy, and the 4-H club next to the breeders, and it would just be so great for all those people who don't really know what they want to be when they grow up.
Posted by: lauren | 04 February 2005 at 02:48 PM