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I grew up in the wrong town. In my town few people even heard of P-FLAG, never mind it being as big a draw as the PTA. Gays were hardly well-accepted and the gay and straight scenes were not
integrated at all as Levithan imagines.
I also went to the wrong school. I missed the six-foot-four football player scuttling through the halls in high heels and a red shock wig. I also missed the
star quarterback and homecoming queen being the same person. Oh, how I would have loved to have seen that! And the school jocks being so accepting of gays. I should know, I was on the
school soccer and wrestling teams. I stayed alive by not coming out. I especially missed the high school with the biker cheerleading team that comes roaring around the gym. What a sight
that would be! What delicious humour Levithan evokes!
But you won't miss any of that in David Levithan's loving but unconventional
hate-free world. This is a world where we as young gays would love to live, love and be accepted by everyone. Well maybe that is pushing things too far. Not by
everybody –after all that would be into the realm of total fantasy.
This is an off-beat charming story about Paul, his high school friends Joni and
Tony and the people who have come into his life including ex-boyfriend Kyle. Paul has always known he was gay but it wasn't confirmed until an incident in
kindergarten. There his teacher wrote on his report card that Paul is definitely gay. At five years of age he just assumed boys were attracted to boys. After all, the
boys spend most of their time playing together at that age. Imagine running home with a report card and hollering to mom, "Guess what! I'm gay!"
Joni was the first person Paul came out to (in Grade 2). She helped Paul become the first openly gay class president in third grade and helped Paul form the
schools' first gay-straight alliance. Those straight kids needed help! Joni and Paul have been close since.
Tony spends time with Paul doing each others homework, taking in movies and
surfing the local mall even though they go to different schools and live in nearby towns. All this time, Tony's parents, who are deeply religious, are determined to
keep Tony away from other gay boys. Tony has never had a boyfriend or ever been in love for that matter.
For Paul, life through junior high was mostly fun with its mix of crushes,
uncertainties, and stresses familiar to most teens. Then Joni meets Chuck and that changes the dynamics of her friendship with Paul and the others. But
another meeting changes everything when Paul meets "The Boy" of his dreams. Noah.
Like Paul, Noah had a previous boyfriend. Unlike Paul, Noah was devastated
when that relationship broke up. He is determined not to make the same mistake twice. But Paul is equally determined that Noah is the one.
What follows is a series of events both humorous and touching where boy meets boy, old boyfriends resurface, boy loses boy, and the whole gang joins in the adventure to help put things right again.
Through it all, Levithan keeps the pace moving and the suspense mounting while managing to involve us intimately with his characters. These are people you will
identify with as you journey through their angst and uncertainties and admire their humanity, community, and caring. You can't help but think, "What a wonderful world".
Highly Recommended
Reviewed by Jonathon Chadwick
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