Boy Meets Boy (Week 5/52)

Sometimes I forget that young reader fiction can be address mature topics and be well written. This week I read Boy Meets Boy, a novel by David Levithan about the heartache and drama of high school life. The story centres around Paul, an average sophomore high school student who falls in love with the new boy at school and tries not to screw things up with 'the one' as his friends' various life dramas compete for his attention. He inevitably fails and must try and fix things while still meeting all his other friendship obligations. The bare plot itself is familiar and accessible...two young people meet, they fall in love, mistakes are made, friends get involved, more mistakes are made, mistakes are fixed, etc, etc. The difference is that this teenage love story is set in a community where sexuality and gender identity has lost its moral shock factor, where the biggest problem isn't that the star quarterback is a transvestite (she is) but how, as homecoming queen, she is going to both march in the pep rally parade AND announce the football team's entrance. It's not all sunshine and lollipops though, not everyone lives in this gaytopia, and the author is careful to remind the reader of this reality through Paul's best friend Tony, a gay teenager who lives in the confines of his parents' religious fanaticism. It's in these moments where the book really shines, where wish fullfilment literature meets present day reality. Where we are reminded of how far we still are from utopia and how ridiculous and petty the barriers holding us back are. But Levithan's ultimate message is one of hope: that things get better, that people can improve, and that standing up for what we believe in can lead to change. And that's a message we can all get behind.