Paul, a sophomore, knows from the minute he sees Noah that they have a special connection, but high school drama threatens their romance.

This charming novel depicts a town as fantastic in its perfection as those in hetero romances; this world, however, is perfectly suited to gay alternative liberal teens. The local fast food joint, for instance, has been taken over by vegetarians, and Paul's good friend is both the quarterback and the homecoming queen.

The perfection falls on the good side of believability; Paul's good friend struggles with his parents' refusal to accept homosexuality. This is truly a fantastic recommendation for any reader who likes a good love story, middle school or older (the romance is chaste enough for a 13-year-old). ( )

Paul tells the story of his sophomore year. He falls for new-kid Noah, but his ex-Kyle has a change of heart that definitely complicates things. In Paul's town there is incredible acceptance of people of all types. Best friend Tony has to struggle a lot more as he lives a town away with parents whose religious views don't jive with their son's homosexuality. The one character who gets lost is Joni, who loses herself in her relationship with Chuck and her friends decide she's worth the wait to come back to her senses after their attempts to intervene fails.
A lovely romance. ( )

The Little Bookworm

Paul lives in a town where being gay or a drag-queen quarterback is not given a second thought. He has a core group of friends some of whom are really outrageous (see aforementioned drag-queen quarterback). One night he meets Noah and he just knows that this is the right boy for him. But ex-boyfriends and best friends get in his way and Paul has to figure out how to make all his relationships work.

This is one of those books I've meaning to read for a long time, but the GLBT challenge made it the perfect time to pick it up. In a way this book reads like wish fulfillment. It is a simplified world that Paul lives in. He announced when he was 5 that he was gay after seeing it on his kindergarten teacher's report and he knew it to be true. His parents seem to have adjusted to it well and his life is not challenged in anyway. His whole town is accepting of the GLBT lifestyle. The school quarterback is a drag-queen. On the other hand, Paul's friend Tony lives in a different town with very religious families who don't approve of his lifestyle and won't let him hang out unless there are girls there. It's an interesting contrast between the two guys and provides Paul with some insight later in the book.

I liked the relationship between Noah and Paul. It was sweet and a typical "chic lit" plot except with two boys. Boy finds boy, boy likes boy, something comes between boys, well you know the rest. But the relationship I liked best was Paul and Tony's. It was so real and so right. That is probably what I'll remember most. Well, that and Infinite Darlene cause who can forget her. ( )

I certainly get why this book is a favorite for young queer kids. It's nice to read about this sort of idyllic place, where being queer just isn't an issue. The over-the-top picture of this town is actually really fun and interesting. But there was at least one part of my brain that was having trouble suspending disbelief. It would be one thing if it was set in an idyllic WORLD, but it was just one town, in a normal homophobic world, which just didn't seem realistic. But it would be a great escape for a kid that really needed it.

Infinite Darlene is actually really well done. Yeah, she's over the top and fabulous, but she's also treated completely respectfully and there's nothing wrong with having an image of some totally over the top trannygirl. That was my only issue with the depiction of the transgirls in the book; they weren't called trans, they were called drag queens, which, given how they were portrayed, just seemed really inaccurate. ( )

Synopsis: A light-hearted book about the relationship troubles of teenage homosexual Paul.
My Opinion: The story was easy to follow and there were a few quirky moments, but generally the cattiness, typical teenage personalities and dramas were a little too boring to keep me enthusiastic the whole way through. ( )

To be honest, I couldn't finish the book because I thought it was so awful. I list it as fantasy, because it is completely unbelievable. While it would be nice for the world to be so accepting, I found it hard to suspend my disbelief to get through the entire book. ( )

This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance.

When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right. ( )

Richie's Picks: BOY MEETS BOY by David Levithan, Random House/Knopf, September 2003, ISBN 0-375-82400-6

There will come a time when everybody
Who is lonely will be free
To sing and dance and love
There will come a time when every evil
That we know will be an evil
That we can rise above
Who cares if hair is long or short
Or sprayed or partly grayed
We know that hair ain't where it's at
There will come a time when you won't
even be ashamed if you are fat.
--Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention, 1968

Author David Levithan acknowledges at the beginning of BOY MEETS BOY that the book "started out as a story I wrote for my friends for Valentine's Day." Through its evolution from story-for-friends to book-on-the-shelf, it has retained an utter sense and inno-cence of hope, of compassion, of silliness, and of joy:

"We hold hands as we walk through town. If anybody notices, nobody cares. I know we all like to think of the heart as the center of the body, but at this moment, every conscious part of me is in the hand that he holds. It is through that hand, that feeling, that I experience everything else. The only things I notice around me are the good things--the mesmerizing tunes spilling out from the open door of the record store; the older man and the even older woman sitting on a park bench, sharing a blintz; the seven-year-old leaping from sidewalk square to sidewalk square, teetering and shifting to avoid stepping on a crack."

My heart was touched by this book as surely as Paul's hand was touched by Noah's.

"I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?"
--Queen, 1976

At the core of BOY MEETS BOY are the loves and lives of three high school students who have been longtime friends: Paul (who narrates the story), Tony, and Joni. Paul, who has the supportive parents, and Tony, who has the "religious" parents, are among a number of diverse gay teen characters.

"I've always known I was gay, but it wasn't confirmed until I was in kindergarten. "It was my teacher who said so. It was right there on my kindergarten report card: PAUL IS DEFINITELY GAY AND HAS A VERY GOOD SENSE OF SELF. "I saw it on her desk one day before naptime. And I have to admit: I might not have realized I was different if Mrs. Benchly hadn't pointed it out. I mean, I was five years old. I just assumed boys were attracted to other boys. Why else would they spend all of their time together, playing on teams and making fun of the girls? I assumed it was because we all liked each other. I was still unclear how girls fit into the picture, but I thought I knew the boy thing A-OK.
"Imagine my surprise to find out that I wasn't entirely right. Imagine my surprise when I went through all the other reports and found out that not one of the other boys had been labeled DEFINITELY GAY. (In all fairness, none of the others had a VERY GOOD SENSE OF SELF, either.) Mrs. Benchly caught me at her desk and looked quite alarmed. Since I was more than a little confused, I asked her for some clarification.
" 'Am I definitely gay?' I asked.
"Mrs. Benchly looked me over and nodded.
" 'What's gay?'
" 'It's when a boy likes other boys,' she explained.
"I pointed over to the painting corner, where Greg Easton was wrestling on the ground with Ted Halpern.
" 'Is Greg gay?'
" 'No,' Mrs. Benchly answered. 'At least, not yet.'
"Interesting. I found it all very interesting.
"Mrs. Benchly explained a little more to me--the whole boys-liking-girls thing. I can't say I understood. Mrs. Benchly asked me if I'd noticed that marriages were mostly made up of men and women. I had never really thought of marriages as things that involved liking. I had just assumed this man-woman arrangement was yet another adult quirk, like flossing. Now Mrs. Benchly was telling me something much bigger. Some sort of silly global conspiracy."

"Somehow, someday,
we need just one victory and we're on our way
Prayin' for it all day and fightin' for it all night
Give us just one victory, it will be all right"
--Todd Rundgren, 1973

I spent the summer grinning, enjoying the legal victory shared by all Americans, as the Ridiculous Right spewed their conspiracy theories about the Supreme Court's historic June decision. Undoubtedly those hysterics will linger into the future in the same way that you have Trent Lott's buffoonery fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education. But, just as that landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision signaled the recognition that there were legal and moral imperatives for treating black kids the same as white kids, Lawrence v. Texas marks the recognition that someone being gay is not an acceptable reason for treating them like crap--either under the law or in everyday life. Here in California, we await the Governor's signature on Assembly Bill 205, which will help implement the Court's dictate.

I only wish the many close friends I lost a decade ago could be here to celebrate it.

BOY MEETS BOY is not a tense book about gay issues. It is an impeccably timed celebration of what will be. Throughout the story both straight and gay teen couples struggle with relationships. Both straight and gay teen characters struggle with friendships and parents and classmates. Unique touches, such as the drag queen-slash-star quarterback and the cheerleader squad on Harleys, occasionally threaten to take the story over the top, but it is solidly anchored in sensitive, honest portrayals of teens trying to find their way.

"I find myself thinking back to something I saw in the national news about a year ago. A teen football player had died in a car accident. The cameras showed all his friends after the funeral--these big hulking guys, all in tears, saying 'I loved him. We all loved him so much.' I started crying, too, and I wondered if these guys had told the football player they loved him while he was alive, or whether it was only with death that this strange word, love, could be used. I vowed then and there that I would never hesitate to speak up to the people I loved. They deserved to know they gave meaning to my life. They deserved to know I thought the world of them.
" 'You know I love you,' I say to Tony now, not for the first time.
'You are really one of the greatest people I know.'
"Tony can't take a compliment, and here I am, giving him the best one I can give. He brushes it off, sweeping his hand to the side. But I know he's heard it. I know he knows it.
" 'I'm glad we're here,' he says."

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com ( )

Light-hearted, readable, occasionally funny piece of fluff. ( )

Just way too treacly for me; like eating too much baklava. A fantasy about what an open society might be like for a gay teen. Seventh Heaven (the TV show) for the gay community. The narrator of the audio book didn't help my opinion of it either. ( )

High school sophomore Paul says, 'There isn’t really a gay scene or a straight scene in our town. They got all mixed up a while back, which I think is for the best.' Find out how it all happened!

The title pretty much says it all, really - it's a classic boy meets boy, boy loses boy, boy goes to elaborate means to try and win boy back. Adorable, really.

Also, I would love to live in that town which can't possible exist yet in this day and age, the town where the high school quarterback is also a drag queen and (almost) nobody cares about anything that might cause prejudice anywhere else.

Boy Meets Boy is a sugar-shock sweet book, and a quick read. Really; it took me about two hours, tops. It's well-written, but without too much substance. ( )

Paul lives in a town where the quarterback is a drag queen named Infinite Darlene, the cheerleaders ride Harleys, and the Gay Straight Alliance is one of the most popular organizations in the school. He falls in love with a new boy, and must deal with losing one of his best friends and keep his new love while helping fellow friends with their drama and planning the biggest school dance. It's a story that celebrates love and friendship between all genders, all while shedding light on the romantic and friendship struggles of all teens. Very well written. ( )

Very literary, and very cleverly written. I didn't enjoy it much because of that, but I could appreciate its beauty. Sort of like a really good art gallery. I know it's great, I just don't care. If you like beautiful prose and youth issues dealt with in a deep, stylised way, you should read this book. Also if you hate teen fluff.

A very utopian, idealist world where homophobia doesn't seem to exist. A great book! Would recommend it for most older teens.

From Google Books:
This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance.

When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right.

This is a happy-meaningful romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world. ( )

Booklist, 8/1/2003, Vol. 99 Issue 22, p1980 ( )

I wish a book like this were available when I was in high school. Sure, the town in which he lives is not particularly realistic, but that's part of the point. It's a bit escapist, but also a model to reach for. And its nice to get away from the victimization of gay folks for literary purposes: we're not all abused, and we don't all suffer near-operatic trauma as teen-agers.

My only complaint is the facility with language the narrator displays throughout the book, but that's mostly envy: would that I had been that well-spoken in high school! Or even now. ( )

I loved this book! Paul lives in a town that is practically a gay-friendly utopia, and this is one month of his life as he falls in love with Noah and deals with the ups and downs of his friends. Paul is charming and his friends are eclectic but real, and the language is simple and beautiful and quirky. Levithan has created a town and school and characters that seem part of a wonderful dream, and it's almost heartbreaking to wake up to the real world.

It's not often that I read a book so easy... easy to read and easy to like. In an almost utopian world, Paul is a teen apparently without problem: at 5 years old his teacher wrote in his profile that he was absolutely gay, and she did it as a positive thing, Paul was a lot more aware of himself than his fellow schoolmates. After reading his profile, remember at 5 years old, he went at home and said to his mom, "Mom, I'm gay!" and his mom replied, "Oh, dear, you learned a new word!", more or less with these words. Now Paul goes to high school and he is probably the most popular student of the school, even if probably he has to share the throne with Darlene/Daryl who is at the same time the quarterback of the local football team and the queen beauty of the school (in drags!).

So no, apparently Paul has no problem if not since in this moment he has too many guys around him: his best friend Tony, who is gay, but who, unfortunately, lives with uber religious parents who think that their son will be damned forever; his ex-boyfriend Kyle, who dumped Paul in a not so nice way and also said to all the school that Paul tried to turn him gay when he really was straight; and finally his new-boyfriend Noah, who is new in town and so he doesn't really now Paul and all his chaotic life.

Paul stays never put, he is always in motion and he is always involved in something; not that Paul regrets it, he really like to be the center of attention. Paul is a really nice character, but truth be told, he is a very narcissistic guy, but with all the positive side of being so: he shines, he is a real leader, but he also considers people around him, he can never say no when someone asks him help. Problem is that being of all also means really not having someone special only for him. When he meets Noah, Paul knows that the guy is the special one, but Noah needs attention and patience, and Paul needs to be cautious, something that he is not able to be. Being the center of the universe means that everything he does is common knowledge, and everyone he meets ends on the billboard with a bet on how much it will last.

There is a strange parallelism in the book with the real world: Paul's family is a "normal" family according to the story's standard, they are accepting and supporting, they are always available for their son, in this utopian world they represent the classic All American family made of morning pancakes and family holiday; instead Noah's parents are the black sheep, too taken by their jobs to be aware that their son and daughter are alone and probably nurturing future problems. Noah faces his parent's indifference isolating himself from his similar; he is almost transparent until Paul didn't notice him by chance: no one in school had realized that there was a new student among them. As expected, when the school star meets the lone wolf, it's not simple for them to find a common ground.

I like this story since the problem Paul and Noah face are the very normal problems that would face a "straight" couple: family, friends, and school. It's not a problem that they are gay, no one raises a brow; but it's not even under-lighted that they are gay: in this world, gay and straight are alike, and the small town is scattered of gayness, that is imbued in the social texture.

The same easy attitude that is in all the book, is also when it's time to talk of Paul and Noah as a couple; they are the icon of young boyfriends, they are tender and cute, they are all kisses; sex is not contemplated in their relationship, but it's not something they avoid for a conscious decision, it's almost like it doesn't exist in their world. You don't miss it since it's not necessary; there was never a place or a time in the book when the reader expected it, and so I didn't miss it. The only time when something of sexual came in my mind, was when Paul realized that he was gay since he was interested in a game of two of his friends and he was a bit too much focused on their t-shirts and in the way they went up... and Paul was 5 years old, so no, no sex can be possibly part of it!

http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/51...

A charming story that is fun and very sweet (without being sappy). It won't change the world (except perhaps in very subtle ways), but it'll definitely bring a smile to your face. ( )

Fantastic! I listened to the Full Cast Audio version of this, and I was laughing inappropriately loudly on the bus for the full thing.
Paul's world get complicated when he meets and fancies a new boy at school, his best friend from small starts dating a dreadful guy, his ex starts talking to him again, and his other best friend is stuck at home with religious parents horrified by his sexual preferences.
The descriptions of high school life are hilarious, from Infinite Darlene, the drag quarterback, to the Joy Scouts - the town's inclusive version of the Boy Scouts.
But all the fun aside, Paul is a sympathetic character with a gift for description, and I felt for him from the very beginning. I really cared about what happened to him.
There are some beautiful lines - the sense of belonging when hanging out with his friends feels like his a few notes in the middle of a song.
The town the story takes place is almost feels like a fantasy - a place where sexual preferences are pretty much evenly distributed, so no group is a minority. Paul was the school's first openly gay third grade president, and the Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays
group is more influential than the PTA.
I'd give this to anyone looking for a story with well-drawn queer characters, a high school romantic comedy, or a YA book with quirkyness to match the cameos (if not the tone) of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Once again, Full Cast Audio did a wonderful job, the music introducing each chapter set the mood very well, and there was even a very appropriate musical serenade. The voice effects to show characters thoughts was used effectively. ( )

It's hard to explain exactly how much I liked this book -- and why. It's a combination of a strong story and plot (Paul meets Noah, Paul thinks he could fall in love with Noah, Paul screws everything up -- it sounds lame, but it's the exact opposite) plus interesting characters with a dose of truly fantastic writing. Boy Meets Boy is, among many things, fun. But it's also slightly heart breaking, more than a little hilarious and serious in all the right places. I really enjoyed reading it and it affirmed what I already knew, that Levithan is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. The story is from Paul's point of view and is told in much the same tense and style as the two other Levithan novels I've read (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List). I like this style -- if I was a YA author, this is how I wish I could write.

Paul is a strong character, he has flaws and like so many of us, he just doesn't realize they're flaws. There are some extraordinary scenes (conversations with an exboyfriend of Paul's and one of his best friends) that help bring both the reader and Paul into some sort of perspective. There's also all the teen drama that YA readers are used to, but Levithan spices it up a bit -- in all the good ways. He also doesn't completely resolve one of the plot twists, and I applaud him for this. It's not every author who can leave something undone and yet still have a fully complete book that leaves the reader satisfied.

I loved Boy Meets Boy and plan to read as many of Levithan's book as possible. ( )

lovely story, great romance. takes place in a world not too far from our own--gives us somethhing to aspire to!

Colter Brantz
EDCI 4120/5120

Knowles, John. (1959). A separate peace. New York: Scribner.

Grade Levels: 8-10
Category: Realistic Fiction

Read-Alouds: 49-60 (chapter 4, Finny & Gene at the beach) 86-102 (chapter 7, Finny’s return) 152-177 (chapter 11, the trial of Gene)

Summary: Gene and Finny are best friends at Devon, a Vermont school of regional renown. Finny is the consummate athlete and Gene is the more intellectual of the two, but there is no doubt that Finny is the more dominant personality of the pair. Gene, the narrator, is constantly awed by Finny’s physical prowess to the point that it becomes an obsessive jealousy. However, Gene is the type to express his true self and as a result continues to follow Finny’s every whim until he unconsciously causes Finny to fall from a tree and break his leg. The story is set in the early forties, and the looming presence of war has an inescapable effect on the students and faculty at Devon. The students are perpetually reminded of their eventual involvement in the war and the consequences that go along with this, but in the end it is the domestic treachery of jealous friendship that results in the death that all of the students fear.

Themes: The theme that dominates this text is the question of human motivation: where does it come from, how does it manifest itself, is it universal? Along with this theme is that of the fine distinction that exists between rivalry and jealousy, and the potential for discord to arise from each. Last, what guides the human pursuit for truth, and at the same time, the human impulse of self-preservation.

Discussion Questions:
What role does WWII play in this novel? How does it guide the action? How is it related to the title, if at all?
What is your perspective on Gene’s role in Finny’s fall? If he is to blame, why did he do it?
What can we take out of Leper’s breakdown? Is there any more universal understanding that we can glean from his fate?
What does Finny mean when he asks “you want to break something else in me, is that why you’re here?

Reader Response: As I read I became immediately aware of why this book is considered a classic of young adult literature. It can be examined and enjoyed on a variety of different levels, depending on the analytical skills of a given reader. The human drama and motivations are impressively complicated and ambiguous, highlighted perhaps by the homosociality that is inevitable at a boys’ boarding school. There is no escaping the (platonic) love that the two boys share, and Knowles intricately depicts the complications that are the painful inevitability of any variety of love. The whole story is made all the more poignant by the ominous backdrop of WWII and the questions of human motivation that are inherent to all war, foreign or domestic. ( )

Boy Meets Boy is one of those books that I feel as though I would have otherwise not found myself reading if it did not have an overall gay theme. However, that would be a shame, as it's very cleverly written, captivating and incredibly unique. Though so much of the book is overall difficult to believe, the way it is written and the relationships that are depicted and the way the characters exist within these relationships somehow make you feel as though everything in it could be entirely true. Though it is, at times, painfully cliche even amongst all of the individuality the book presents, somehow it is forgivable.

It's refreshing to see a book written for gay youth that isn't brainless or embarrassing. I recommend this book to all of my gay and bisexual friends, even the ones that are well past adolescence. There is an element to this book that makes you feel as though you have regained some of your innocence back, and that is something that anyone, gay or straight, can appreciate. ( )