baseball,Mary Poppins,High School ( )

Though written as a young adult novel, My Most Excellent Year, is one of those few books that can appeal to adults as well as teens. The writing style: dialog, emails, very little dense paragraphs, makes the text accessible to teens. The story is very engaging and quickly draws the reader into the narrative. This novel is wonderful because it is an easy to read story while meaningfully discussing several difficult and controversial topics that today's young adults encounter on a daily basis. Accessible to both teenage girls and boys this book would be a great choice for a library book club.

Reviewed by Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen for TeensReadToo.com

T.C., originally Anthony Conigliaro Keller, was born into a family who loves baseball, and speaks with a very distinct accent. Like his family, T.C. loves the sport and practically knows all there is to know about baseball. It certainly helps him with his grades; if only it could help him get the girl of his dreams. With quite an odd family, a knack at frustrating those around him, making sure he only gets a B+ on everything (except for algebra, since he isn't a poser), and being a trendsetter, T.C.'s life completely changed when his mother passed away.

Augie, T.C.'s non-biological, Chinese brother, became his best friend after his mother died, helping him cope. With a love for theater, movies, and everything dramatic, Augie definitely hasn't found his true identity yet, even though everyone around him, especially the ones he loves, has. Besides theatrics, Augie is a pretty good soccer player, especially when he is playing with T.C. Of course, these distractions can't possibly pull his mind away from how his heart is pulling him in a very different direction.

Alejandra, a.k.a. T.C.'s dream girl, has never fit in, both at school or home. With a father who was the ambassador to Mexico, her dream was never with politics like her brother but more towards dance, which she must keep a secret. Because of her father, Alejandra has been able to meet some very famous politicians and celebrities. Of course, all of the famous people she met didn't help her status in school, since she was automatically considered stuck-up. But T.C. still loves her, except she doesn't love him back, or so she thinks. Not one to hide her opinions, who wouldn't be scared of her?

Beginning in their late junior year, the three flash back to their freshmen year... their most excellent year.

The year where love, sexuality, identity, friendship, and strength were discovered. Each one writing in the diaries for their English class, all addressed to an important person: T.C. to his mama, Augie to the diva of the week, and Alejandra to Jacqueline, the wife of her favorite president, JFK.

Laughter, tears, and relief will be felt by not only the characters but also the readers. MY MOST EXCELLENT YEAR takes three very distinct, honest teens who all have problems of their own, and who need each other desperately in the end. Steve Kluger allows the reader to have a close interaction with the characters, who are all very well-developed and defined, making the story all the more enjoyable. ( )

Families, friends, young (and not-so-young) love, baseball, and musicals all go into this charming tale of T.C., Augie, Alejandra, and cohort in their 9th grade year, told through journal entries, memos, emails, and chat sessions. ( )

In the 11th grade, friends TC, Augie and Alejandra are in Ms. LaFontaine’s English class when they are assigned to do a project detailing their “Most Excellent Year”. Each one of them decides on the 9th grade as being the best year of their young lives and the reader watches the best year of their lives unfold in a series of class assignments, diary entries, instant messages, e-mail to and from each other, letters and e-mail between them and their parents, and their parents’ correspondence with each other. We wonder if TC will ever drop his wiseguy act long enough to get the girl, if Augie’s relationship will workout and whether Alejandra will ever have the courage to face her diplomat parents to tell them that it is her dream to sing and dance.

More than anything else this book is about magical people and experiences which shape your life in an ordinary way. Anyone can bestow the gifts of unconditional love, kindness and support which the characters in this book showed one another. Parents suspect that their children are gay and not only are they not worried about it, but they seem to wlecome it. The friendship of one little boy saves another at a crucial moment when he is struggling to handle the grief of his mother’s death. When they decide to become brothers, they accomplish it with with the full approval of both sets of parents- to the point where each boy has a bed and drawer space in his room for the other. The three friends work together to help each other out, and they understand each other to know enough about what is needed at any particular time.

I really enjoyed getting to know these characters and seeing how they developed over the year. I loved the way their perceptions of each other helped to add a deeper layer to each of the characters. From Alejandra we can see the picture of what TC must have looked like as the coolest by in school- and she sees him as someone who know that he is cool and revels in it, Augie can add in that everyone always followed the things that TC did and how that subtly changed when TC’s mother died and the kids didn’t know how to handle it, and TC himself is just bewildered that the kids are copying him and thinks they do it to make fun of him (his feeling are hurt). I loved the way the parents interacted with each other, and I liked the flirtation between TC’s father and his guidance counselor. I loved seeing how compassionate TC is while befriending Hucky, a young deaf child he meets while playing baseball; how Augie is totally great at everything he does and how he is comfortable with himself after he figures out that he likes boys; and I love the smart and spunky Alejandra. She has opinions that she is not afraid to express and is confident in her knowledge and smarts.

My only complaint about My Most Excellent Year is the thing that I loved the most- the shininess and the happiness. It was a bit like seeing favorite characters in situations where it is a foregone conclusion that everything will be okay and not enough of a challenge to make you sweat. These kids don’t really face any of the conflicts that would probably provide more conflict which is represented here. With Mary Poppins involved that may well have been the intention, but since there weren’t that many real obstacles the book lacked a sense of urgency or suspense that made it start to feel a bit long and it held my attention less as it went along. However, I still think it’s a worthwhile and entertaining read. There are characters here whom you will enjoy and love getting to know. ( )