And just after I recover from emailing a bazillion authors and publishers about Eclectica, Jessa unveils the April issue of Bookslut!
My column this month is a bit more than the advertised "books for boys". What I tried to do was come up with some titles for boys that are of the "boys to men" variety. It seems there are tons of books out there all about girls growing up (and I don't really mean coming-of-age exactly but something a bit more), but few for boys. The idea was to spotlight those books that I think will help teenage boys figure out what kind of man they would like to be. All of the boys in these books are at pivotal moments (some younger, some older) and they will push readers into some deep thoughts I'm sure.
Edenville Owls is mystery writer Robert B. Parker's first YA title. It's set in post WW2 small town New England about a group of boys who notice that their teacher is in trouble. They rally in some remarkable ways and do what they think is right and not at all what is easy. I liked how the boys get along, liked the basketball, and really thought Bobby and Joanie's friendship was cool. I'm a Parker fan anyway, but he did some nice things with one.
I've written before about Tim Tharp's The Knights of the Hill Country and it is one of the best books I've read this year. You hardly ever find teen novels built around sports that are human - that show the good and bad side of being the local sports hero. This book really made me think about how it is for teen athletes after they have peaked - what do you do when all you have ever done is play a game and you can't play anymore? How do you even know what to do next? Great writing - oh, please just go read this!
Nigel Hinton's Time Bomb was a book I really had to think about. It is also in post WW2, this time Britain and the boys are young - not yet teenagers. They fact that they find an unexploded bomb is not the most startling thing in this story; what will make you wince is how again and again they are let down by the adults around them. The most galling thing is the many times they are simply not believed because they are children. It hardens these kids, and pushes them to make all sorts of dangerous decisions.
I'm still thinking about Time Bomb - it reminded me of every time I wasn't believed; how I had to prove things when I was a kid and adults did not. This is a very deep book and quite explosive in unexpected ways.
The X-Indian Chronicles is a collection of stories with mythic and fantastical twists. They are about being Indians in the modern age - NDNs, living both in NDN Country and the city. The boys age through the stories up to adulthood and encounter all sorts of intense moments of decision-making in their lives. Some choose wisely and some do not but the way author Thomas Yeahpau inserts myth into modern day is not urban fantasy - it is something uniquely and utterly his own. I've read nothing else like this one and love that it is here for both Native American and non Native American readers to discover. Watch this guy - he's really an innovative writer.
I had no plan to inclue a poetry collection in this column but Curtis Crisler's Tough Boy Sonatas showed up just in the nick of time. These poems about life in urban Gary, Indiana are the definition of gritty. They are intense and sweet, elegant and brutal. I love how Crisler pulled together so many different attitudes and emotions in his work. I have my favorites from the collection (of course) but overall, I see this as one of the few poetry collections out there that a teenage African American boy, let alone any teenage boy, would actually read. Flyod Cooper's illusrations really put it over the top. I sent my review copy to the NOLA kids - I hope it inspires a few of them to change their world.
Back later with real content as opposed to all these review announcements - I promise!
