I have written before how difficult it can sometimes be for an adult to adequately review young adult books. For me it is hardest when I'm writing about broken teen hearts - I just don't have the patience for all those mistakes and miscommunications that young love are, by definition, all about. Because of that I don't review a certain type of YA books all that often - the problem is not them but me and I don't want to do a disservice to the authors. I think it's better to leave those titles to reviewers who can read and review them objectively and well, rather than insert my own prejudices into the review.

Because I'm hyper aware of this, when I read an excerpt of a rather damning review over at Kristopher Reisz's blog my first thought was that it might be an adult reviewer/teen book problem. I have read the book, Tripping to Somewhere, and it is in my May column. It's an urban fantasy about a couple of teenage girls who go in search of the fabled "Witches Carnival". Sam and Gilly each have their own reasons for wanting to leave home and trying to find the Carnival. The fantasy element is only part of the story here - it's much more about Gilly's struggle with being gay and her lack of acceptance because of that, Sam's unhappiness over life with her mother's new husband and both of them just tired of everything high school. The Carnival is widely known among many different people the girls know and later meet as they travel. So even though they are immortal magical beings, their supposed existence is accepted in the world of Reisz's book. Ultimately I thought the book was less about the Carnival and more about the girls and what they were looking for or needed. It's the kind of book that I think will resonate very strongly with some teens, especially those who have ever been sick and tired of not being like everyone else (or like who everyone else wants them to be). I thought gay teens in particular would identify with Gilly, who is out of the closet and just damn tired of all the little comments that get sent her way in her high school hallways because of that. She just wants to run away from her life for awhile and I understood that completely, and my high school years weren't nearly as tough as hers.

But for the reviewer at Rambles, well - Tripping didn't ring quite so true. Here's the part that really made me think we had an adult reviewer/teen book conflict:

As far as Sam and Gilly go, these girls' lives are as empty as my billfold, yet instead of moving to fill it up, they cannot think beyond escape fantasies. Why? Because Sam's stepfather has a pornographic magazine that she has found. She hasn't been abused but, for a girl who lives out on the edge, boozing, drugging and having sex, she sure gets repulsed easily. As for Gilly, well, she has a hard time in school for being gay.

What it seems to boil down to is that in this book's universe the highest value is being cool and the Witches' Carnival is the coolest thing on wheels, so Gilly and Sam want to be a part of it.

Let's take this apart. The girls do have empty lives on the surface, if you mean they aren't into a lot of after school clubs and college plans. Gilly is trying to get through the day without hearing yet another catty comment and Sam reminded me a lot of Rayanne - she's partying hard in an effort just to party. I don't see at all why the girls need to be more "officially abused". Sam doesn't like her stepfather - she doesn't like that her mother married him, she doesn't like what life is like with him around and she doesn't want to go home anymore. Sometimes you don't need to be beaten by your stepfather in order to hate how your home life has been upended by his presence. Parents getting divorced sucks because it makes your life hard, parents dating sucks because it makes your life hard and parents remarrying sucks because it makes you life hard.

And if you've ever been there, then you know it is true and you don't need to be whipped, beaten or raped in order to justify your hate of the whole situation. Sam is angry at how her life has turned out, and she wants out of it any way she can. A lot of teen novels are about things like this, situations that don't seem like a big deal to adults but can upend a kid. To me it was more honest that Reisz made Sam's life appear relatively ordinary and she still wasn't happy because that is how it is for so many teenagers.

Then there is the comment about Gilly: "As for Gilly, well, she has a hard time in school for being gay." Okay, this is a reviewer who desperately needs to read a Brent Hartinger novel. Welcome to life in America where yes - you have a damn hard time in school simply for being different. Any kind of being different can make school less than pleasant but gay? Gay is like hitting the trifecta of different. And again, Reisz practiced a nice amount of restraint in showing what Gilly's life is like. She's not beaten up for being gay, but she has to hear about it, she has to be the punchline of a lot of bad jokes and worst of all, one of her oldest and best friends becomes someone who laughs at those jokes - someone who would rather be popular than loyal.

And that is just about as bad it can get when you are in high school. The fact that Reisz recognizes this makes him a very good YA author and the fact that the Rambles reviewer does not makes him a very poor YA reviewer. Doesn't mean he isn't a great reviewer otherwise, but not for YA please, no more critiquing YA.

Is Tripping to Somewhere about a universe where "the highest value is being cool "? Well yeah - it's about high school and being a teenager and I'm sorry, but in that place and time cool is really all there is. The definition of cool is constantly shifting, and a lot of the officially cool people are widely accepted to be jerks, but that doesn't change anything about the social order. The fact that Gilly doesn't buy into all of that by the end of the book - that she's sees that loyalty has a higher value than cool - was the major payoff for me in this book. It's a rich, complex, sexy and profanity laden story but more than anything it's honest and I can see alot of frustrated teenagers embracing these girls from start to finish.

This is exactly what a young adult novel is supposed to be, and just because an adult reviewer can't see that shouldn't take away from the book's power. Reisz has done something rather unique with this road novel in search of all that is glamorous and witchy. I didn't know girls like these personally, but I do recognize their anger and frustration; I remember what it's like to want something more than life (and adults) will let you have. I remember a bit what it's like to be a teenager like these, and because of that, I think Tripping to Somewhere is a title that deserves far more good reviews than bad ones.