Christopher Moning (Children's Literature)
Alex Sanchez goes where few authors have dared to go with this novel about three gay high school seniors coming to terms with their sexuality. Nelson is flamboyant, defiant and openly gay. Kyle is Nelson's friend, shy and struggling to get the courage to "come out" to his parents. Jason is a basketball star with a sexy girlfriend, troubled by erotic dreams about men and an overall sexual confusion. Each chapter takes the viewpoint of one of the three boys, thus masterfully bringing to the table a broad range of homosexual issues. "Coming out" is a process that is different for each individual. The triumph of this book lies in its evenhanded treatment of complex sexual issues and in its message of tolerance for all human beings. The frightening reality of HIV infection is sensibly portrayed. Candid sex scenes are related skillfully and honestly. One can only hope that a work such as this will serve as a beacon for youths of all sexual orientations. Included is a listing of a half dozen organizations providing more information and help for gay and lesbian teens. 2001, Simon & Schuster, $17.00. Ages 14 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2001 (Vol. 69, No. 20))
The lives of three suburban high school students become dramatically entangled in a manner familiar mostly to high-schoolers and soap-opera fans. Jason has a girlfriend (with whom he has sex), but he thinks a lot about male bodies and increasingly questions his sexuality. Kyle is the star of the swimming team who has known for a long time that he's gay, but he's still in the closet. Nelson is openly-and flamboyantly-gay. Jason is going steady with Debra; Kyle has a crush on Jason; Nelson has a crush on Kyle. Two of the boys have loving, concerned parents. One comes from a troubled family with an alcoholic father. And those are not nearly all the plots and subplots, all of which more or less get tied up by the end. The chapters rotate among the viewpoints of the three boys, a narrative technique that provides a crystal picture of each character. It also drives home the homophobia at school and the abuse the guys suffer and provides a lot of information about gay sexuality in the same way that Judy Blume's "Forever "did for the heterosexual experience. Unlike some earlier novels about homosexuality, the persecution of the three boys is named plainly for what it is-homophobia-and not the hand of a punishing fate. Although marred by occasional melodramatic turns and some contrivance in the ending, this is a fine first effort, thought-provoking and informative for "all "young adults. The use of profanity and explicit descriptions of sexual activities call for a mature reader. There is a list of advocacy groups at the end, unusual in a novel, but understandable, perhaps necessary, in this one. 2001, Simon & Schuster, $17.00. Category: Fiction. Ages 13 up. © 2001 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Paula Rohrlick (KLIATT Review, September 2001 (Vol. 35, No. 5))
Jason, Kyle, and Nelson are in high school together, and each is struggling with his sexuality and how others perceive it. Jason is a basketball star with a steady girlfriend, but he has disturbing dreams about naked men. Shy Kyle has always had a crush on Jason, but he has been too afraid to approach him, or even to openly admit that he is gay. Meanwhile, Kyle's friend Nelson is proud of being flamboyantly gay, though he's never even kissed anyone; his supportive mother is active in the PFLAG organization (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Nelson has a secret crush on Kyle. When Jason musters his courage to attend a meeting of Rainbow Youth, a group for gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people, he meets the other two, and life changes for all of them. Fed up with all the gay bashing he has endured, Nelson decides to start a Gay-Straight Alliance at school, with Kyle's support. Kyle finally comes out to his parents, and he and Jason enter into a relationship. Nelson, jealous of Kyle's relationship with Jason, has unprotected sex with a stranger he met online, and worries about AIDS. Jason's violent father leaves his family, and tormented Jason starts to come to terms with his feelings. The book ends on a hopeful note, as the school's Gay-Straight Alliance becomes a reality. This sympathetic, well-written look at gay teen life and the difficulties of coming out includes detailed information at the back about organizing a peer group, PFLAG and other organizations, AIDS, and more. The subject matter and adult language recommend this to mature students; there are no graphic details of sex, however. YAs who are struggling with some of the same issues will appreciate this realistic, caring portrayal of the relationships between the three boys and their efforts to accept their sexuality in the face of intolerance. KLIATT Codes: SA--Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2001, Simon & Schuster, 248p., $17.00. Ages 16 to adult.

Kate McDowell (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2001 (Vol. 55, No. 3))
Young adult literature is often populated by token lone gay figures or, occasionally, a duo of queer teens lucky enough to find one another and instantly fall in love. Growing up gay is rarely so simple, as Sanchez shows in this coming-of-age novel told from the perspectives of three gay seniors--Jason Carillo, Nelson Glassman, and Kyle Meeks--who go to the same high school. Jason is a popular kid and star athlete who’s just beginning to come to terms with the possibility that his sexual orientation may be more complex than he has previously acknowledged, as he notices his desire for his girlfriend waning and his sexual dreams about men increasing. Hoping to slip in unnoticed to a Rainbow Youth meeting, he is stunned to encounter Nelson, an openly gay classmate, along with Nelson’s friend Kyle; Jason has seen Kyle, a shy swimmer, “with Nelson at school, but he looked so... normal.” Kyle in turn is thrilled: he has had a crush on Jason for ages, and he’s ecstatic at the possibility of his dreams coming true. Nelson notices Kyle’s excitement and responds with a jealousy that surprises him, leading him to realize that he may be in love with his best friend, who doesn’t seem to love him back. Despite their common orientation, the three boys lead very different lives. Flamboyant Nelson brandishes camp like a weapon, supported by his divorced mother’s acceptance and activism. Quiet Kyle is a question mark at school and closeted at home despite his long-term self-awareness. Complicating Jason’s interrogation of his sexuality is his abusive alcoholic father, who hurls homophobic epithets as a matter of habit, and his adoring and beloved girlfriend. During the course of the novel, all three characters come more fully to terms with their sexual identities: Jason and Kyle come out to their parents, Kyle and Nelson start a Gay-Straight Alliance group at school in order to resist the sometimes violent homophobia of some of their classmates (Jason readies himself to attend the first meeting as the novel closes), and all three boys cross new sexual thresholds. Sex is an important part of this book, which is refreshingly honest about the significance of the physical as well as the emotional. When sexual encounters are described, the writing is clear without being explicit or graphic, using a direct but tasteful manner comparable to some of Judy Blume’s groundbreaking descriptions of heterosexual encounters; readers will understand exactly what the characters are experiencing without knowing exactly whose what is where. There’s no stinting on the emotional, however, and the story pulsates with romantic longing (“They kissed with an urgency from which there was no turning back”). Kyle and Jason’s courtship balances psychosocial issues with quite a dewy-eyed love story, complete with thrilling chance encounters and tender mementoes, that might have been at home in Seventeenth Summer. This relationship has its ups and downs, particularly as Jason resists his attraction to Kyle, but their growing intimacy is described with all the sweetness of falling in love for the first time. The love triangle of Jason, Kyle, and Nelson also demonstrates that homosexual romance can be just as personally complicated as heterosexual romance. Yet Sanchez never oversimplifies the parallel, maintaining a strong sense of the cultural and social difficulties faced by gay youth, many of which their heterosexual counterparts may never have imagined. Additionally, Sanchez writes in breezy prose that brings a bracing lightness and accessibility to potentially heavy topics. His sentences are short and descriptions pithy, and the style easily incorporates both the locker-room rawness and casual informality appropriate to the teen protagonists (“Who would have thought that one day he’d have a gay guy over and together they’d listen to a tape of a group called The Butthole Surfers?”). Though the stories of these three boys refer to a range of issues, from the risks of anonymous sex to the difficulty of coming out (a list of resources is included at the end), the book never allows issues to overshadow the emotional power or slow the pace of the narrative. Instead, the author creates believably nuanced portrayals, offering a rare look at not just one or two, but three gay characters interacting with each other and acting within a larger community of gay and straight characters. When a work of fiction embodies such accuracy and emotional complexity, there is but one word to describe it: true. Review Code: R* -- Denotes books of special distinction. (c) Copyright 2001, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2001, Simon, 245p, $17.00. Grades 9-12.

Lynn Evarts (VOYA, December 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 5))
The only thing Jason, Kyle, and Nelson have in common is that they attend the same high school. Well, perhaps that is not entirely true--Jason is a student athlete with a steady girl but whose fantasies sometimes involve boys; Kyle is gay, but only he knows it; and Nelson is gay and everyone knows it. As the three boys narrate in alternating chapters, readers slowly are exposed to each teen's personal world, private feelings, and public lives. Nelson desperately wants to find someone to love him, and because of that desire, makes some foolish and perhaps deadly decisions. Kyle wants to build a relationship with Jason, although Jason is ostensibly heterosexual. Jason wants to hold on to his straight lifestyle--at all costs. Although the topic of gay high school students is not new, this book brings some new issues to the forefront, such as body image for boys and Internet predators. Unfortunately, the book tries to bring all of the issues to light, resulting in a novel that does not have a clear focus. Although readers come to know each of the boys quite well, they will find themselves bombarded by issue after issue, and it is difficult to move so swiftly from topic to topic. Many teens will face some of these issues at some time, but attempting to deal with them all here is just too overwhelming. On the plus side, this book does a remarkable job dealing with the feelings and emotions of a gay teenager experiencing his first crush, and for that reason, this book is an important purchase for libraries serving teens. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P S (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, Simon & Schuster, 256p, $17. Ages 15 to 18.