Here Comes the Rainbow

There once was a boy named Thomas, who had to run from the rain.

All his life, Thomas lived in a box. It was a nice box, full of food, clothes, and toys. When he was little, he wrote on the walls of the box. He slept in the box, he played games in the box, he read stories in the box. He had everything anyone could ever want in this little box, all of the things he needed to live.

But the box came with one bad part: it always rained.

In Defense of Young-Adult Books

Some of my favorite books, that so happen to be young-adult.

Usually, I’m scared of my mom reading my posts. But not this time. With this post, I’m scared of my AP Literature teacher stumbling upon it, my elitist literature-loving friends finding it, or, even worse – my future college professors in the English department reading it. Because this post is dedicated to one argument: young-adult books are just as valuable as what many people refer to as “literature,” and on some occasions more valuable than such classics.

The Fight Song of the Tiger Son

My handy dandy suitcase.

Floss, Latin textbook, ratty T-shirt, notebook. As I threw these things into my suitcase, I wondered whether I would survive that day.

I ran out of my house. Wearing shorts and a thin jacket, the cold cut at me even though the sun still shone. Shouldering my backpack and holding my suitcase in both arms, I felt like a fictional character, running away from home. Except this time everything was real.

I made it a few blocks down until I saw her car approach me. Contemplating whether or not to make a run for it, I knew I wouldn’t escape – no mile time was fast enough to outpace an angry mother. Her beige car pulled up alongside the road, and she lowered her window to yell at me.

“Get back in the house, now!” my mother screamed.

Minutes before, she had threatened to kill me. Inside my house, she had started one of her angry outbursts, but it felt more dangerous than all of the other ones. In that moment, standing on the sidewalk of the road, heart racing, I defied my mother for the first time.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

3 STEPS TO BECOME ME, THOMAS:

1. Obtain a copy of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.

2. Read the book.

3. Fall in love. Fall in love with the writing, the characters, everything. Read past midnight, read in school, read everywhere and all the time. Slam the book shut and whisper-scream oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. At the end of the book, allow a single tear to run down your right cheek and say a silent prayer of thanks for the fact that you are able to read at all.

Perhaps I’m making this book seem more dramatic than it actually is.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

Even though she’s a lesbian, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to be friends with Cameron Post in real life. Not like I give friendship preference to homosexuals, but seriously – she does weed and she shoplifts. Keep in mind that the thought of getting a tattoo scares me.

I sympathized with her quickly, though. When her parents die in a car accident, Cameron’s first thought isn’t horror, or denial, or anger. It’s relief. Relief that they would never know she had just kissed a girl a few hours earlier. As a result of the accident Cam moves in with her conservative, super religious Aunt Ruth along with her grandmother. Life floats by smoothly enough in her small Southern town until Cam meets Coley Taylor, a fierce, beautiful, and supposedly straight cowgirl. Cam’s friendship with Coley develops into something intense and unexpected, something that could leave room for more. But when Aunt Ruth finds out about Cam and her “homosexual tendencies”, she sends her away and forces her to find out who she really is – and to confront the demons of her past and her future.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is unlike any book I’ve read before.

My Coming Out Post

Yesterday, I was talking to a friend I had made at the summer program I’m currently attending.

“What will you tell them?” I asked her. I was referring to her friends at home – I was curious about how she would describe me.

“I need to preface it by telling them you’re gay. No guy self-deprecates as much as you do, or says the things that you do,” she said.

-

One of my best friends told me that I shouldn’t write a coming out post. If people are reading what I write and responding well, why tell them? I agree with her, in a sense.

But there are a myriad of people who stereotype gays. There are those who are curious about gays. They talk about gays. They throw around slurs and rumors and categorize people because they are gay. It’s funny, because gays receive so much attention, but so few rights.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

I am Holden Caulfield.

Okay, not really. I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of all the animosity people feel toward him. He does deserve the hate – he’s hypocritical, judgmental, whiny, and somewhat of a jerk overall. In fact, his awkwardness around the concept of homosexuality almost angered me.

But, as a seventeen-year-old male (just turned 17 last week!) I can honestly say that I connect with Holden.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 3/5 stars.

Norwegian Wood is unlike any book I’ve read. It tells the story of Toru, a quiet and uncouth college student who is in love with Naoko, a beautiful and withdrawn woman. Their relationship is ensconced by their best friend’s death that took place a few years prior to the beginning of this novel, and because of that Naoko retreats further and further away from Toru. He finds solace in Midori, a sexually passionate and powerfully independent individual, though he knows his feelings for both of them cannot be contained forever.

My Pants and My Mom, Part 2 (the Happy Anti-Ending)

This takes place roughly two days after this incident. My mom and I are in the car; she is driving, and I am in the passenger seat.

“Did you see your AP Psychology grade?” she asks.

I shake my head.

“You have a 99%,” she says,” I bet you’re at the top of the class.”

“Teachers love students who work hard,” she goes on,” I’m sure it brings your teacher great happiness to have a student who works as hard as you do.”

I nod. Usually, when I’m with my mom, I don’t speak. Not because I’m afraid, though that is the case some times, but because that’s just how it is. She talks. I listen.

“I saw some people on the red carpet,” she says. I assume she is referring to the Hollywood stars.

“They wear black pants with white shirts like you wanted,” she says,” when I saw them, I thought, maybe you do have some fashion sense.”

The infamous black pants. Perhaps I will post a picture of me wearing them.

I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Cover via Goodreads.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

I’ll Be There is one of the most unique young-adult novels I’ve ever read. It’s about Sam and Riddle Border, brothers who have been moving around with their unstable father for several years – Sam, now 17, hasn’t seen a classroom since the second grade. Their lives consist of grabbing food from garbage disposals, hiding from people who may report them to the police, and moving away whenever their criminal father makes a too close for comfort encounter with the local authorities. One day, Sam steps inside a church and sees Emily Bell singing – and that single moment sends their lives spiraling in directions they had never imagined.

It’s difficult to describe the magical, lyrical feeling Holly Goldberg Sloan instills in I’ll Be There. Readers are disconnected from the characters, but not in a bad way – it’s like you’re watching them from faraway, yet standing close enough that you can discern their thoughts and emotions. Sloan switches perspectives constantly, traveling inside the mind of almost every character in the book. Each character and their respective point of view is like a thread hanging on its own, interacting with other threads (not sure how that would work, but), and by the end of the book Sloan somehow ties together all the threads to make one spectacular, interconnected story.

My only qualm with the book was Sam and Emily’s relationship. Their bonding is never broken down and shown to the reader. We’re simply told that they love each other very much, but why? Their relationship is immense and profound, but how so? What do they see in each other? What is it that makes them love one another so much? These questions are touched upon but not enough to fully convince me of the power of their connection.

Overall, an inspiring novel about human ties and how little things can add up to create something profound. I finished it in a day, and I must once again thank my friend who gave this to me for Christmas. Highly recommended for fans of realistic fiction and books like Marcelo in the Real World.