Richie's Picks: Great Books for Children and Young Adults

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The list:

"1. Adam (but he doesn't count.)

2. Finn (but people just thought so.)

3. Hutch (but I'd rather not think about it.)

4. Gideon (but it was just from afar.)

5. Ben (but he doesn't know.)

6. Tommy (but it was impossible.)

7. Chase (but it was all in his mind.)

8. Sky (but he had someone else.)

9. Michael (but I so didn't want to.)

10. Angelo (but it was just one date.)

11. Shiv (but it was just one kiss.)

12. Billy (but he didn't call.)

13. Jackson (yes, okay, he was my boyfriend. Don't ask me any more about it.)

14. Noel (but it was all a mistake.)

15. Cabbie (but I'm undecided.)"

If, from my male perspective, I were to characterize the typical crop of Chick Lit as a muddy lot full of bricks, slugs, thistles, and poison oak--as I'm quite content in doing--I would be remiss in not pointing out that it's right on the edge of that lot that I regularly uncover patches of well-fertilized and imaginative growths of tasty YA literature. They're not exactly what I'd refer to as Chick Lit, but they are gobbled up by similar female audiences, along with a significant number of us guys. Last year there was THE YEAR OF SECRET ASSIGNMENTS and SAVING FRANCESCA. Other good examples from previous years are CATALYST, GINGERBREAD, DEFINE NORMAL, and WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW.

I suspect that many male adolescents will react to the cover of THE BOYFRIEND LIST (15 GUYS, 11 SHRINK APPOINTMENTS, 4 CERAMIC FROGS AND ME, RUBY OLIVER) as I did. The title and the ceramic frog on a white background which provides the not-so-subtle accompanying visual allusions to frogs-slash-princes did not set off any "Wow! Looks Like A Great Book!" alarms in my head as my fingers took a stroll through the box of advance copies that arrived last week.

(Actually the cover got the opposite reaction--i.e. a very positive one, indeed--from our female 10 and 15 year-olds when they scampered through the new stack. But then they had to go do their homework and I got to read the book first.)

Whatever you think about the cover (or Chick Lit), THE BOYFRIEND LIST is a delightful and frequently achingly honest tale--warts and all--about what happens when girls and boys meet.

As Ruby Oliver explains within the very first footnote (of the dozens of oft-lengthy footnotes throughout the book):

"I was hoping there'd be a set of guidelines handed out in Sex Ed class, but Sex Ed--when I finally got to take it--was all about biology and birth control and nothing about anything that actually goes on between people. Like how to tell what it means when someone forgets to call you when he said he would, or what to do when someone gropes your boob in a movie theater."

Ruby compiles the boyfriend list on the advice of her "shrink," Doctor Z. She is sent to Dr. Z after experiencing a series of five panic attacks that occur within the same ten day period in which Ruby:

" lost my boyfriend (boy #13)
lost my best friend
lost all my other friends
learned gory details about my now-ex-boyfriend's sexual adventures
did something shockingly advanced with boy #15
did something suspicious with boy #10
had an argument with boy #14
drank my first beer
got caught by my mom
lost a lacrosse game
failed a math test
hurt Meghan's feelings
became a leper
and became a famous slut"

The titles of the fifteen chapters that comprise THE BOYFRIEND LIST (15 GUYS, 11 SHRINK APPOINTMENTS, 4 CERAMIC FROGS AND ME, RUBY OLIVER) are the same as the fifteen listings of the boyfriend list. In these fifteen chapters Ruby recounts for Doctor Z the history of her relationships with boys, going all the way back to the little boy she used to stare at in preschool. As the proverbial "fly on the wall," (which happens to be the title of Emily Lockhart's next book), readers are treated to an intimate look at Ruby Oliver's trial-and-error adolescent lessons in human relationships.

From my post-adolescent perspective, so much of what I see in Ruby's relationships with her peers is strikingly similar to what I went through and/or observed with my own contemporaries.

Of course, now that we're all grown up, we don't have to deal with those relationship problems any more. In fact, most of our kids get their first lessons in boy-girl relationships from observing the harmonious interactions between the parental units. Ruby (Roo) has quite a pair to watch:

"I told my parents about the breakup on Sunday at dinner. I had to explain because my mom asked why my eyes were all puffy.
"Mom: 'Oh, I never liked him anyway. He's a horrible boy. I'm going to call his mother!'
"Me: 'Ag! Please don't do that!'
"Dad: 'Elaine, she needs to come to a place of forgiveness. Otherwise she'll never move on.'
"Mom: 'It just happened. She needs to vent. She needs to express her anger.'
"Me: 'Mom, I--'
"Mom: 'Roo, be quiet. She needs to raise her voice and be heard!'
"Dad: 'I wonder how Jackson is feeling right now. Roo, can you think about his perspective, come to an understanding of his position? Because that's the way you'll truly transcend the negativity of this experience.
"Mom: 'I never liked the way he'd honk the horn for you without coming in. What kind of manners is that?' "

So take a nature walk through the horror and zaniness that is the teenage life of Ruby Oliver.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com