Brian Katcher

Katcher flawlessly channels the worried and confused voice of a straight teenage boy in this honest and uncompromising take on transgender love. High-school senior Logan is stunned when outgoing new girl Sage reveals she is biologically a boy after they kiss for the first time. Logan realistically cycles through denial, anger and anxiety, finally reaching acceptance but constantly wondering whether he is brave enough to shrug off the deeply ingrained conventions of his rural upbringing. Sage is just as candidly drawn, struggling to balance her fear of being found out with her need to be seen as a “normal” girl. Domestic drama and personal tragedy ensue, and while the ending is not necessarily a happy one, both characters come full circle and begin to better understand both themselves and each other. The author tackles issues of homophobia, hate crimes and stereotyping with humor and grace in an accessible tone that will resonate with teens who may not have encountered the issue of transgender identity before. An excellent companion piece to Ellen Wittlinger’s Parrotfish (2007) and Jean Ferris’s Eight Seconds (2000). (Fiction. 14 & up)

-Kirkus Review… (mer)

Marley may be dead, but he's as much a character as anyone in this book. In fact, he reminds me of folks I've sat in AA meetings with over the years, crusty on the outside, but scratch them and you find they're filled with the marshmallow of regret. If our dead loved ones live on through our memories, then Marley is alive as anyone in the story. His unexpected death in a motorcycle accident hit his nephews the hardest. They, along with the Vanessa and Jessica, semi and not so semi love interests, all suffer from what I'll call the Fizbin of self-doubt. Aaron is held hostage by fear...fear that his beliefs aren't enough, fear that his adoption might somehow dissolve, leaving him alone. Kyler's albatross is his having been sickly in his infant years ailments that still have his mother keeping him in metaphorical diapers.
When the two boys spend time at Marley's fishing camp, a fond place for Kyler, but one Aaron never got a chance to visit, they're surprised by a scruffy dude who doesn't know they're there, and after they chase him off, Kyler finds an envelope with numerical clues. It's Jessica who realizes they're GPS coordinates and what ensues is a road trip to a park in South Carolina that unfolds like a Hope and Crosby road picture crossed with PG rated Bonnie and Clyde.
All four teens come to interesting realizations during this adventure and, while it at first seems like they've lost, the opposite is true and the book ends with a neat teaser. I hope that turns into a second book.… (mer)