Cover:
Bibliographic
Information:
Title:
Author:
ISBN:
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf/ Random House Children’s’ Books
Copyright: 2006
Reader’s
Annotation:
A night
of infinite possibilities begins with a proposition of 5 minutes.
Plot
Summary:
Nick and his band are performing at a club in New
York City on a Saturday night, when he spots Tris, his ex-girlfriend. In order
to make her jealous, Nick propositions a stranger, Norah, to pose as his new
girlfriend for five minutes, and Norah obliges.
Norah goes to school with Tris, and quickly realizes she knows all about
Nick, the songs he wrote for Tris, the playlists he made for her, and the
devotion he showed her. Norah wants this
for herself. Norah asks Nick to help her
get her friend, Carolyn, who is drunk, home safely. When Nick’s bandmates see Nick and Norah
together, they agree to take Carolyn home, while Nick and Norah go on a
date. Norah is also getting over her ex,
Tal, who is also there that night. Nick
and Norah go to another club, where they talk, dance, drink virgin drinks, and
make out. Norah gets spooked, leaves
Nick at the club, and gets into a cab, realizing she is still wearing Nick’s
jacket. Nick realizes Norah has his
phone, so he calls it, apologizes, finds where she is, and goes to meet her. Tris shows up, give Norah some pointers to
winning Nick over, and then Nick and Norah go explore Manhattan until Saturday
becomes Sunday.
Critical
Evaluation:
Nick and Norah are the two main characters in the
story, so predictably they are the two most developed. When the book opens, all we know about Nick
is he is in a band, and he sees his ex at a show; when we first see Norah, we
do not even know she is Norah. Over the
course of the book, both of these characters are very well developed, both in
their own narrative voices and in the narrative voice of each other. The development of these two characters is
definitely a strength of the book. The
secondary characters were a little two numerous, however, and slightly
cluttered the story. Tris and Tal, the
exes of our main characters, are sufficiently developed to the point where we
understand their impact on Nick and Norah’s budding romance; the rest of the
secondary characters (such as Nick’s bandmates, the other bands performing, and
Carolyn) may be intended to help set the scene, but instead seem to clutter the
landscape of the story.
Because this book is a collaboration by two
different authors, two different styles of writing exist within the text. Each author writes from the point of view of
one of the narrators (Nick or Norah), which gives each of them a distinct
voice. The narration switches each
chapter, typically with some overlap of the proceeding scene. This switching narrative helps the story feel
balanced; we get to hear the internal thoughts of both narrators, and see both
of their reactions to the same dialogue.
The scenes and dialogue in the book seems real, and genuine; the
characters face issues that would be typical of older teens, such as
heartbreak, college decisions, and difficult friendships. The way Nick and Norah speak feels genuine as
well.
The plot of the story is surprisingly fast moving,
for the book focusing only on one night.
The nuances of the events that unfold throughout the night make the very
constrained timeframe work well. There
is no real lag in the plot, nor is the plot overly predictable, even despite
the somewhat happy ending.
The story is set in New York City, but the setting
seemed secondary to the story. New York
is such an iconic city, it would be easy to have it play a much larger role in
the story, particularly since this story is set over the course of one night
all over the city. Instead of the
setting giving the story that iconic feel, however, it ended up being an
afterthought, almost as if the authors picked it haphazardly, and sprinkled
references in for the purposes of continuity only.
In
summary, Cohn and Levithan craft a compelling story, with two strong main
characters. In general, the writing
style draws the reader in. However,
there are some weaknesses in the development of secondary characters, and in
setting the scene of the story.
Author
Biography:
Rachel Cohn (from
author’s Amazon page)
The great wish of my adolescence was to be diagnosed with
scoliosis. Then I would be like Deenie. I LOVED the book "Deenie" by
Judy Blume. I wanted to look like Deenie; I wanted her disease; I even wanted
to live in Deenie's town, Elizabeth, New Jersey, a short hop from my dream
destination, New York City. Although now that I live in Manhattan as an adult
(with a fairly normal spine, I'm told), Elizabeth, New Jersey is more known to
me as the place with the long lines at IKEA instead of as the hometown of
Deenie. Like Deenie, my priorities eventually shifted.
I never did get that scoliosis diagnosis, but from my favorite childhood authors such as Judy Blume, E.L. Konigsburg and Ellen Conford, I did get inspiration for another goal: to write. I can't remember a time when I wasn't trying to create stories. When I started seriously writing fiction, I didn't set out to write specifically for young adults, but as my writing matured, it became clear that when I got stuck writing in teen voices, it was a good place to be stuck. The author question I get asked most often now is how I am able to write from the perspective of a teenager, as if I were in that character's head. The honest answer is, I don't know. I try not to think about it too much, for fear of ruining it. But I do feel like I can readily channel my own teenage self and tap into those feelings, and that's something I try to convey through the written word.
When teen readers write to me now telling me how much they relate to characters I've created -- Cyd Charisse in "Gingerbread" and "Shrimp," Annabel and Lucy in "The Steps" and "Two Steps Forward," or Wonder in "Pop Princess" -- I think, I relate, too: I wanted to be Deenie!
David Levithan (from
author’s Amazon page)
I find it downright baffling to write about myself, which is
why I’m considering it somewhat cruel and usual to have to write this brief bio
and to update it now and then. The factual approach (born '72, Brown '94, first
book '03) seems a bit dry, while the emotional landscape (happy childhood,
happy adolescence - give or take a few poems - and happy adulthood so far)
sounds horribly well-adjusted. The only addiction I’ve ever had was a brief
spiral into the arms of diet Dr Pepper, unless you count My So-Called Life
episodes as a drug. I am evangelical in my musical beliefs.
Luckily, I am much happier talking about my books than I am talking about myself. My first novel, Boy Meets Boy, started as a story I wrote for my friends for Valentine's Day (something I’ve done for the past twenty-two years and counting) and turned itself into a teen novel. When not writing during spare hours on weekends, I am editorial director at Scholastic, and the founding editor of the PUSH imprint, which is devoted to finding new voices and new authors in teen literature. (Check it out at www.thisispush.com.)
With Boy Meets Boy, I basically set out to write the book that I dreamed of getting as an editor - a book about gay teens that doesn't conform to the old norms about gay teens in literature (i.e. it has to be about a gay uncle, or a teen who gets beaten up for being gay, or about outcasts who come out and find they're still outcasts, albeit outcasts with their outcastedness in common.) I’m often asked if the book is a work of fantasy or a work of reality, and the answer is right down the middle - it's about where we're going, and where we should be. Of Boy Meets Boy, the reviewer at Booklist wrote: "In its blithe acceptance and celebration of human differences, this is arguably the most important gay novel since Annie on My Mind and seems to represent a revolution in the publishing of gay-themed books for adolescents" - which pretty much blew me away when I read it. Viva la revolution!
My second book, The Realm of Possibility, is about twenty teens who all go to the same high school, and how their lives interconnect. Each part is written in its own style, and I’m hoping they all add up to a novel that conveys all the randomness and intersection that goes on in our lives – two things I’m incredibly fascinated by. The book is written in both poetry and linebroken prose – something I never dreamed I would write. But I was inspired by writers such as Virginia Euwer Wolff, Billy Merrell, Eireann Corrigan, and Marie Howe to try it. It is often said that reading is the greatest inspiration to writing, and this is definitely the case for me.
My third novel, Are We There Yet?, is about two brothers who are tricked into taking a trip to Italy together. The natural questions to ask when faced with this summary are: (a) Do you have a brother? (Yes.); (b) Is he the brother in the book? (He’s neither brother in the book.); (c) Have you been to Italy? (Yes.); (d) Which city was your favorite? (Venice.); (e) Is this based on your trip there? (The sights are, but the story isn’t; the whole time I was there, I took notes in my notebook, not knowing exactly what they’d be for.)
Marly’s Ghost, my fourth novel, is a Valentine’s Day retelling of A Christmas Carol, illustrated by my friend Brian Selznick. To write it, I went through A Christmas Carol and remixed it – took phrases and themes and created a new version, centering around a boy named Ben whose girlfriend, Marly, has just died. When he looks like he’s giving up on life, Marly reappears in ghost form – and sends some other ghosts to get him to embrace life again. It was a hard book to write – it’s about both love and grief, two very difficult things to capture truthfully. But I genuinely don’t see any reason to write a book if it doesn’t feel like a challenge.
My next book came unexpectedly. My friend Rachel Cohn proposed that we write a back-and-forth novel, with her writing from a girl’s perspective and me writing from a boy’s. The result is Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, a kick- butt love story that we wrote over a summer without really planning it out. It just happened, and it was one of the best writing experiences I ever had. It has even been bought for the movies – stay tuned on that front.
A different kind of collaboration is The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities, an anthology I co-edited with my best friend Billy Merrell. It contains true stories from LGBTQ writers under the age of 23, and the Lambda Award for Best LBGTQ Children’s/Teen Book.
Other anthologies I’ve edited or co-edited include: 21 Proms, a collection of prom stories by YA authors, co-edited with Daniel Ehrenhaft; Friends, an anthology of middle-grade friendship stories, co-edited with Ann M. Martin; and three PUSH anthologies of the best young writers and artists in America: You Are Here, This Is Now (2002), Where We Are, What We See (2005), We Are Quiet, We Are Loud (2008). Another PUSH anthology is This is PUSH, featuring new work from all of the authors who’ve written for PUSH.
My sixth novel, Wide Awake, starts with the election of the first gay Jewish president, and is about two boyfriends who must go to Kansas when the election results are threatened. In many ways, it's a "sequel in spirit" to Boy Meets Boy, since it's about many of the same things - love, friendship tolerance, and taking a stand for what you believe in. It was written right after the 2004 election, and published right before the 2006 election, which made me hope that a gay Jewish president was a closer reality than I might have thought. (No, I have no intention to run. But if you read the book now, it’s sometimes how eerie how it echoes the 2008 race.)
My second collaboration with Rachel Cohn, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, was inspired by a phrase my best friend Nick and I came up with after he moved to New York City. It’s about a straight girl and a gay boy who’ve been best friends forever . . . but have to deal with a lot of things that have gone unsaid after the boy (Ely) kisses the girl’s (Naomi’s) boyfriend. This time, Rachel and I decided to rotate the point of view between a number of characters, not just the titular two. The result was harder to write, but just as fun to create.
How They Met, and Other Stories, was published in 2008, which happened to be the twentieth anniversary of my Valentine Story tradition. It contains a few stories I wrote in high school and college, and more that I wrote more recently, some for anthologies, and some just for myself and my friends.
The first series I ever worked on (as a writer) is Likely Story, which I wrote with two of my friends, Chris Van Etten and David Ozanich, under the pen name David Van Etten. Chris and David both have experience working on soap operas, and had the idea for a TV show about the daughter of a soap opera diva who ends up running a soap opera of her own. I know nothing about writing a TV show, so I said, “Hey, that would be fun to write as a series of books, too!” And, voila!, Likely Story was born. It was a blast to write, and the main character, Mallory, is one of my favorites yet.
In 2009, Knopf published Love is the Higher Law. It's the story of three teenagers in New York on 9/11, and how their lives intertwine in the days and weeks and months that follow. I know this sounds grim, but it's really the story of things coming together even as it feels like the world is falling apart — because that's how it felt to be in New York at that time, both tragic because of the events that happened and magical in the way that everyone became their better selves in the face of it. It's a love story between friends, a love story for a city, and a love story for love itself, and the way it can get us through things, however daunting or shocking they may be. Or at least that's what I aimed for. I hope you'll read it and let me know if I got there.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson started, in many ways, back in college, when I kept being mistaken for another student named David Leventhal. He was a beautiful dancer; I was not. So people would continually come up to me and say things like, “I saw you on stage last night – who would have thought you could be so graceful?” And I’d have to say, “Um…that wasn’t me.” Our paths finally crossed at the end of school, and we became best friends when we both moved to New York City – him to dance, me to edit and write. Fast forward ten years or so – I had the idea to write a book about two boys with the same name, and called my friend John Green about it. He said yes on the spot, and it took us five years from first conversation to publication day. The result? A novel about identity, love, and what it’s like to make a musical out of your own life. You know, the universal themes.
My third novel with Rachel Cohn, called Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, came out in October 2010. It's a romantic cat-and-mouse chase through New York, with a special shoutout to The Strand, a bookstore I am particularly fond of.
The Lover's Dictionary, my first novel about post-teenagers, was published by FSG at the start of 2011. It's the story of a relationship told entirely in dictionary form. Once again, this started out as a Valentine's Day story, and grew from there. I'd often been asked if it would be different to write about adults than it is to write about teens, and I learned that, no, there isn't any difference. A story is a story. And when I write, I'm not thinking of audience -- just of being true to the story. My hope is Lover's Dictionary is as honest as I can be,
Upcoming? A different kind of YA collaboration for me -- a novel I wrote based on photographs my friend Jonathan Farmer gave me. I never knew which photo would come next, and he never knew what I was writing. The result is a very strange, somewhat dark, portrait of a boy on the verge of a complete breakdown. It's called Every You, Every Me, and it will be published in fall 2011.
Luckily, I am much happier talking about my books than I am talking about myself. My first novel, Boy Meets Boy, started as a story I wrote for my friends for Valentine's Day (something I’ve done for the past twenty-two years and counting) and turned itself into a teen novel. When not writing during spare hours on weekends, I am editorial director at Scholastic, and the founding editor of the PUSH imprint, which is devoted to finding new voices and new authors in teen literature. (Check it out at www.thisispush.com.)
With Boy Meets Boy, I basically set out to write the book that I dreamed of getting as an editor - a book about gay teens that doesn't conform to the old norms about gay teens in literature (i.e. it has to be about a gay uncle, or a teen who gets beaten up for being gay, or about outcasts who come out and find they're still outcasts, albeit outcasts with their outcastedness in common.) I’m often asked if the book is a work of fantasy or a work of reality, and the answer is right down the middle - it's about where we're going, and where we should be. Of Boy Meets Boy, the reviewer at Booklist wrote: "In its blithe acceptance and celebration of human differences, this is arguably the most important gay novel since Annie on My Mind and seems to represent a revolution in the publishing of gay-themed books for adolescents" - which pretty much blew me away when I read it. Viva la revolution!
My second book, The Realm of Possibility, is about twenty teens who all go to the same high school, and how their lives interconnect. Each part is written in its own style, and I’m hoping they all add up to a novel that conveys all the randomness and intersection that goes on in our lives – two things I’m incredibly fascinated by. The book is written in both poetry and linebroken prose – something I never dreamed I would write. But I was inspired by writers such as Virginia Euwer Wolff, Billy Merrell, Eireann Corrigan, and Marie Howe to try it. It is often said that reading is the greatest inspiration to writing, and this is definitely the case for me.
My third novel, Are We There Yet?, is about two brothers who are tricked into taking a trip to Italy together. The natural questions to ask when faced with this summary are: (a) Do you have a brother? (Yes.); (b) Is he the brother in the book? (He’s neither brother in the book.); (c) Have you been to Italy? (Yes.); (d) Which city was your favorite? (Venice.); (e) Is this based on your trip there? (The sights are, but the story isn’t; the whole time I was there, I took notes in my notebook, not knowing exactly what they’d be for.)
Marly’s Ghost, my fourth novel, is a Valentine’s Day retelling of A Christmas Carol, illustrated by my friend Brian Selznick. To write it, I went through A Christmas Carol and remixed it – took phrases and themes and created a new version, centering around a boy named Ben whose girlfriend, Marly, has just died. When he looks like he’s giving up on life, Marly reappears in ghost form – and sends some other ghosts to get him to embrace life again. It was a hard book to write – it’s about both love and grief, two very difficult things to capture truthfully. But I genuinely don’t see any reason to write a book if it doesn’t feel like a challenge.
My next book came unexpectedly. My friend Rachel Cohn proposed that we write a back-and-forth novel, with her writing from a girl’s perspective and me writing from a boy’s. The result is Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, a kick- butt love story that we wrote over a summer without really planning it out. It just happened, and it was one of the best writing experiences I ever had. It has even been bought for the movies – stay tuned on that front.
A different kind of collaboration is The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities, an anthology I co-edited with my best friend Billy Merrell. It contains true stories from LGBTQ writers under the age of 23, and the Lambda Award for Best LBGTQ Children’s/Teen Book.
Other anthologies I’ve edited or co-edited include: 21 Proms, a collection of prom stories by YA authors, co-edited with Daniel Ehrenhaft; Friends, an anthology of middle-grade friendship stories, co-edited with Ann M. Martin; and three PUSH anthologies of the best young writers and artists in America: You Are Here, This Is Now (2002), Where We Are, What We See (2005), We Are Quiet, We Are Loud (2008). Another PUSH anthology is This is PUSH, featuring new work from all of the authors who’ve written for PUSH.
My sixth novel, Wide Awake, starts with the election of the first gay Jewish president, and is about two boyfriends who must go to Kansas when the election results are threatened. In many ways, it's a "sequel in spirit" to Boy Meets Boy, since it's about many of the same things - love, friendship tolerance, and taking a stand for what you believe in. It was written right after the 2004 election, and published right before the 2006 election, which made me hope that a gay Jewish president was a closer reality than I might have thought. (No, I have no intention to run. But if you read the book now, it’s sometimes how eerie how it echoes the 2008 race.)
My second collaboration with Rachel Cohn, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, was inspired by a phrase my best friend Nick and I came up with after he moved to New York City. It’s about a straight girl and a gay boy who’ve been best friends forever . . . but have to deal with a lot of things that have gone unsaid after the boy (Ely) kisses the girl’s (Naomi’s) boyfriend. This time, Rachel and I decided to rotate the point of view between a number of characters, not just the titular two. The result was harder to write, but just as fun to create.
How They Met, and Other Stories, was published in 2008, which happened to be the twentieth anniversary of my Valentine Story tradition. It contains a few stories I wrote in high school and college, and more that I wrote more recently, some for anthologies, and some just for myself and my friends.
The first series I ever worked on (as a writer) is Likely Story, which I wrote with two of my friends, Chris Van Etten and David Ozanich, under the pen name David Van Etten. Chris and David both have experience working on soap operas, and had the idea for a TV show about the daughter of a soap opera diva who ends up running a soap opera of her own. I know nothing about writing a TV show, so I said, “Hey, that would be fun to write as a series of books, too!” And, voila!, Likely Story was born. It was a blast to write, and the main character, Mallory, is one of my favorites yet.
In 2009, Knopf published Love is the Higher Law. It's the story of three teenagers in New York on 9/11, and how their lives intertwine in the days and weeks and months that follow. I know this sounds grim, but it's really the story of things coming together even as it feels like the world is falling apart — because that's how it felt to be in New York at that time, both tragic because of the events that happened and magical in the way that everyone became their better selves in the face of it. It's a love story between friends, a love story for a city, and a love story for love itself, and the way it can get us through things, however daunting or shocking they may be. Or at least that's what I aimed for. I hope you'll read it and let me know if I got there.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson started, in many ways, back in college, when I kept being mistaken for another student named David Leventhal. He was a beautiful dancer; I was not. So people would continually come up to me and say things like, “I saw you on stage last night – who would have thought you could be so graceful?” And I’d have to say, “Um…that wasn’t me.” Our paths finally crossed at the end of school, and we became best friends when we both moved to New York City – him to dance, me to edit and write. Fast forward ten years or so – I had the idea to write a book about two boys with the same name, and called my friend John Green about it. He said yes on the spot, and it took us five years from first conversation to publication day. The result? A novel about identity, love, and what it’s like to make a musical out of your own life. You know, the universal themes.
My third novel with Rachel Cohn, called Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, came out in October 2010. It's a romantic cat-and-mouse chase through New York, with a special shoutout to The Strand, a bookstore I am particularly fond of.
The Lover's Dictionary, my first novel about post-teenagers, was published by FSG at the start of 2011. It's the story of a relationship told entirely in dictionary form. Once again, this started out as a Valentine's Day story, and grew from there. I'd often been asked if it would be different to write about adults than it is to write about teens, and I learned that, no, there isn't any difference. A story is a story. And when I write, I'm not thinking of audience -- just of being true to the story. My hope is Lover's Dictionary is as honest as I can be,
Upcoming? A different kind of YA collaboration for me -- a novel I wrote based on photographs my friend Jonathan Farmer gave me. I never knew which photo would come next, and he never knew what I was writing. The result is a very strange, somewhat dark, portrait of a boy on the verge of a complete breakdown. It's called Every You, Every Me, and it will be published in fall 2011.
Genre(s):
Romance, Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Romance, Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Curriculum
Ties:
Pennsylvania
State Standard CC.1.3.9-10.K
Read and comprehend literary fiction on grade
level, reading independently and proficiently.
Booktalk
Ideas:
A discussion on the concept of toxic relationships
versus healthy relationships
Discuss
how music captures the feeling of a memory, and describe your own personal
soundtrack
Reading
Level:
Lexile 1020L
Interest
Age:
Age 14 and up
Challenge
Issues:
This book could possibly be challenged due to teen sexuality, adult language, scenes of teen substance use/abuse, or homosexual characters
If
this book were challenged I would:
- Listen to the concerns of the person raising the challenge
- Consult the library’s collection development policy
- Explain how this work meets a library need based on the collection development policy
- Consult YALSA’s Dealing with Challenges to Young Adult Materials
- Consult reviews on VOYA, Amazon, Common Sense Media, and Kirkus
- Discuss any awards or notable commendations the book received
- Explain the library’s commitment to intellectual freedom as discussed in the ALA Library Bill of Rights
- Give the patron the procedure for a formal challenge should they seek to pursue it
Why
was this book selected:
I have never been a fan of romances, so I knew I
needed to push myself to include some YA romances in my mini collection. This one is by two notable authors, providing
alternating points of view. I think it
is a good example of YA romance that need not necessarily be too flowery or
cheesy; this is a romance that could appeal to all YA readers, regardless of
gender.
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