Boy Meets Boy

So often when one reads queer literature it is full of one of two things: Sex or despair. This book doesn't do that. It shows a world that could be happy if people would learn to let others live their best possible life. Levithan creates a fantastical world where things are very over the top, but there is a sweetness in what he creates, especially for anyone reading it that identifies somewhere on the LGBT spectrum. This book is touching and heartfelt. It shows what love truly is in a way that most romance novels are incapable of capturing. There is no lewdness here. This book captures what it is like to be a high schooler and trying to find yourself, find your love, and find the right group of friends all while being true to yourself. Levithan also shows us that love has to be shown not mentioned. Love is something that you have to let grow or it will wilt. Also without directly stating in the book he seems to be stating that sometimes drama is good, but one must learn how to control it. I think he has done a beautiful job of writing a Queer Literature book that really does more for the community than many other recent books have. Thank you Mr. Levithan for showcasing that a LGBT book can be more, so much more.

Levithan's objective was to write a little romance about what it could be/should be like when two boys find each other in high school, rather than being the traumatic "coming out"/hazing experience so many actually experience. (Karen)

Tinged with magical realism, Boy Meets Boy offers a perfect world scenario where teens are accepting and understanding of differences. It provides an escape to a place where sexuality is always accepted and right for the individual. Even with the perfect world, Tony's character is fearful is the repercussions of admitting his sexuality to his parents. They are zealously religious and poor Tony feels (and is) trapped.

My only problem with this novel is the cover. I realize it is a love story and blue is a "boy" color, but the combination of a slightly darker baby blue and candy hearts screams femininity and could definitely steer boys away.

Living in a near Utopian town with no real gay or straight scene, “they all got mixed up a while back”, where “P-FLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is as big a draw as the PTA” is young self-aware Paul, the narrator of Boy Meets Boy. Paul is the first self proclaimed gay Class President “vote for me … I’m gay”, he’s always know he’s gay. Full of fascinating characters: Zek the Gystafarian; Infinite Darlene (Daryl Heinsberg) drag queen and star quarterback; Toni, Paul’s best friend (they do each others homework); Joni, Paul’s other best friend and who’s forever breaking up with her boyfriend Ted; Ted who’s the nearest it seems to a homophobe and who’s worst taunt as he addresses Paul “gay boy” sounds almost endearing; this is a true feel-good novel. Paul has broken up with mixed-up Karl, and is now smitten with new boy Noah, but it’s not all plain sailing, and when things go wrong, he enlists the help of all his friends to win him back. I found this a thoroughly absorbing read, funny, quirky, fast paced, and very moving. The relationship Paul enjoys with his friends is particularly appealing, including his best friend Toni, and especially with Noah, how they enjoy just being together, just working silently in each others company. Yes, it is beyond belief and the characters maybe a little categorised, but after all this is fiction, and should simply be enjoyed as such. Pure escapism, highly recommended.

Paul meets Noah and falls in love. But his ex-boyfriend, Kyle, suddenly wants to get back together and his friend Tony is dealing with religious, homophobic parents and needs his support. Cute, sweet, sugary fluff with a happy ending. Enjoyable.

When Paul meets Noah, he falls in love. But he needs to sort out some other relationships as well.

This was really fun. What if our whole world were as accepting as the town where he lived? Although far-fetched, this was a delightful glimpse at what a more open society could be like. I loved the ending.

I certainly get why this book is a favorite for young queer kids. It's nice to read about this sort of idyllic place, where being queer just isn't an issue. The over-the-top picture of this town is actually really fun and interesting. But there was at least one part of my brain that was having trouble suspending disbelief. It would be one thing if it was set in an idyllic WORLD, but it was just one town, in a normal homophobic world, which just didn't seem realistic. But it would be a great escape for a kid that really needed it. Infinite Darlene is actually really well done. Yeah, she's over the top and fabulous, but she's also treated completely respectfully and there's nothing wrong with having an image of some totally over the top trannygirl. That was my only issue with the depiction of the transgirls in the book; they weren't called trans, they were called drag queens, which, given how they were portrayed, just seemed really inaccurate.

I stalled on reading this for a while. That's a pretty common phrase coming out of my lips lately, and I think it's because quite often it was just the wrong time for me and that particular book. The first time I picked this up, I turned my nose up a little. This time I read it -- from the beginning, since it'd been a while -- and loved it.

Yeah, it's unrealistic in the sense that there's widespread acceptance of gay people, and whatever, but it doesn't dismiss the problems totally either. Tony, one of the main characters, has to get his parents to accept him, and they express the same opinions as a lot of gay people face from their parents. There's truth in here as well as good fun, and the other thing is that it deals with heartache and confusion when it comes to relationships in a very truthful way -- showing that it's the same no matter whether you're gay or straight, in the end.

It has a lovely happy ending, and it helps that I know the song 'Tony' (Patti Griffin) which inspired it, and love and hate the song in equal measure (it always makes me sad).

It's not like the Trevor project, saying 'it will get better', because you know? For some kids it won't. Some kids get killed by their homophobic families. Some kids kill themselves because they can't hold out for that promised 'better'. Some kids grow up and replay the memories of the bad stuff in their heads over and over again, because PTSD isn't something you grow out of. But it's saying things should be better, and maybe the world could be like this one day.

I'm all for it, personally. Infinite Darlene would annoy the heck of me in person, but I want her to exist and to be happy.

The first thing I gotta say is, I'm mad at myself for not reading this the moment it arrived in the mail!

The other first thing I gotta say is, I want to go to this high school!!! There should be a television show about this high school because I would watch the hell out of it!

This book was just beautiful. I loved the story and the characters. It's about Paul, who is best friends with Joni and Tony, ex-boyfriends with Kyle, and very interested in the new boy, Noah.

Let's talk about Paul. This kid is really put together. And what I mean is, he comes from a loving home with understanding and fun-loving parents and a pretty cool older brother. They all accept Paul and his friends for who and what they are, no questions asked. Besides typical teenaged angst, Paul is very secure in who he is. He's out, he's dated boys in junior high and high school; he's even had his heart-broken. He's the kid all parents wish their kids could be, without him seeming ridiculously fake. He's a good person with family and friends. He goes to school and does well, he participates in school plays and helps to plan school functions. He's supportive of his friends. And, most important, he makes mistakes.

Then we have Tony who is gay and sort of out, but he has devout Christian parents who pray for his soul and fear that he is headed straight for hell if he doesn't get back on the right path. But the catch is, they truly, truly love their child. They haven't thrown him out or tried to send him to a facility to geared to force him straight. But they do continuously pray for his salvation, they are strict about what activities he can participate in, they (sort of) screen his friends and get super excited whenever a girl is mentioned. Tony is so sad and I just want to hug him and adopt him as my own child. His parents mean well, but they haven't gotten to the point where (good parents) realize that loving your child means letting them be who they are and not who you wish they would be.

There's Joni, who loses her damn mind a few chapters into the book. She becomes the epitome of love making you ditch your family and friends and making you do stupid things. She, in my opinion, is a bad friend, and she gets no redemption from me.

Kyle is Paul's ex who broke up with him when being gay and in a relationship freaked him out. He gets halfway to redemption in my book because (and I can only imagine) having an identity crisis at 15-16 years old is insane and would make you do crazy, stupid things that teenagers often do, and then later regret.

And Noah is the new boy in town who is sweet and artsy and has been hurt before. I just wanted to hug him as well because he has the travelling-for-work-parents. They're never really home and have moved him and his sister around quite a bit. He doesn't even realize what he's looking for when he meets Paul and gets a little freaked-out himself. Only he handles his freak-out much better than Kyle did.

Infinite Darlene. She is a drag queen, the star quarter back, and the homecoming queen. 'Nough said.

There are more characters that I won't get into. But they are all wonderfully written. I feel like we were given a glimpse of who they all are as people and teenagers just struggling to get through high school life. The story is funny and sad and sweet and lovely. All-in-all this is a well-written tale of old love, new love, friendship, betrayal, growth and redemption. While I wish it was longer, the length was perfect. It left me wanting more, but I wasn't left unsatisfied.

This book takes you on a journey through your emotions. This is a great read for anybody. It is an insightful and uplifting love story. Even though most of this book seems unrealistic, it is a refreshing, fun, creative read.

If my teenage self would have read this book I’m sure he would have giggled in excitement, older me it’s not so impressed. Magic realism aside, the characters are a bit annoying, they put themselves in situations were they don’t fully get the scoop of their consequences and then everything gets resolved rather quickly. Except one of the main friends, whose story never really resolves. In the end it’s a cutesy story about a gay kid and the boy he met. The kudos I gave it is that the main problem is not centered about being gay and that’s refreshing, especially for an early 2000s ya book.

BTW the full on cast audiobook is impressive.

Boy Meets Boy is a wonderful story about Paul, his friends and classmates, and the boy he falls in love with, set in an a sort of gay utopia where the homecoming queen and captain of the football team are one and the same. A place where sexuality is accepted, where the Boy Scouts become Joy Scouts after the boy scouts decided gays weren't accepted, and where acceptance is unconditional.This is the first of David Levithan's book that I've read and I will definitely be reading more! His writing is witty and humorous, and the characters just came to life off the page. Boy Meets Boy is just a really fun teen romance.

Paul is a sophomore in high school, but it's not a high school like one you'll probably see anywhere. From the drag queen quarterback who is also the homecoming queen to the cheerleaders who ride on Harleys to the quiz bowling team that competes in competitions where they bowl while yelling out trivia answers, this school is far from typical. And when Paul meets Noah, he suddenly feels out of his element - he knows he likes Noah but just isn't sure how to make a move, especially when he can't seem to find him again at school.

Honestly, I thought this was a cute story, but it was also one with which I had difficulty to engage. The town and the school are so obviously fictional that it was hard to take the story seriously. I almost found myself tagging this with 'fantasy' for that very reason. But if you can look past that, there is a complicated story of young romance here that is worth a read.

It's a good story but as an adult, it's very junior high. It does read much better than the audio book.

An interesting and wonderful book about one of the aspects of growing up: the definition of who the main character Paul becomes when he falls in love with Noah.

One of the things I found fascinating about this story is that even in a 'Gaytopia', where coming out is (mostly) not required because all variations of sexuality are accepted, the struggle about who these teenagers are and what happens when they fall in love is pretty much the same as in the 'normal' world we all know. I think that is part of its charm: it shows young GLBTQI people what life might be like if they were fully accepted. It reassures them in a very unique way that the reasons they might feel awkward at times isn't just the fact that they're GLBTQI. It's the fact that they are growing up.

I recommend this book to all young people and their parents as well as members of the GLBTQI community.

The first thing I gotta say is, I'm mad at myself for not reading this the moment it arrived in the mail!

The other first thing I gotta say is, I want to go to this high school!!! There should be a television show about this high school because I would watch the hell out of it!

This book was just beautiful. I loved the story and the characters. It's about Paul, who is best friends with Joni and Tony, ex-boyfriends with Kyle, and very interested in the new boy, Noah.

Let's talk about Paul. This kid is really put together. And what I mean is, he comes from a loving home with understanding and fun-loving parents and a pretty cool older brother. They all accept Paul and his friends for who and what they are, no questions asked. Besides typical teenaged angst, Paul is very secure in who he is. He's out, he's dated boys in junior high and high school; he's even had his heart-broken. He's the kid all parents wish their kids could be, without him seeming ridiculously fake. He's a good person with family and friends. He goes to school and does well, he participates in school plays and helps to plan school functions. He's supportive of his friends. And, most important, he makes mistakes.

Then we have Tony who is gay and sort of out, but he has devout Christian parents who pray for his soul and fear that he is headed straight for hell if he doesn't get back on the right path. But the catch is, they truly, truly love their child. They haven't thrown him out or tried to send him to a facility to geared to force him straight. But they do continuously pray for his salvation, they are strict about what activities he can participate in, they (sort of) screen his friends and get super excited whenever a girl is mentioned. Tony is so sad and I just want to hug him and adopt him as my own child. His parents mean well, but they haven't gotten to the point where (good parents) realize that loving your child means letting them be who they are and not who you wish they would be.

There's Joni, who loses her damn mind a few chapters into the book. She becomes the epitome of love making you ditch your family and friends and making you do stupid things. She, in my opinion, is a bad friend, and she gets no redemption from me.

Kyle is Paul's ex who broke up with him when being gay and in a relationship freaked him out. He gets halfway to redemption in my book because (and I can only imagine) having an identity crisis at 15-16 years old is insane and would make you do crazy, stupid things that teenagers often do, and then later regret.

And Noah is the new boy in town who is sweet and artsy and has been hurt before. I just wanted to hug him as well because he has the travelling-for-work-parents. They're never really home and have moved him and his sister around quite a bit. He doesn't even realize what he's looking for when he meets Paul and gets a little freaked-out himself. Only he handles his freak-out much better than Kyle did.

Infinite Darlene. She is a drag queen, the star quarter back, and the homecoming queen. 'Nough said.

There are more characters that I won't get into. But they are all wonderfully written. I feel like we were given a glimpse of who they all are as people and teenagers just struggling to get through high school life. The story is funny and sad and sweet and lovely. All-in-all this is a well-written tale of old love, new love, friendship, betrayal, growth and redemption. While I wish it was longer, the length was perfect. It left me wanting more, but I wasn't left unsatisfied.

3.5 stars

This is more of a read for teens than adults I think. It’s about the drama of the high school years. It’s very open with sexual orientation so no matter where someone falls in the hetero or QUILTBAG spectrum (so basically everyone alive), there is something to relate to.

*SPOILER* For me, the best part was when they all show up together to pick the one boy up for a date. That was a magic moment, and the rest of the story after that as well.

Leviathan’s idyllic paradise he’s created for the LGBTQIA+ community is saccharine sweet to the point of nausea. Generally, in literature, characters are portrayed as mere mortals with a the regular gamut of virtues, vices, flaws, and flatteries. In this book the characters are almost portrayed as near-perfect aside from the fatal flaw – the Achilles heel – that drives their individual plot. It’s just really weak character development.

Ok, so it's a fairy tale. If one wants to read something very light about an issue that's still unfortunately fairly heavy, this is a good book. But the implausibility & inconsistency of it all was just too much for me, personally.

I mean, never mind that there are no chain stores in the town. What's up with Noah's folks, that the one and only time we see one of them, jet-setters that they are, is in a thrift (? consignment?) store? What's up with all this acceptance and support, but Kyle still being totally messed up just cuz he's bi?

So often when one reads queer literature it is full of one of two things: Sex or despair. This book doesn't do that. It shows a world that could be happy if people would learn to let others live their best possible life. Levithan creates a fantastical world where things are very over the top, but there is a sweetness in what he creates, especially for anyone reading it that identifies somewhere on the LGBT spectrum. This book is touching and heartfelt. It shows what love truly is in a way that most romance novels are incapable of capturing. There is no lewdness here. This book captures what it is like to be a high schooler and trying to find yourself, find your love, and find the right group of friends all while being true to yourself. Levithan also shows us that love has to be shown not mentioned. Love is something that you have to let grow or it will wilt. Also without directly stating in the book he seems to be stating that sometimes drama is good, but one must learn how to control it. I think he has done a beautiful job of writing a Queer Literature book that really does more for the community than many other recent books have. Thank you Mr. Levithan for showcasing that a LGBT book can be more, so much more.

So glad that this book was written. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I love the quirkiness of the characters and place.

Summary: The main character Paul lives in a small and tolerant town in New Jersey while one of his best friends is also gay but stuck in a strict town next to Paul's. Both friends grow relationships with other boys, but not without any of the drama. Both relationships are tested, and fortunately the book ends with everyone being happy regardless of what anyone else thinks.Personal connection: This author co-wrote Will Grayson, will grayson and did a great job of making me have a personal connection with the characters. The book is the perfect balance of romance, drama and is also very informational to teens and how they feel when dealing with relationships and LGBTQ issues.Class use: I would recommend this book to any teenagers but especially ones maybe questioning their sexuality or who don't fully understand those that are questioning themselves. Have students talk openly about LGBTQ issues and relationship issues.

A YA novel in which two openly gay boys fall in love and run into normal rom-com-y obstacles to their relationship. Fun, funny, touching, and written in a smart, compelling voice. While this is a rewarding, entertaining read on the surface, it is probably most remarkable and most interesting because of what it is: a story which treats the teenaged romance between two boys as no different than a teenaged romance between a boy and a girl. Levithan creates an idealized town for his setting where homosexuality is universally accepted and embraced, and this ideal sharply points out the prejudices and injustices of the real world while creating a counterpoint within the novel for the prejudices the characters encounter outside their inclusive town. Recommended.

I just really loved this novel. It was fun, light-hearted and overall enjoyable that had me smiling almost all the time. I needed something like this because it really did do some necessary cheering up for me. I loved all the characters, a plotline was simple, but still not boring at all and messages this book is sending are the ones to think of. All in all, it was a great read.

I have been wanting to read this book forever. I’ve read a couple other books by Levithan (Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Every Day) and really enjoyed them. They are always quirky and fun reads that are heartfelt and entertaining. This book fit that perfectly. It’s quirky, fun, heartfelt, and a good commentary on life in general. Paul has known he was gay since Kindergarten, he’s had a couple of boyfriends but he knows he has met his soulmate in Noah. Him and Noah are perfect together, with Noah at his side life makes sense. Then Paul blows it when he comforts his ex-boyfriend Karl with a kiss. As if things aren't bad enough Paul’s best friend Jodi has started going out with a colossal jerk and won’t even talk to Paul now. Thrown into the mix is poor Tony, Tony is trying to help everyone when really it’s him that needs help. Tony’s parents are absolutely convinced that he will go to hell if they can’t cure his gayness and he is so sick of dealing with that.This is an absolutely hilarious and heartfelt read. It takes a humorous and endearing look at high school life and life in general. I was seriously laughing my butt off at a number of points in this book. Some of it is just so outlandishly funny.Paul goes to a very quirky high school. No one has ever given him trouble about his gayness, the cheerleaders ride Harleys, and the star quarterback (who used to be Daryl) is now called Infinite Darlene and is also the Prom Queen. It is a crazy high school. It’s also surprisingly endearing because despite all the quirkiness it just works so well for all involved. Yes there is a lot of drama here, a lot of high school angst...but it’s dealt with in such a humorous way and with so much grace that it is just a wonderful read.Paul is an incredibly unique character, he is solid in his identity in a way most people never are. His friends love him for it and are a bit jealous. Paul is always trying to fix everything for everyone, and is a bit blind when it comes to taking care of his own issues. His family is wonderfully supportive and funny too.There are a lot of wonderful characters in here. They are all interesting, intriguing, and inherently trying to be good people.As everything starts to fall apart for Paul be finally begins to doubt himself and despair...of course this is when his friends step it up and support him the most. Paul finds maybe that first everything had to fall apart before it could be put back together in a way that totally makes more sense.Tony definitely deserves a shout out as an excellent side character in this book. He is secure in who his is but tired of his parents not accepting that. He makes some incredibly mature decisions throughout the book and really was an absolutely wonderfully wise and supportive character throughout the story.Overall an absolutely fun and entertaining read. This is a funny, quirky, hilarious, and heartfelt book about a crazy high school where everyone is just trying to figure out who they are as people and find a way to be happy. This book is about love, friendship, life, and of course all the hilarity that ensues. It’s one of those books that just makes you feel happy and good to read. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

In the words of Tony: "I honestly couldn't believe that someone like you could exist, or even a town like yours could entirely exist." If I pretend this is written in the present tense then I can say that I wholeheartedly agree. (I also nitpick out of bad habit, so. You know. Expect some possible nitpicking.)

Reading this felt too out of touch with any kind of reality I'm familiar with for me to completely buy into Paul's story, but this is not to say that Boy Meets Boy isn't likable. I can easily point out that Paul lives in a peculiar town where gay teens seem to outnumber the straight kids, where tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality and cross-dressing are part of the norm, where the star quarterback is also the homecoming queen--the list goes on. And wouldn't it be great if we did live in a world where society didn't judge or treat people differently based on their sexual orientation? Or their preference of dress (drag queen Infinite Darlene, for example)? So I can understand why some people, especially LGBT teens, might enjoy escaping into such a story.

And in any case, isn't escapism a reason to read? I love shoving my face into pages of good books and enveloping myself in the lives of characters. But I won't lie: it is difficult to ground myself in Paul's world because I find the amount of approval regarding sexuality overwhelmingly different from what I see and expect in real life. Everything struck me as simple and thus not quite believable. However, there are other aspects to this story that placed a question mark above my head--not out of confusion, but out of "in what instance would this actually happen?" moments.

Regardless how minor (supportive secondary role) her character is, there's Darlene:

Infinite Darlene doesn't have it easy. Being both star quarterback and homecoming queen has its conflicts. And sometimes it's hard for her to fit in.
I can entirely see why Infinite Darlene would have trouble fitting in, and for a multitudes of reasons... and none of those reasons are why Infinite Darlene has issues fitting in. The narration continues:

The other drag queens in our school rarely sit with her at lunch; they say she doesn't take good enough care of her nails, and that she looks a little too buff in a tank top. The football players are a little more accepting, although there was a spot of trouble a year ago when Chuck, the second-string quarterback, fell in love with her and got depressed when she said he wasn't her type.
(If "drag queens" were removed, the first half sounds like usual backtalk I'd hear roaming the halls between girls in my grade school years.)

It took me a little by surprise. Needless to say, no school in which I attended or knew of in grades K-12 had a drag queen posse. Say if I had known or attended one that did, the group would have most likely faced incessant bullying and harassment by some students. I first thought Infinite Darlene's misfit issues would be centered around her high testosterone-filled football team. How well would they accept a drag queen as a member on their team? Instead, she strolls through halls like a Queen Bee of Gossip and still holds down star quarterback position. If anything, it is her alpha-female, catty qualities and flair for drama that are more likely to make people fume.

As a side note: I think it's great that Darlene is accepted for who she is. My thoughts and expectations surrounding how she might be received outside of Paul's far-from-ordinary town, if anything, reflect my views of modern society.

Oh, and then this happens:

The gymnasium doors open and the cheerleaders come riding in on their Harleys. The crowd goes wild.

We are, I believe, the only high school in America with a biker cheerleading team. But I could be wrong. A few years ago, it was decided that having a posse of motorcycles gun around the fields and courts was a much bigger cheer-inducer than any pom-pom routine.

Paul carries on to describe the motorcycles forming into pyramid formation, etc. So how big is your school's budget, Paul? Or were the parents so enthusiastic about their daughters pulling vehicle stunts that they rallied for the school board's approval and paid for the bikes themselves? See, Levithan lost me here, because the environment threw me off. Is this realistic, even slightly? Not in my opinion, but on to topics that actually pertain more to the actual theme:

I've always known I was gay, but it wasn't confirmed until I was in kindergarten.

It was my teacher who said so. It was right there on my kindergarten report card: PAUL IS DEFINITELY GAY AND HAS VERY GOOD SENSE OF SELF.

What is the likelihood of a teacher commenting on a student's sexual orientation? Genuine curiosity, and I imagine the probability might vary from region to region? My elementary teachers limited their focus on classroom behavior and personality quirks. "Raya is a very quiet child," "she is depriving the classroom of insight," "speak more," "diligent," and so on with the usual, "attend class more often, please." But never anything regarding "RAYA IS DEFINITELY STRAIGHT" or "SHE SHOWS NO INTEREST IN EITHER GENDER ON A ROMANTIC LEVEL." Although.

I recall an odd instance in which my step-brother's kindergarten teacher felt it necessary to inform my dad on how his step-son announced that he and another boy student were getting married. Nothing else--no hand-holding, no pecks on the cheek or hugging. Just a comment he made. Would she have called my dad if my step-brother had said he was marrying a female student? Unless a teacher is concerned about inappropriate behavior, I doubt it. So in short, I suppose this part struck me as unlikely but in the realm of possibility? I also don't think a kid's sexual preference is a teacher's business to report on, so...

From there on in it was smooth 'coming-out' transition for Paul. His parents are supportive, he has (had?) a fantastic best friend who defends him at will, and lives--as said--in a generally welcoming community. While I think it's great for a character to feel comfortable and so sure of who he is, I wonder how relatable this makes him. And it's not like all book's characters have similar accepting environments and confidence. Kyle, Paul's ex-boyfriend, is utterly confused about what and who he likes while Tony (Paul's gay BFF) is the child of religious parents and feels his 'true self' caged by his family's intolerance. In a way, due to inferred inner (and outer) conflicts, I think Kyle and Tony would have made a more interesting couple than Paul and Noah.

When I take a look at the book overall, it is difficult for me to not compare it to real life, to society's norms, and especially when gay marriage has been a hot topic for discussion in the U.S. At the same time, Levithan manages to accomplish what I think this book is meant to (for the most part). I don't think Levithan wrote it with the intention of involving the negative beliefs regarding homosexuality that many people still hold. Rather, it's a simple, sweet story about finding your first love and experiencing the bumpy ups and downs of high school life. Yes, the clash between the book's environment versus real life issues catches my attention, but I mostly find Boy Meets Boy lackluster.

I didn't feel too involved with the characters or particularly attached to Paul, and that's what I often seek in books. Paul's troubles are understandable although simple: he develops instant feelings for Noah that eventually grow, but then complications ensue for a short while as Kyle re-emerges into Paul's life. In the mean time, his best friend Joni has decided that her new boyfriend is the best thing in existence and has left Paul feeling abandoned. It's easy to spot the precursors that ultimately calls for the "Everybody Freaks Out" chapter, which leaves Paul in a "My life's in shambles!" sort of state. How is he going sort it all out? I'll leave that mini-adventure for other readers to journey on, though I must say: I am disappointed, once again, by the lack of depth.

What I am pleased about, however, is that not everything and everyone end on perfect terms. Well, not entirely, anyway. In honesty, things still ended a little too hunky-dory for my taste, but they aren't perfect--just on the road to "things are 95% decent and still headed upward," I suppose. One thing that does (intensely) bother me: Joni. She is/was such a large portion of Paul's life, so I feel like her and Paul needed to end on some kind of definitive terms (good or bad). Instead, despite that Joni does show up for Tony, I'm still left wondering what her feelings and thoughts are on de-friending Paul. I know this book isn't focused on Paul and Joni's relationship alone, but she is part of his life and thus deserved more recognition (or so I feel).

If a layer or two of depth had been added to the characters and their interactions, this book would have been more engaging to read.

Boy Meets Boy- David LevithanI really liked this book, it kept me entertained and wanting to read more. The story never slowed down, I never once got bored in this book and I didn't want to put it down and was quite different than my average reads. . It was a very funny book. I did like the storyline and the characters. I really liked how the author put a spin on what the "normal"I loved the main character, he was well written and made me laugh a lot. I was able to relate to him throughout the book andI feel like a made a good friend.The title is cute and the cover is kind of boring in my opinion, but I honestly can't think of anything that would look better. I would read this book again, and I would tell my friends to read it.I'd rate it a 4/5

I was very torn between three and four stars for this because it was very near a 3-1/2 and I truly was unsure of which side I wanted to place it. If I rated this right after I read it I think it may have a 4. I think the deciding factor was how long this book will stay with me. While the affect of the book may last I probably won't be able to identify the source of the affect over time. This was difficult for me to rate. That's in part because it's the second book I've rated following my decision to take a step forward in the attention I give to rating. It's a work in progress.

I loved the writing and will without a doubt read more Levithan. Despite the fact that I've not lived in many cities and communities across the country I'm sure that there's no place where the percentage of the population of an area or school is so highly composed of gays, lesbians and people of non-traditional gender identity and I decided I really liked the affect of that circumstance on this story. I can't explain that very well but I think it was an excellent choice for this story. Despite that aspect of this community the thought processes and the emotional reactions to social interaction were universal. Maybe that was the point, or an important point. The power of the emotions that Paul has for the person he's interested in was very appealing to me. I was very interested in the development of this relationship and the problems along the way and the way they were worked through. The problems and circumstances didn't always seem realistic but the thought and emotional processes did to me. Some of the less realistic circumstances throughout the book and surrounding the high school allowed for a hefty amount of humor. I thought the comedy was well done.
The relationship between Paul and Joni, or perhaps it was just Joni's story itself was of great interest to me also. That was wrapped up in a very tidy manner and left a lot to be resolved, or not - at least examined. But it was a short novel.

If you like coming of age stories you should like this regardless of the importance to you of gender identity topics.

A school where the prom queen is a transgender boy? A school where everyone is accepted as they are? That is the school Paul attends. This was a little too fictional for me but it worked for the story. I did feel sad when his friend Tony felt sad because he was pretending to be something he's not for the sake of his super religious parents. I also like how Paul did different things for his love interest, Noah, to win his heart. Sweet.