I remember times when male protagonists of Young Adult novels struggled with disappointments about getting on a sports team or were war heroes in a historical setting. Now there's a whole range of wonderful novels that feature boys in a wide variety of situations and genres. These heroes prove themselves in ways that are different, difficult, compelling, and will please both male and female readers.
Two new paperbacks absorbed me because of the conflicts and the way the heroes faced them. Edward Bloor's Tangerine (Apple Signature, Scholastic, $4.99; ages 10 and up) begins when Paul Fisher moves to Tangerine, Florida. He finds a strange world where a sinkhole swallows his school, lightning strikes daily and kills a boy at football practice.Paul is haunted the darkness of his football star brother, prejudice because of his poor eyesight, and being drawn to Hispanic growers who know a family warmth Paul only wishes for. In a world where tragedy rules, Paul struggles to remember his own tragic past and to forge a future where truth matters more than perfection.
Adele Griffin's Sons of Liberty (Hyperion, $4.95; ages mature 10 and up) has two young male heroes, Rock and Cliff, who have different approaches to their father's abuse. Rock hopes for approval even if it means "interrupted nights" when he's awakened from sleep to patch a roof. Cliff wants to name the horrors of his father's cruelty and his mother's reactive retreat. Conflict exists within and outside the family. While boys are divided on plans for a resolution and sibling rivalry, they are united in protecting a female friend facing physical abuse, struggling against poverty, and wanting the family warmth that existed in their long ago memories.
David Yaffe, hero of Nancy Werlin's The Killer's Cousin (Delacorte Press, $15.95), is seventeen, has been recently acquitted of murder, and is sent to Boston to live with an aunt, uncle and cousin while he finishes school. As David tries to recover equilibrium, sanity, and sense of self, he's faced with the psychological horrors in his temporary home. His young cousin Lily is terribly disturbed, his aunt and uncle have a bizarre system of communication, and everything seems linked to his memories of the murder he's committed. Tension mounts and parallels grow as David makes connections and attains new understandings about himself, the past, and differences of appearance and reality.
Finn (McElderry, $16.00; ages mature 11 and up) is both title and fifteen year old hero of Katherine Bacon's new novel. Finn, physically and emotionally devastated by the small airplane accident that has killed his parents and sister, is living with his loving grandmother. He has no voice to express past terrors or present torments. This already complicated situation grows because of subplots of a cocaine ring, developing first love with a lifelong friend, and an injured coyote-dog who, like Finn, searches for a place to belong. The subplots unite by the book's end and bring about the healing Finn so desperately needs.
This year my daughter grew into the Young Adult novels I love so much. She, like her mom, likes best the books she can cry over and her very favorite this year was Petey by Ben Mikaelsen (Hyperion, $16.00, ages 10 and up) . The story, based on a true character, begins with Petey's infancy and the sad discovery that there is something very physically wrong. Prevented by accurate diagnosis by historical ignorance, Petey who suffers from cerebral palsy is deemed an idiot and imprisoned for his entire life in institutions. The story is told in a series of the people who grow to love him and how each tragically deserts him after a period of time. (pages 280, ISBN: 0-7868-0426-2, copyright date, 1998)
Louis Sachar's Holes (FSG, $16.00; ages 10 and up) has an unusual hero, Stanley Yelnats. The character's palindrome name is only one clue about the witticism of this novel and the extraordinary talents of the author who takes a seemingly serious plot line and expresses it with humor. Stanley's family has a history of bad luck, so he's not really surprised when accused of a crime he didn't commit and sent to Camp Green Lake, a barren Texas juvenile detention center where he is forced to dig a daily hole five feet tall and five feet wide. There, amid the threats of cruel jailers, scorpions, seemingly pointless punishment, and unending heat and thirst, Stanley finds friendship, answers, and redemption for his entire family.
Readers looking for the new Roald Dahl may have finally found their writer in J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Scholastic, $16.95; ages 8 and up) has won numerous accolades in England and is first in a series. Harry Potter, the hero, is an admirable underdog. As an infant, he survived an attack by the powerful evil sorcerer who killed both his parents. After their deaths, Harry has been forced to live with his cruel and demeaning relatives, the Durseys until he leaves to attend magician's school. In a parallel world, Harry makes startling discoveries like his innate talents as broom jockey and star of the complicated Quidditch game, people who admire him for the mystique that surrounds him and others who love him for who he is. Ingredients of magic, mystery, humor, adventure, and fantasy weave a spell that will enchant the entire family.