Beau, Lee, the Bomb & Me

October 20, 2014
When a life of being violently bullied becomes unbearable, 16-year-old friends Rusty, Leonie, and Beau load up in Rusty's parents' minivan and leave Seattle for San Francisco, where Beau's gay uncle lives. They are happy to leave "Baboon High" in the dustâit's where Rusty was taunted for being overweight, Leonie was slut-shamed by classmates and caught up in a manipulative affair with her English teacher, and Beau was beat up by homophobic bullies. Snarky and bookish, Rusty narrates their quest for solace and acceptance as they travel through small West Coast towns and rescue a stray dog (aka "The Bomb"). McKinley's TV writing and sketch comedy background show in her smart dialogue, and her debut reads like a love letter to the geography of the Northwest. She quickly develops these three outsider characters, exploring how friendships can be forged through common suffering and the role that complacency plays in perpetuating bullying. McKinley puts forth positive messages about being true to oneself and avoiding judging others, though the heavy-handed delivery overwhelms the story at times. Ages 13âup. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary.

October 1, 2014
A road trip from Seattle to San Francisco yields friendship and the best uncles ever. When 16-year-old Rusty sees new boy Beau appear at her school, she's relieved-he'll be "fresh meat" for the bullies who torment Rusty for being fat. She's right; they paint "Die Fag" on Beau's locker and beat him up. Desperate, he decides to run away in search of his gay uncle in San Francisco. Rusty goes with him, as does Lee, a girl who's sex-shamed at school and happens to be sleeping with a teacher. Their road trip is a patchwork of West Coast travelogue (including both nature appreciation and Twilight chatter when they visit Forks, Washington) and snappy narration. The teens' growing fondness for one another is more believable than Rusty's voice, which sometimes feels forced in its snark and is peppered with a hodgepodge of references: David Bowie and Byrne, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Macklemore, SpongeBob. Most textured are Beau's uncle Frankie and his acerbic partner, Oscar, in San Francisco. The uncles bring complexity, realism and AIDS history into a text that's otherwise entertaining but too quick to sum up emotional points ("Sometimes your soul decides who your family is, not just your DNA"). Pair this love letter to the West Coast and to the victims and survivors of the gay American AIDS crisis with David Levithan's Two Boys Kissing (2013). (Fiction. 13-16)

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November 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-It's bad enough being smart or fat in a high school with known bullying issues, Rusty Winters is both. It's even worse to be gay, which is unfortunate for new kid Beau Gales. When Beau arrives, Rusty's first thought is relief when she thinks the school might have someone else to target for a while. But when Rusty and Beau become fast friends, it hits her hard when Beau's bullying escalates to a beating on his way home. Rusty and fellow misfit Leonie readily agree to follow Beau when he decides to run away to San Francisco to ask his gay uncle for advice. This road-trip novel is peppered with nods to The Wizard of Oz that range from clever to heavy-handed. A detour to the town of Forks (of "Twilight" fame) and numerous additional plot points-including the friends deciding how to properly deal with Leonie's molestation by her teacher and others, a car-jacking, and more-force much of the character development off-page in the form of time jumps and informative asides. Lengthy passages about the devastating effects of the AIDS outbreak, often reductive explanations of the gay rights movement, and numerous reminders about the importance of tolerance lend a self-righteous tone to the narrative. While the issues of bullying and gay rights are timely, outmoded pop-culture references and odd slang choices lend a dated feel to this novel. Still, worth a look for those hoping to flesh out their LGBTQ or bullying selections as well as hardcore Oz-philes.-Emma Carbone, Brooklyn Public Library

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