Clark, Kristin Elizabeth. Freak Boy.

Clark, Kristin Elizabeth.  Freak Boy.  Macmillan/Farrar Strauss  2013  432p  $18.99  ISBN 978-0-374-32472-8  jr/sr      Conflict  E-BN   

Brendan is dating Vanessa, who is puzzled when he becomes distant, since they have always clicked on all levels, including sexually.  Brendan is afraid to tell Vanessa about his sexually conflicted thoughts.  He rejects the term “gay” since he likes sex with Vanessa, and he wonders if he may be transsexual.  As his mind grapples with who he really is, by chance he encounters Angel, a transgender, who works at the local LGBTQ center.  Alternating chapters detail the backgrounds of Angel, Vanessa, and Brendan, written in free-flowing verse that explores the depths of their inner feelings of insecurity and abuse.  This book will remind readers of Ellen Hopkins’s novels.  The free-flowing verse includes short verses hidden within longer verses, verse arranged to become pictures on the page, and succinct writing that will remain with the reader long after the novel is finished.  Words like “gay”, “transgender”, “transsexual”, “genderqueer” and “genderfluid” reveal the vast number of words applied to people who do not fit the “norm” as defined by society.  This is a book that will reassure sexually conflicted teens that they are not alone in their questioning.  And for other teens exploring their sexual selves for the first time, this book demonstrates that insecurities and conflicts exist in all types of sexual relationships.  A list of online and print LGBTQ resources is appended at the end of the novel.

Summary: Brendan is an outstanding wrestler, and his long-running relationship with his girlfriend, Vanessa, is reaching a crossroads.  This is a compelling novel in verse that explores the thoughts of a boy wondering if he is a transsexual.  No graphic sex scenes. Gr 7-12. 

Transgender teens-Fiction, Gender identity-Fiction                --Lois McNicol