Crush
Author: Carrie Mac
Page Length: 106
Reading Level: 3.4
Genre: Fiction
PLOT SUMMARY: Hope is disappointed when she learns her parents are going to Thailand to build a school and she is being sent to New York to stay a month with her sister, Joy and her loser boyfriend, Bruce. While there, Hope incurs a huge veterinarian bill and must find a job. She becomes a nanny for Maira, who introduces her to Larissa, her gay partner. Although Hope has lived in a commune with her hippie parents her entire life, this is her first introduction to “gay living”. Hope meets Nat, who runs a bike shop, and is attracted to her. The only problem is that Nat is a girl, too. Now, she finds herself apart of the gay community as she strives to determine what her sexuality preference really is.
REVIEW: This book was well written as it deals with a teen girl’s struggle to identify her sexual preference. The writing is so descriptive that the reader can feel the emotions Hope deals with as she tries to decide what is real and what is imagined. Although the parents are presented very liberal, I thought their immediate acceptance to Hope and Nat’s relationship, was unrealistic. Although gay relationship is evidenced openly in our society today, I would question having this book on the shelves in my schoolroom.
TOUCHY AREAS-PAGES: The entire book is about a gay relationship as well as drug use and premarital sex.
AREAS OF TEACHING: Conflict, Compare and Contrast, Imagery (p. 7, 13, 26, 68, 75), Irony, and Character
RELATED BOOKS: Born Confused, Orphea Proud
RELATED WEBSITES:
www.tower.com/crush–carrie–mac-hardcover/wapi/100068174
www.readerviewskids.com/ReviewMacCrush.html
orca.powerwebbook.com/…/TeachersGuides/Orca Soundings/CrushTG.pdf,
www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol12/no21/crush.html
REVIEWED BY: Shirley Wagner
