Guy Friday- The Club and Ultraviolet

Walters, Eric. The Club

March 2, 2024 by DCB Young Readers

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

**Necessary Spoilers**

Jaxson is a talented trumper player who loves band, although his best friend Logan gives him a hard time about it and wants him to join the basketball team. Over the summer, Jaxson has been texting Samantha, and is excited to begin 8th grade with a girlfriend, even though he's not entirely sure what that entails. A girl new to the school, Liv, also plays trumpet, and she and Jax find an instant connection. She's a talented player as well, but forthright and funny. She doesn't brook any nonsense from the popular girls who are mean to her and ask if she's in 6th grade. Logan admires her as well, and soon has a little crush on her. The band director, Ms. Hooper, has Jax and Liv prepare a duet for a school assembly, and the two are evenly matched in playing levels. Liv even loans Jax her expensive trumpet. When their mothers meet, they instantly connect as well. Even though their styles are very different (Liv's mother is a cybersecurity expert who is a minimalist, and Jax's mother is a college art professor who embraces a more artistic chaos), the two have a lot in common. They remark on how similar Jax and Liv look. Unfortunately, it turns out that Liv is enrolled in the wrong school, and has to leave, and it looks like the music program might get cut. Jax has problems trying to figure out how to balance his friendship with Liv and his relationship with Samantha when surprising information comes to light: both Liv and Jax's mother used a donor to have the children, and they have the same father! This catapults them into a world of DNA testing, family reunions, and an exploration of what it means to be family as they meet their half siblings. They also work together to try to help save the music program.

Strengths: This took a direction that I did not expect, becoming more like Robert's Nikki on the Line than the light middle school romance I thought it was going to be! I read a few books, so surprising me is NOT an easy thing to do. I adored Liv and her slightly snarky attitude (She tells Logan "You look someone who spends a lot of time confused"; she's not wrong!), and she and Jax get along so well. There should be many, many more books where boys have crushes or "go out" with girls, and the situation with Samantha seemed very realistic. There is a lot of good information about genetics, and I can see this being used by science teachers as a read aloud during a unit on this topic. Walters always does a great job appealing to middle grade readers, with titles as varied as The King of Jam Sandwiches, Elephant Secret, Hockey Night in Kenya, and the perennial dystopian favorite, The Rule of Three. 
Weaknesses: Decisions to keep or cut music programs are not made on a building-by-building basis, as least in Ohio. It's always a district wide decision to insure equitable access (or equitable denial), but maybe things are different in Canada.  
What I really think: The cover of this is great, and will appeal to readers who like a light romance or a band related story like Grosso's I Am Drums, Dionne's Notes From an Accidental Band Geek, and Herbach's Gabe Johnson Takes Over, aka Fat Boy vs. the Cheerleaders. 

Salazar, Aida. Ultraviolet

April 2, 2024 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this novel in vese, we meet Elio, a cisgender Latino boy who has fallen in love for the first time. The object of his affections is the artsy Camellia, and her presernce makes him feel like the world is more colorful in ways he never saw before, hence the title. They are in eighth grade in a STEAM centered school, and all of Elio's friends seem to be paring up, no matter what their orientation His best friend, Paco, is very interested in girls as well, but more as acquisitions. When Camellia assents to "going around" with Elio, he is so delighted that he attempts to write a song for her. His mother, a graphic designer, tries to support him. His father, a city planner, is rather harsh when he sees Elio crying and tells him to "man up" even though he is evolved enough to do most of the cooking in the house. Elio is debating kissing Camella, because that seems to be the point of dating in middle school, but he isn't sure he wants to; when Camellia kisses him, he finds he enjoys it, and the two take any opportunity they can find to engage in this new activity. There is a one day sex education class where students are divided by binary genders, but it's not that informative. Eliois experiencing the effects of puberty, from growing pains and stretch marks to erections. When Camellia is absent from school, she tells Elio that she was out because of menstrual cramps, and while he doesn't react appropriately in the moment, he later asks his mother if the salve she uses for his growing pains would work for cramps, and the two make up a "feel better bag". Elio's father's toxic masculinity shows itself when he takes his son to the cock fights, but he later see the error of his ways and creates a Brothers Rising group of fathers and sons that get together to discuss various issues and become better men. Camellia breaks up with Elio, and starts dating his friend Chava, but when Elio finds out that Chava is forcing Camellia to kiss him, he steps in, even though he has trash talked her in the wake of their break up. When Elio and Chava are about to fight, Elio passes out, and a medical examination reveals that he has a heart problem. Will Elio be able to go forward with his life as a better young man with a healthy attitude ttowards relationships?

Strengths: Salazar wrote this to go along with The Moon Within, since she didn't see an analagous book for her son. Considering how many, many books there are about female puberty, especially menstruation, it really is rather surprising that there aren't more books about the subject from the male perspective. (Other than Blume's Then Again, Maybe I Won't, I can't think of any. And that's from 1971.) The descriptions walk the fine line between instructional and informative and cringe worthy in the best possible way; I would feel comfortable handing this to a young reader, since the language is clinical and circumspect. 
Weaknesses: The Brothers Rising group seemed a bit odd; I can't see any group requiring men to strip down being successful in my neighborhood. At one point, a teacher talks to Elio about possibly being soul mates with Camellia; I try very hard to never make personal comments about students' relationships, because that can only get one in trouble. There were multiple mentions of "pedo face"; because there were a number of Spanish words included, which was great, I thought it might be Spanish, but my best guest is that it is derived from "pedophile" and means "an awkward smile", but I had trouble defining it correctly. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want a book about burgeoning romance and puberty  like Bryant's  Abby in Between: Ready or Not or Evans' Grow Up, Tahlia Wilkins, but from a male perspective.