Skater Boy
A Novel
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- 7,99 €
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- 7,99 €
Publisher Description
In this YA pop punk debut about queer romance and destroying labels, a teen risks everything to write his own story. Perfect for fans of Sonora Reyes and Adib Khorram.
Stonebridge High’s resident bad boy, Wesley “Big Mac” Mackenzie, is failing senior year—thanks to his unchecked anger, rowdy friends, and a tendency to ditch his homework for skateboarding and a secret photography obsession. So when his mom drags him to a production of The Nutcracker, Wes isn’t interested at all . . . until he sees Tristan Monroe. Mr. Nutcracker himself.
Wes knows he shouldn’t like Tristan; after all, he’s a ballet dancer, and Wes is as closeted as they come. But when they start spending time together, Wes can’t seem to get Tristan out of his head. Driven by a new sense of purpose, Wes begins to think that maybe he can change for the better and graduate on time.
As a falling-out with his friends becomes inevitable, Wes realizes that being himself means taking a stand—and blowing up the bad-boy reputation he never wanted in the first place.
From a debut author to watch, Skater Boy delivers a heart-wrenching, validating, and honest story about what it means to be gay in a world where you don’t fit in.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A closeted teen navigates family trauma, first crushes, and messy friendships in Nerada's introspective debut. White 17-year-old Wesley MacKenzie—who has a well-deserved bad-boy reputation in Valentine, Ohio, stemming from his destructive, bullying shenanigans with his two best friends—is nearly failing senior year. He's mostly fine with that, though, since he plans to stay close to support his mother, who recently fled his physically abusive cop father. When Wes's mother drags him to a performance of The Nutcracker, he feels an immediate attraction to Tristan Monroe, the Black star of the show and a student at a posh private school. After Wes and Tristan start hanging out, Wes—who fears ridicule if he were to come out—anxiously looks for signs that proudly gay Tristan might like him back. But when Brad, one of Wes's friends who is struggling with a burgeoning alcohol dependency, kisses Wes at a party, it causes a fissure in their group. Unmoored, Wes pursues his interest in photography by joining a club and launches a halting, semi-secret relationship with Tristan. Nerada sensitively depicts the lingering effects of Wes's father's abuse, and how the trauma from those experiences informs his complicated relationship with himself and others, as well as with opening up. Ages 14–up.
