My Most Excellent Year
A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park
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4.6 • 17 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Lose yourself in this enchanting young adult romance that proves love and a touch of magic can change everything.
“Funny, affecting, smart and surprising, too.”—The Washington Post
“A big, warmhearted tale about musical theater, political organizing, baseball, friendship, and love—opening up the audience to adults as well as teens.”—Publishers Weekly
There are only three great loves in T.C. Keller’s life: the Red Sox, his father, and his best friend and unofficial “brother,” Augie. But ninth grade is the year when he falls head-over-cleats in love with Alé Perez. She’s pretty, sassy, smart, and a great dancer. Alé is so busying playing hard to get that she doesn’t realize that she just might be falling head-over-tap shoes for T.C.’s Boston accent, too. Meanwhile, T.C.’s best friend, Augie, is falling in love as well, but with a boy? It may not be so clear to him; but to the rest of his family and friends, it’s totally obvious that Augie, who loves musicals and old school screen sirens such as Judy Garland, is head-over-heels in love with Andy Wexler.
Told in alternating perspectives, this is the story of their most excellent year, where these three friends discover themselves, love, and that a little magic and Mary Poppins can go a long way.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Three teens complete an English assignment detailing their "most excellent year" in this big, warmhearted tale about musical theater, political organizing, baseball, friendship and love. Tony Conigliaro Keller (named like everyone in his family for a Boston Red Sox player) and Augie Hwong have been self-declared brothers since age six, when T.C.'s mother died. Entering high school, everyone but Augie knows that Augie is gay, which finally dawns on him when he falls for another student. Meanwhile, T.C. develops an intense crush on the novel's third essayist, Al Perez, daughter of a Mexican diplomat now teaching at Harvard. While T.C. and his father share a baseball obsession, Augie and Al get close when both are cast in Kiss Me, Kate. The essay segments are spliced with diary entries (T.C.'s are addressed to his mother, Al 's to Jacqueline Kennedy); e-mails from and between parents, teachers and Al 's former Secret Service agent; reprints of Augie's mother's hilariously excoriating theater reviews; transcripts of IM sessions. The characters are a little too good to be true, and there's a distracting and improbable subplot about a deaf motherless child obsessed with Mary Poppins. The protagonists sometimes sound more like 40-year-olds than teens; however, the results are unexpectedly positive, opening up the audience to adults as well as the target reader. Ages 12-up.
Customer Reviews
Best book EVER!
Both hilarious and heart wrenching! A solid if easy read.
Awesome
Epic story from my favorite author. I laughed, I cried, and I fell in love with this absolutely amazing ensemble of characters who touched, and shall forever remain in, my heart.
🙃🙃🙃
It was ok. A lot of jumping around. Characters not that relatable.