Note from Anastasia Youth Advisory Board member Megan Reid has written a "Flashback" to a book she feels is emblematic of her generation, David Levithan's Boy Meets Boy. In the same spirit of Alli's flashbacks to Gen X classics and Jezebel's "Fine Lines" feature, Megan offers her reflections on what she considers to be a YA classic for Gen Y. A lot of our Youth Advisory Board members want to write book reviews. If you are a publicist and want to send board members books, please email us at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com.

Flashback: Boy Meets Boy

Boy Meets Boy by Scholastic PUSH editor David Levithan (who also co-wrote the book version of "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist") is one of those books I've re-read over and over again. I was so addicted to Boy Meets Boy when I read it as a sophomore in high school that I once checked it out from my town library for three months. The fines wiped out my pathetic 14-year-old savings and prompted several lectures from my mother about responsibility, but it was SO worth it.

I first read Boy Meets Boy after a couple of my friends had just come out, and being gay, or straight, bi or unsure began factor into my consciousness a whole lot more. Obviously, figuring out your sexuality is a big deal for any teenager in real life, but the fantastically accepting world Levithan's characters inhabit lets the characters deal with other teen issues, too, like messing up relationships, controlling relationships and being yourself, which is probably one of the reasons the book won a Lambda award for LGBT literature. As the main character, Paul, says in the first chapter,

"There isn't really a gay scene or a straight scene in our town. They got all mixed up… Most of the straight guys try to sneak into the Queer Beer bar. Boys who love boys flirt with girls who love girls. And whether your heart is strictly ballroom or bluegrass punk, the dance floors are open to whatever you have to offer."

Conflict over sexuality definitely figures into the plot: I don't think it's the focal point of the book, but it makes Boy Meets Boy still feel real, like acceptance to this extent COULD happen somewhere.

Though the fantasy world of general tolerance and hopefulness Levithan depicts was unlike anything I'd ever read, my obsession with Boy Meets Boy admittedly also stemmed from the fact that it's a really adorable teen love story…just one that happens to be between two guys. Happy-go-lucky Paul meets Noah, the new boy in town, while dancing to Gaystafarian music at his local bookstore. (Like I said, it's that kind of town.) He's smitten instantly. One of my favorite scenes is when Noah brings Paul to his house to listen to Chet Baker and paint the music they hear, which in my 14-year-old mind–okay, in my 19-year-old mind, too– seemed like the most perfect, creative, romantic thing date (do real guys ever come up with dates like this?! I'm holding on to hope).

Reviewers called "Boy Meets Boy" "provocative" and "an important gay novel". It is, but even today, reading it just makes me happy.

About Megan (Meg) Reid
Megan is a college student, freelancer and hardcore bookworm. She began writing fashion articles for her hometown newspaper at age 15, and her work has since appeared in publications like Boston magazine, Mountain Living and CosmoGirl. Meg also loves theatre and the arts, and when she's not sending postcards, devouring YA novels, or reading up on 19th-century cultural studies, she's probably dragging someone along on a late-night ice cream/Starbucks run. Meg has lived in three (soon to be four) countries and five states, though she currently resides in Arizona.

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