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Winner of the Stonewall Book Award 2013, The Michael L. Printz Award 2013 and The Pura Belpre Author Award 2013.
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I'm not the "target" audience for this book, so there were a lot of things that I couldn't relate to. Aristotle Mendoza and Dante Quintana meet at the pool, where Dante teaches Ari to swim. Dante struggles with his ethnic identity, he doesn't "feel" Mexican. Ari struggles with who he is, he fights a war within himself. While in Chicago Dante writes to Ari about how he wants to kiss boys rather than girls. Ari remains a loyal friend to Dante but is still struggling to find his identity. After the death of his aunt and a heart to heart talk with his parents, Ari finally comes to term with his sexuality. I think this book does deserve the awards it has won. It is very well written. I just didn't relate to it because these are issues I have never personally dealt with.

Was this targeted toward a younger audience, Chili, or is it squarely adult? I've not heard of it at all . . .how did you come across it?

Anita wrote: "Was this targeted toward a younger audience, Chili, or is it squarely adult? I've not heard of it at all . . .how did you come across it?"

It is a young adult book. I googled books set in Texas and this came up. It was available at the library and it was not a western, so I thought I'd give it try. I think this would be an excellent for young adults but I'm a little past that age group, or a lot, as my daughter says.