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I recently read the three volumes of Robbie Michaels' Most Popular Guy in the School young adult series, one right after the other, and thought I'd jot down a few comments.

While you'll see I do have some reservations about these books, nevertheless I think I can still recommend them for teen readers due to their generally positive outlook. As I have noted so often before---absolutely NOTHING like this was available back when I was in school. And I'm so pleased that gay kids today have such a wide variety of books from which to choose---books that were written with them in mind.

You can find an interview with the author, where he talks a little about the series, .

I'll only include a plot summary for the first book, to avoid spoilers for anyone who thinks they may want to check out the series.

The first in Robbie Michaels' The Most Popular Guy in the School series is titled Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover :

High school can be some of the best years of life—and some of the toughest. Mark Mitchell's strategy for surviving is to emulate the mighty turtle: pull back inside his protective shell and keep a low profile to avoid trouble. And it works—nobody bothers him. Of course, nobody really knows him, either, even in a town so small it seems like everybody must know everyone else.

Mark certainly knows Bill Cromwell, whom he meets officially when his father volunteers him for manual labor at the school. Bill is his polar opposite: outgoing, gregarious, athletic. But when a massive snowstorm traps the two boys together for three days, Mark learns that being popular doesn’t mean you can’t be bullied or abused—or gay—and that bullying doesn’t stop at the school doors.

Mark isn’t naïve. He’s seen the news reports of gay teen suicides, and he’s determined not to become a statistic. But it’s not himself he’s worried about.

In the foreword, the author states that many of the incidents taking place in this book come from his own life, or the lives of people he knows. However, I never would have guessed this from the text alone, because everything goes so very well for the protagonists once they are a couple, that this reads as an outright fantasy.

Oh, I have no problem with happy stories, and this is a work of fiction after all--- and anything whatsoever can happen in fiction, right? So why was I disconcerted with the overall tone of the story? I suppose I went into this expecting a fairly realistic coming-of-age tale, and this simply isn’t that kind of novel. My expectations were so very different than what was there on the page, that it wasn’t until I was nearly finished with the book that I got into the spirit of it all. And I confess, even then I was rolling my eyes a bit at some of the REMARKABLE (and extremely unlikely) good fortune experienced by the protagonists.

But you know, this book isn’t meant for me---it’s aimed at a teen audience. And I have to say that its irrepressible optimism is actually most welcome. There are more and more books like this being published for younger people and that can only be a good thing. I’m amazed---and very grateful---that gay-themed young adult literature has come so very far within the past decade. These sorts of books simply didn’t exist when I was the age of the protagonist in this story, and I think they can make a very positive difference in people’s lives.

At any rate, I enjoyed this one well enough that I was curious to check out volume two to see what happens next.

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

Go West, Young Man is the sequel to Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover and the second book in The Most Popular Guy in the School series.

Here we have the boys leaving their high-school worries behind as they start their lives in the wider world. I was curious to see what would happen next, after finishing the first book, and things certainly do change for our protagonists. However, the tone of this young adult story is basically the same as the first.

That is to say, this isn’t a particularly realistic story. The plot contains some outrageously unlikely coincidences, and the boys are on the receiving end of some truly amazing fortune, as well as some astonishingly horrible bad luck. Yep---the whole way through, you’ll be thinking to yourself “There’s NO WAY this would happen in real life.� Just as the first book did, this comes across as more of a fantasy, practically a fairy tale, rather than a slice of life. Also, some portions of the tale have rather too strong of an “Afterschool Special� vibe for my taste.

But you know what? Since I knew what to expect this time around, I didn’t particularly mind all this. I went along for the ride, thinking of it as a pleasant enough diversion, even if I was tempted to roll my eyes at some of the plot developments on occasion.

As noted above, I’m frankly happy that books this optimistic are now available for young gay people, and I can’t fault the story for its positive outlook. It’s also helpful, I believe, for teenagers who read this second book to see that a successful relationship takes a lot of work---things don’t always go well, and there may be times when you misunderstand one another or don’t even particularly like one another, even if you still love your partner. Not everything ends with a “happy ever after� once you meet a guy you like. But---problems can still be ironed out, with some effort. And I think it’s good for young people to know these things.

So---I’m not the target audience, but I still think I’d recommend this for teens, though if anyone I knew was reading this I’d make sure they were aware that hey, real life isn’t quite like it is portrayed in the book.

Go West Young Man

A Star is Born is the final (as of this posting) book in the The Most Popular Guy in the School series.

This third volume introduces a slightly darker tone to the proceedings, as Mark and Bill experience a major bump in their relationship and then have to deal with a family tragedy.

My feelings for this volume pretty much echo what I’ve said about the first two. That is---I don’t necessarily find the plotting very believable and occasionally parts of the story come across a little like a public service announcement, but at the same time I did have an emotional connection to some of the characters and situations, and I think that overall it’s a book with a positive message for the YA crowd.

One thing I realised as I was reading, however, was that---you know, I really don’t think I’m as nice a person as I would like to think I am---perhaps I can be a little harsh and unforgiving. Because the way the major hiccup in Mark and Bill’s relationship played out had me yelling at the book “Are you ** kidding me?!!!� Man, I would not be NEARLY so quick to forgive, or to get over something like that (can’t be more specific without getting all spoilery). I think it would take a huge effort on my part to move beyond that, and in this book the whole situation blows over in just a chapter or two.

Hmmm, it sounds like I'm contradicting what I said in my review of the second book, where I stated that I liked the way these books show how a real relationship isn't always easy and you have to work to maintain one. But... still... what happens in this book is a little more serious than forgetting to take out the garbage or something like that, and I think that I would have trouble dealing with a similar situation.

I don’t know if there are any more books planned for the series, but I don’t suppose I’d mind checking out additional entries if any should happen to be written.... I should add that I really like the artwork on the covers of all three; very nicely done.

A Star is Born