Boy Toy

Boy Toy

Barry Lyga

ISBN-13: 978-0-618-72393-5

Houghton Mifflin Company 2007

Plot Summary: Josh Mendel had an affair with his History teacher, Evelyn Sherman. She has now been locked up for about five years. She was twenty-four at the time of her arrest, and not she is being released and she is about thirty. Josh is trying to win back the girl he almost raped, Rachel. The story jumps around and we see flashback of Josh’s relationship with Eve, old times with Rachel, the growth of his relationship with Rachel, and in addition the fights he’s heard between his parents.
Josh is an exceptional baseball player and known as such. He gets frustrated by the pressure at times. He knows that he must play well even when he is so nervous and scared. His flashbacks to Eve effect his positive relationship with Rachel and she knows he is afraid to be close to her.
Josh works through his confusion and rage, and then he is hit with his mother’s affair and therefore his parents impending divorce. Josh feels doomed to relationship failure…

Critical Evaluation: Lyga deals with some very dark and uncomfortable subjects here. He examines sex with a minor, rape, and divorce. All of these topics are harsh, but all need a voice. Teens are hurt when their parents’ divorce; affairs hurt the whole family. When Josh almost rapes Rachel as he feels in frenzy demonstrates his frustration, anger, and pain inside from the difficult aspects of his life. He fears seeing Eve and we can see the relationship caused him immense pain and confusion. He feels he betrayed her, even as he knows it was wrong. Lyga works through the pain Josh endures while also showing him as a bright, attractive, smart, jock, so that we understand that even successful teens feel pain and can be victimized.

Annotation: Josh reflects on his relationship with Eve, his former History teacher. He fears seeing her upon her release from prison, and knows that it will stir up emotions. He works through the relationship as he explains it to Rachel, and he also deals with his parents fighting, and divorce.

Author information: Barry Lyga is the well-know author of the Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl. He attended Yale University then worked in comics until he decided to write YA novels. See more on his website: www.barrylyga.com

Genre: YA novel
Curriculum Ties: There are no Curriculum ties

Book talking ideas:
1.) Should Rachel still stay close with Josh after he almost rapes her?
2.) Is it ever okay for an adult to date a minor?
3.) How does the fact that Josh is an athlete with great grades seem unexpected in his relationship with his teacher? Or is it expected? How is he a contradiction?

Reading Level Interest Age: 16 and up/ 10h grade and up

Challenge issues: sex, violence, rape, sex with a minor,

On the YALSA “Books to Watch out for,” they discuss this book and how it is provocative. I agree, but believe that despite my own discomfort I would advise parents to read it and consider the ways this book could help a teen work through a similar situation or even to allow them to realize it is wrong and to speak up if they need to.

Another useful review is by Jack Martin a Youth Services Coordinator in NewYork: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/books/review/Martin-t.html
In addition, I would explain policies for selection for San Diego County Libraries:

http://dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us/screens/Intranet/policy/sdcl-policy_O.41_material-selection.pdf
If after my working to convince the patron, they still were not satisfied and wanted to file a grievance, I would provide the needed paper work and then it would go to the “Challenged Materials” team for San Diego County and then onward until there is resolution: http://dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us/screens/Intranet/policy/sdcl-policy_O.34_intellectual_freedom.pdf

Selection: My selection of this book came as a surprise to even me. I have heard great things about his other book, and so I checked this out. I was surprised and shocked, but as Jack Martin reminds us, we should be. We need authentic books like this.