By 

Richie Partington “http://richiespicks.com” (Sebastopol, CA United States) –

  

  

  

If, from my male perspective, I were to characterize the typical crop of Chick Lit as a muddy lot full of bricks, slugs, thistles, and poison oak–as I’m quite content in doing–I would be remiss in not pointing out that it’s right on the edge of that lot that I regularly reveal patches of well-fertilized and imaginative growths of tasty YA journalism. They’re not exactly what I’d refer to as Chick Lit, but they are gobbled up by similar female audiences, along with a significant number of us guys. Last year there was THE YEAR OF SECRET ASSIGNMENTS and SAVING FRANCESCA. Additional excellent examples from previous years are CATALYST, GINGERBREAD, DEFINE NORMAL, and WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW.

I suspect that many male adolescents will react to the cover of THE BOYFRIEND LIST (15 GUYS, 11 SHRINK APPOINTMENTS, 4 CERAMIC FROGS AND ME, RUBY OLIVER) as I did. The title and the ceramic frog on a white background which provides the not-so-subtle accompanying visual allusions to frogs-slash-princes did not set off any “Wow! Looks Like A Fantastic Book!” alarms in my head as my fingers took a stroll through the box of development copies that arrived last week.

(Really the cover got the opposite result–i.e. a very clear one, to be sure–from our female 10 and 15 year-olds when they scampered through the new stack. But then they had to go do their homework and I got to read the book first.)

Whatever you reflect about the cover (or Chick Lit), THE BOYFRIEND LIST is a delightful and frequently achingly honest tale–warts and all–about what happens when girls and boys meet.

As Ruby Oliver clarifies surrounded by the very first footnote (of the dozens of oft-lengthy footnotes throughout the book):

“I was hoping there’d be a set of guidelines handed out in Sex Ed class, but Sex Ed–when I finally got to take it–was all about biology and birth control and nothing about anything that really goes on between public. Like how to tell what it means when someone forgets to call you when he said he would, or what to do when someone gropes your boob in a movie theater.”

Ruby compiles the boyfriend list on the advice of her “shrink,” Doctor Z. She is sent to Dr. Z after experiencing a series of five panic attacks that occur surrounded by the same ten day period in which Ruby:

” lost my boyfriend (boy #13)
lost my best friend
lost all my additional friends
learned gory details about my now-ex-boyfriend’s sexual adventures
did something shockingly advanced with boy #15
did something suspicious with boy #10
had an argument with boy #14
drank my first beer
got caught by my mom
lost a lacrosse game
failed a math test
hurt Meghan’s feelings
became a leper
and became a well-known slut”

The titles of the fifteen chapters that comprise THE BOYFRIEND LIST (15 GUYS, 11 SHRINK APPOINTMENTS, 4 CERAMIC FROGS AND ME, RUBY OLIVER) are the same as the fifteen listings of the boyfriend list. In these fifteen chapters Ruby recounts for Doctor Z the history of her relationships with boys, going all the way back to the small boy she used to stare at in preschool. As the proverbial “glide on the wall,” (which happens to be the title of Emily Lockhart’s next book), readers are treated to an intimate look at Ruby Oliver’s trial-and-error adolescent lessons in human relationships.

From my post-adolescent perspective, so much of what I see in Ruby’s relationships with her peers is strikingly similar to what I went through and/or observed with my own contemporaries.

Of course, now that we’re all developed up, we don’t have to deal with those relationship problems any more. In fact, most of our kids get their first lessons in boy-girl relationships from observing the harmonious interactions between the parental units. Ruby (Roo) has quite a pair to watch:

“I told my parents about the breakup on Sunday at dinner. I had to clarify because my mom questioned why my eyes were all puffy.
“Mom: ‘Oh, I never liked him anyway. He’s a horrible boy. I’m going to call his mother!’
“Me: ‘Ag! Please don’t do that!’
“Dad: ‘Elaine, she needs to come to a house of forgiveness. Otherwise open fire on never go on.’
“Mom: ‘It just happened. She needs to vent. She needs to express her rage.’
“Me: ‘Mom, I–’
“Mom: ‘Roo, be silent. She needs to bring to somebody’s attention her accent and be heard!’
“Dad: ‘I wonder how Jackson is feeling right now. Roo, can you reflect about his perspective, come to an understanding of his position? Because that’s the way you’ll truly transcend the negativity of this experience.
“Mom: ‘I never liked the way he’d honk the horn for you lacking coming in. What kind of manners is that?’ ”

So take a nature walk through the horror and zaniness that is the teenage life of Ruby Oliver.

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By 

Debra Garfinkle “author of books for teens an… (Orange County, CA United States) –

  

This book is about how a high school girl named Ruby lost her boyfriend, friends, and self esteem, and how she in excellent health. As I got to know Ruby, I found her endearing and adorable and had to read quickly to make sure she’d be okay. This book has fun, quirky footnotes; hilarious characters such as Ruby’s constantly bickering parents and her rebellious, loner guy friend; and well-drawn creeps who are some of Ruby’s ex-boyfriends and former friends. The Boyfriend List is fun, entertaining, and a small different too.

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The additional title of THE BOYFRIEND LIST is (15 guys, 11 shrink appointments, 4 ceramic frogs and me, Ruby Oliver). It’s very enlightening, entertaining, and oh-so-paramount to the book. This is the life and times of nearly sixteen-year ancient Ruby Oliver, former girlfriend of Jackson, former best friend of Kim, former semi-well loved Sophomore high-school girl. Now just a girl with panic attacks, a Xerox-copied “Boyfriend List” circulating through school, and a shrink named Doctor Z.

Ruby’s life used to be pretty normal, until her boyfriend broke up with her to date her best friend. Then the panic attacks started–shortness of breath, a tightening sensation in the chest, dizziness and nausea–that had her parents shipping her off to a psychiatrist to work out her “issues.” Those issues would mainly be, in chronological order:

1) Adam
2) Finn
3) Hutch
4) Gideon
5) Ben
6) Tommy
7) Chase
Sky
9) Michael
10) Angelo
11) Shiv
12) Billy
13) Jackson
14) Noel
15) Cabbie

It might sound, in retrospect, like a lot of guys in a small period of time. But Ruby’s made a list of every boy who has ever meant something to her, and these are the fifteen guys that make up the list. In THE BOYFRIEND LIST, we learn about all the guys in Ruby’s life, from Adam to Cabbie and everyone in between–and the result is a laugh-out-loud coming-of-age tale that is well value conception.

I can’t wait for the release of The Boy Book: A Examine of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them to be released in September 2006. Since “The Boy Book” was really the creation of Ruby Oliver and her friends in THE BOYFRIEND LIST, it should be quite an adventure!

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