Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez, Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN: 978-0689857706
Plot Summary
Jason and Nelson are in denial. Jason refuses to believe that he likes boys while Nelson ignores the fact that he might be in love with his best friend. And while not in denial, Kyle hopes his parents, and the whole student body for that matter, never find out that he is gay. But Jason, Nelson, and Kyle soon find out that their troubles simply won’t go away by ignoring them. Jason finally must decide how to come out to his girlfriend, Nelson needs to face his father’s neglect and rejection, and Kyle has to find a way to successfully pursue the crush he’s had for years. The boys’ dilemmas are further complicated by homophobic friends and teachers, pushy older men, and their own convoluted and ever-changing feelings.
Critical Evaluation
Sanchez’s highly readable Rainbow Boys marks the first book in the Rainbow Boys trilogy. Told from alternating perspectives, Sanchez follows the growth of jock Jason Carrillo, swimmer Kyle Meeks, and activist Nelson Glassman as they struggle to define their sexual identities. While the writing in Rainbow Boys is simple and easy to read the best part of the novel lies in its diverse cast of characters. While Jason, Kyle, and Nelson all attend Rainbow Youth meetings they are at various stages in their journeys. Jason shows up at the meeting questioning his sexuality. While he has a girlfriend he is disturbed and confused by his erotic dreams involving men. Kyle and Nelson attend the meetings with regularity but whereas Nelson has been out for years, Kyle has not revealed his sexual orientation to anyone save Nelson. Throughout the book all three struggle with their sexual identities as they battle stereotypes, bad grades, and parental misunderstandings.
Sanchez does an excellent job highlighting many of the potential problems gay teens face. For example, Jason fears telling his father that he is gay because his father is homophobic. Kyle avoids telling his parents out of fear of disappointing them. And while Nelson is out, he uses his sexual identity as a way to hide from facing his other fears. The adults in Sanchez’s novel range from fiercely supportive to belligerently unsupportive, ensuring that most gay teens who read the book will be able to identify at least in part with one of the characters. Sanchez also raises a number of issues that all teens potentially face such as abusive relationships, safe sex, and breaking up.
While Rainbow Boys is a quick, engaging read it does fall short in one area. While the main characters and adults in the novel are diverse, the teenage supporting cast is not. Most of the people at the boys’ school are intolerant to the point of being unbelievable. For example, when Jason is at the mall with his girlfriend Debra she spots two boys in the line at a restaurant. She proceeds to thrust her limp wrist out and mouth “Homos.” Her two friends, of course, laugh (Sanchez, 2001, p. 28). This sort of behavior is repeated when Debra and her friend Corey are discussing the homecoming queen election: “Debra shifted in her seat. She’d lost homecoming queen by only twenty-three votes, but she was being a good sport. Corey laughed. ‘I heard Nelson Glassman was going to run.’ Debra flung her wrist in the air. ‘But he’s already a queen!’” (Sanchez, 2001, p. 56) If Debra was the exception to the student body, she might be a plausible character, however, with the exception of one student, the entire student body is equally homophobic. They scrawl queer on Kyle’s locker, place crank phone calls, call the boys a host of derogatory terms, tease them using falsetto voices, and beat them up. And while there is a student who is not outright homophobic he isn’t supportive either. “Take it easy,” Jason’s friend Corey advises him about Jason’s friendship with Kyle, “All I’m saying is be careful. You know how people talk” (Sanchez, 2001, p. 93). And when Jason considers attending the LGBTQ Alliance meeting at his school, Corey warns him that he might be putting his college scholarship in jeopardy. Simply put, the students’ reactions to Jason, Kyle, and Nelson will make readers feel nonplussed, wondering why Sanchez chose to integrate complex adult characters at the expense of teen ones. However, despite Rainbow Boys shortcomings, it remains a good novel and a wonderful introduction to LGBTQ fiction.
Reader’s Annotation
Rainbow Boys follows the journey of jock Jason Carrillo, swimmer Kyle Meeks, and activist Nelson Glassman as they try to understand and define their sexual identities.
About the Author
“Alex Sanchez is the author of the Rainbow Boys trilogy of teen novels, along with The God Box, Getting It, and the Lambda Award-winning middle-grade novel So Hard to Say. His novel, Bait, won the 2009 Florida Book Award Gold Medal for YA fiction. Alex received his master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Old Dominion University and for many years worked as a youth and family counselor. His newest novel, Boyfriends with Girlfriends, will be released in 2011.”
Born in Mexico City, Sanchez moved to the United States when he was five years old. He attended college at Virginia Tech University earning his B.A. in Liberal Arts with a focus on English, Philosophy, and Architecture. He later went to Old Dominion University where he received his M.S. Ed. in Guidance and Counseling. While working as a counselor for ten years, he wrote his first book, Rainbow Boys, hoping it would help gay youth. The School Library Journal would later go on to equate Rainbow Boys with the Judy Blume classic Forever. He’s had a variety of jobs including website manager, juvenile probation officer, scuba instructor, college recruiter, program coordinator, and movie production assistant. He is currently an author and publishes roughly one book a year.
Sanchez, A. (n.d.) Alex Sanchez—The bio. Retrieved from http://www.alexsanchez.com/Alex_Sanchez_bio.htm
Sanchez, A. (n.d.) Who is Alex? Retrieved from http://www.alexsanchez.com/WhoIsAlex.htm
Genre
Bibliotherapy—alcoholic parent, coming out, Coming-of-Age, LGBTQ, School story
Tags
LGBTQ, virginity, alcoholic parent, m/m relationship, f/f relationship, breaking up, AIDS, activism, bullying, sports
Curriculum Ties
This book would fit in any unit on diversity, bullying, and teen activism. It could also be used to discuss love triangles like those found in Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream.
Booktalk Ideas
--Ask “What would you do if your school refused to let you start a club?”
--Use different articles of clothing to represent the different boys—red hat of Kyle, a lock of green hair for Nelson, and a varsity pin for Jason—and ask the audience what they think the pieces have in common.
Reading Level/Interest Age
Reading level: 4th grade
Interest level: 9th-12th grades (14-18 yrs.)
AR Book Finder (2010). Rainbow boys: Book details. Retrieved from http://www.arbookfind.com/bookdetail.aspx?q=66873&l=EN&slid=190534578
Challenge Issues
With major sexual themes and plenty of profanity, it is no surprise that there has been at least one challenge to Rainbow Boys. In 2006 the Webster Central School District removed the book as a summer reading option due to its explicit sexual content. If an adult challenges Rainbow Boys librarians should point to its ties to the curriculum and refer the challenger to the library collection policy.
Loudon, B.J. (2006, August 29). Author decries removal of gay-themed book. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.alexsanchez.com/Banned_Books/banned_book_1.html
Why Was This Included?
I knew from working in a children’s bookstore that Alex Sanchez is a major author within the LGBTQ genre and since my group project was on LGBTQ literature I decided to include Rainbow Boys. I chose Rainbow Boys partly because it was the first book in Sanchez' famous Rainbow Boys trilogy.
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