192 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (2006)
ISBN: 0375835318
Reading Level/Lexile: 9th grade and up/1020L
Genre: Romance
Annotation/Teaser: Nick asked Norah to pretend to be his girlfriend for 5 minutes to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. Instead of going with her instinct and telling him no, she kisses him instead. What happens next is totally unexpected.
Plot Summary: Nick sees his ex-girlfriend walk in the club where his all-gay band (with the exclusion of him) is playing. Norah is there with her friend Caroline who is also friends with Tris, Nick's ex-girlfriend. Not knowing that Tris and Nick used to have a relationship, Norah kisses Nick. Despite the fact they have never met each other, they feel a connection with each other. Nick's band members see Norah as a potential girlfriend for Nick so they agree to take her drunk friend, Caroline home. Nick and Norah spend the entire night on a quest to find their mutually favorite band, Where's Fluffy?. This becomes a first date that can change both of their lives.
About The Author: Rachel Cohn Rachel Cohn is the author of the highly regarded young-adult novel Gingerbread and its sequel, Shrimp, among other works. Cohn knew that she wanted to become an author at an early age. As she stated on her home page, "from the time I learned how to read and write I was always trying to create stories. I grew up surrounded by books and by family who were educators—the desire and encouragement to write came readily in my household."
Rachel grew up near DC, and attended Barnard College, Manhattan at the age of 17. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science, thinking she wanted to be a journalist. Instead, she moved to San Francisco - where Gingerbread was set - to work at a law firm and began writing. After moving back to New York City. Gingerbread was published followed by a number of other books, often about a strong, witty female protagonist. Rachel Cohn is now a full-time author living in New York City.
Rachel Cohn Bio (n.d.) Retrieved from www.wikipedia.org
David Levithan David Levithan was born September 7, 1972 in Short Hills, New Jersey. He graduated from Brown University in 1994 where he double majored in English and political science.
Since he published his first book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003, David Levithan has been making a positive contribution to the genre of LBGTQ YA novels. Boy Meets Boy, a “dippy happy gay teen book” as Levithan likes to describe it, features an openly gay main character named Paul who faces his sophomore year of high school and all of the drama that goes with it (davidlevithan.com). Levithan wrote this book with the purpose of creating gay characters who break the stereotypes of past literature; he does this by featuring gay teenagers living normal, satisfying lives without dwelling upon their social abuse. Often in LBGTQ literature, gay characters are defined by the way their social abuse affects them, but Levithan aims to define his characters based on who they are without conflict. Levithan says that Boy Meets Boy is neither fantasy nor reality, but is instead a novel about “where we are going, and where we should be,” as a society (davidlevithan.com). Other books that Levithan has contributed to the LBGTQ genre of young adult literature include The Full Spectrum, Wide Awake, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List and Will Grayson, Will Grayson. (2011)
Levithan’s strong background in writing about LBGTQ teens has surely influenced his writing of “A Word from the Nearly Distant Past,” Levithan’s contribution to How Beautiful the Ordinary. Despite many readers’ understandable assumption that Levithan himself has a homosexual orientation, he is very ambiguous about his sexuality and will not admit to being either gay or straight. Levithan’s sexuality may remain a mystery, but his understanding of the LBGTQ community is clearly shown through his literature. In his latest book in the LBGTQ genre, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2011), Levithan creates a gay character who is by no means perfect. Levithan explains he did this because a perfect character would simply be boring to read about. By creating an imperfect character, Levithan faces the “danger” of representing the LBGTQ community negatively. Levithan was asked how he, as an author, deals with the criticism that he may be feeding into a stereotype of gay men. He responds by saying, “I can honestly say I’ve never thought for a second about whether a character reflects poorly on any group. All that matters to me is that the character is true to my belief in who he or she is” (Advocate contributors 2011). The fact that Levithan strives to represent the LBGTQ community in such a genuine manner makes his works highly eligible for use in the classroom.
David Levithan Bio (n.d.) Retrieved from www.beyondthepalebooks.net
Critical Evaluation: I enjoyed Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist but the story itself was a little shallow for me. There is no moral lesson to the reader although it is a very well written book. The one element that really works for me in this book is the development of the characters. The main characters in the book, Nick and Norah, are both lovable characters from the beginning. The book is written in first person with alternating chapters form each characters' point of view. While in some books I have read, this does not work and becomes extremely boring, it works in this one. The reader will immediately find they love both characters because of their wit, which is just enough to be adorable and not annoying. In one of the beginning chapters, Nick tries to win Norah over and she leaves the club. In the next chapter, the reader sees that the reason she left was because she thought she was being used because of her famous musician father. Nick says at the beginning of the book, "We are given a soundtrack". This one quote shows just how important music is in this book. While some of the scenes are silly, they are not unrealistic. While the story is short and the plot is not developed, the use of music and the main characters love of the same band, makes this book a fun, imaginative, and thoughtful read.
Curriculum Ties: English
Book Talk Ideas: How likely is it to fall in love with someone after one kiss?
Controversial Issues: Homosexuality
Defense:
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Why I Chose This Book? I chose this book because it is a fun read and teens would relate to it.
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