Waiting to Score by J.E. MacLeod is the story of Zack Chase. He’s the new kid in town, and while that can be tough, when you’re a good-looking fifteen-year-old star hockey player, it’s not so bad.
As I read this, I wondered if it was really written for boys or girls. What DO teenage boys read? I asked my teenage babysitter that question once, because I got the feeling that books for older boys are few and far between. He said that other than school reading, he read books off the bestseller list (For another great list, check out Beth’s great ideas in today’s On Reading column on Boys and Books.).
I think that boys who are stuck in the mold of “jock,” but inside they feel like an entirely different animal could relate to Zack’s story. I also think that a high school girl would love to be able to wade around inside a boy’s point of view for a couple of hundred pages.
This book is typical teen fiction of this generation. It doesn’t tiptoe around the issues that many teens face: drinking, promiscuity, bullying, overbearing parents, and even suicide. It’s all there.
And yet, in Zack Chase, we have a narrator who sort of rises above it all, while still being a red-blooded fifteen-year-old male. He could be an example to other teens who don’t necessarily want to go along with the crowd, but this book is not preachy. The consequences are presented along with the reality that many kids do spend their weekends this way.
As a mom, I feel conflicted about this kind of frank young adult fiction. I think that moms of teenagers should read these kinds of stories (and/or watch teen TV shows and movies) to dip a toe into what your teen is facing. But do I want my teen to read it? Because I believe that we do learn from books, maybe I do, but because it seems that many books in this genre are so explicit, I’m not sure.
Fortunately my oldest child is only 10, so I have a few years to think about this.
If your teen already experiences this kind of popular culture from books and TV (and perhaps their real social lives) then Waiting to Score is a book I’d recommend that goes beyond the stereotypes and takes a look at consequences without getting too preachy.
Managing Editor Jennifer Donovan also blogs at Snapshot about life with her tween daughter and preschool son.
This sounds interesting.
I agree, I think it is good for parents to read books that are written from a teenage perspective…to “see” what they are dealing with these days.
For my teen to read a book such as this? Well, I would better discern that type of question after reading the book. My first initial thought is, if the book has a good grounding..the teen makes good solid decisions even faced with all the negative societal stuff then this book probably is a good choice for a teen to read. Why? I my experience (Mom of 6 with a 19yob and a soon to be 14yog) this stuff…this negative garbage is around them…they know it, they hear it, it is not completly doable to keep my teens away soooo… a positive decision making character could be a good thing.
Again, I would read the book first to truly decern if this would be a good choice for my particular children.
Thanks for the review.
My daughter reads these kinds of books. Usually she tells me they are great and shares them with me. I share with my husband and he is the one with the problem. But I remind him of the books like Forever that I was reading at that time and not sharing with my mom. It’s hard to keep up with her because she reads so much so fast!!!