Freak Magnet

June 14, 2010
At first glance, this novel seems like a straightforward if unconventional love story: boy sees girl, boy chases after girl screaming that she’s beautiful, girl tells boy to get lost. But through the alternating points of view of Charlie and Gloria, Auseon (Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot) layers this romance with much more—Charlie’s pain over his mother’s terminal illness as well as Gloria’s grief over her brother’s death in Afghanistan and her frustration with a mother who is attentive to everything but her daughters. As Charlie and Gloria fall in love, readers are treated to the musings of a complicated boy whose extroversion and peculiarities (he wears a Superman costume under his clothing) mask inner pain, and Gloria, who, underneath her hard exterior, longs for someone to see her for who she is and love her still. Evocative of the work of Barry Lyga, Auseon’s story offers characters that feel lifted from the bright, angsty, offbeat world of comics. Readers will easily fall for this story of freak love; it’s poignant, laugh-out-loud funny and awkward in the best of ways. Ages 14–up.

September 1, 2010

Gr 10 Up-When not stargazing, Charlie fills his time by working at a drugstore and running around town with a Superman costume under his clothes. One day, he runs after the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. Gloria is used to attracting people who are a little different, but Charlie is on the fringe, even for her. While Gloria is mourning her brother's recent death in Afghanistan, Charlie is dealing with his mother's progressively debilitating sickness. He finally has the opportunity to break free of his reactive cycle, but the consequences could be more severe than he imagined. Auseon's attempt to develop Charlie through the arc of mania is half successful: the teen's behaviors at the beginning of the tale appear to be an affectation, which causes the gradual developing of self-awareness to seem faked. The social awkwardness that Auseon writes about will remind readers of the work of Mark Haddon and Francisco X. Stork, but there is a hollowness to it. However, Charlie's belief in the powers of the Superman costume is touching in his naivete. Gloria's confrontation with her mother over the appropriate displays of grief is powerful and moving, and could be used for classroom discussions. The pacing is slow and the dual voices in the narrative fracture the story further. Not as outright bizarre as the author's Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot (HarperTeen, 2009), this book will appeal to more sophisticated readers, but only those with long attention spans and patience for quirks.-Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2010
Grades 9-12 It only takes five wordsThis place smells like peefor recent high-school grad Charlie to be fully smitten by the girl who just wandered into his caf'. The relationship comedy-drama that unfolds over the subsequent two months is told from both points of view: the freak (Charlie) and the magnet (Gloria). At first, Gloria has no reason to consider Charlie anything other than Freak: he says whats on his mindto a faultand is excruciatingly unafraid of making a scene. She, meanwhile, has been guarded ever since the death of her brother and prefers the solitude conducive to writing her free-form poetry. After fate tosses them together, the plot employs the expected tactics of tearing our would-be lovers apart via pressures and misunderstandings before each of them reaches the required epiphany. But Auseons detailseven when they become rather precious, as with Charlies covert wearing of a Superman capeare just original enough to amuse and move readers. (His handling of the parents, including a Huntingtons-ravaged mom, is even better.) Predictable but undeniably pleasurable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)