Kiss

March 22, 2010
Sylvie has been best friends with Carl since forever. Now entering high school, however, handsome and sensitive Carl is drifting, while insecure and late-to-develop Sylvie is still trying to convince herself that they will one day marry and live happily ever after. The ostensible division is that Carl has enrolled in a more challenging school, leaving Sylvie nearly friendless. Into this void struts Miranda, a rich, sexually sophisticated girl with moxie to burn. Carl has a new friend, too, and alert readers will figure out long before Sylvie why Carl needs some distance. As with all of Wilson's fiction, there's a lot of hand-wringing over social status. Sylvie's father is out of the picture, her mother's diminished economic status has forced her to take in a lodger, while Miranda lives in a posh home and always has cash. Though the girls carry cellphones, the narrative feels dated—more like a classic “problem novel” of the 1970s than a contemporary YA story about sexual identity. Die-hard Wilson fans will want to read this, but those who aren't familiar with her work should not start here. Ages 12–up.

March 1, 2010
Gr 6-9-Sylvie, 14, has always assumed she would marry her best friend, Carl, but lately he has been distant and doesn't even seem interested in their secret fantasy, Glassworld. When a game of spin the bottle results in Carl kissing Sylvie's new friend, Miranda, and refusing to kiss her, Sylvie begins to doubt her attractiveness. But when Carl suddenly insists on including his new friend, Paul, on all their outings, especially his birthday party, Sylvie is even more confused. While at Kew Gardens, Miranda suggests a game of hide-and-seek, and when Carl finds Paul in the bushes, he instinctively kisses him with disastrous, gay-bashing results. Carl is devastated, but quick thinking and understanding by both Sylvie and Miranda save him in more ways than one. With sharply drawn characters, Wilson handles the confusion and angst of teen love and sexuality with careful sensitivity."Betty S. Evans, Missouri State University, Springfield"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2010
Grades 7-10 Sylvie and her neighbor Carl have been best friends forever, but now that theyve turned 14, the nature of their relationship has begun to change. For Sylvie, friendship has turned to love and dreams of marriage, but sensitive, art glasscollecting Carl has grown distant and never shuts up about his new friend, handsome soccer-playing Paul. Could it be thatyes, it couldand the reader will guess the truth long before poor Sylvie does. Wilson, author of more than 100 books and a former British Childrens Laureate, is a thoroughgoing professional, and her latest book is smoothly written and well plotted, if sometimes a bit predictable. Unfortunately, though sympathetically portrayed, Carl is a bit too stereotypically gay. Aside from the sensitivity and the glass, hes artistically gifted, an outstanding student, a neat freak, and of course drop-dead gorgeous. Fortunately, Sylvie is a more complex character, as is her larger-than-life friend Miranda, whose panache never fails to bring fresh energy to an occasionally flagging narrative.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)