Alan Cole Is Not a Coward

June 15, 2017
Alan Cole starts out as a coward but doesn't end as one in this harrowing but inspiring debut. White seventh-grader Alan's home life has taught him that it's best to stay out of the way. He conceals his crush on Connor Garcia. He doesn't want friends but eats lunch at the Unstable Table with Madison Truman, who's bullied about his weight, and Zack Kimble, who cheerfully lives by his own rules. He tries to avoid abuse from his father and violence from his brother Nathan. His mother is a largely passive figure, though she does shed some (unsatisfying) light on the source of their familial trauma. Nathan, who is both sympathetic and frightening as a victim and perpetrator of abuse, wants to crush his brother once and for all in an ongoing contest Nathan calls Cole vs. Cole. As the brothers struggle through their list of tasks for this particularly trying game of CvC--from getting kissed to standing up to their father--Alan realizes his own potential for strength, the value of friendship, and the warped reasoning behind his father's rage. Alan's burgeoning gay identity is only a small part of his larger angst, and his slow but steady growth from cowed endurance to self-assured advocacy makes for a rewarding, if at times difficult, read. The intensity of the family relationships is so effectively rendered that this book has the potential to appeal to older teens as well as a middle school audience. The potential horrors of white, middle-class, suburban public school are well-documented and creatively managed here, though readers could easily come away either contented or depressed. (Fiction. 11-16)

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June 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-All Alan Cole has ever wanted is to blend in. He takes care not to let his cafeteria tablemates, Zack and Madison, become his friends. Alan stays quiet at the dinner table so as not to upset his irascible father, and tries to avoid his brother, Nathan, who relentlessly bullies him. One day Nathan forces Alan to play a round of Cole vs. Cole, in which each brother must attempt to accomplish as many of Nathan's proposed seven assignments as possible within a week. The tasks are tough and include learning how to swim, retrieving a slip of paper from inside a broken vending machine, and receiving a first kiss. If Alan loses, Nathan will reveal his biggest secret to the whole school: Alan is gay and has a crush on one of his male classmates. With its well-developed characters, juxtaposition of supportive adult educators and aggressive parents, and message of hope, this novel feels like a contemporary version of Gary D. Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now. Many of the book's most memorable scenes involve its lovable supporting characters, including Zack, a sweet kid who brings new meaning to the phrase free spirit, and Madison, who is named after three U.S. presidents and feels that his name comes with a responsibility to speak as eloquently as possible at all times. VERDICT A strong debut; recommend to tweens who enjoy realistic fiction, particularly readers looking for stories about LGBTQ kids.-Shira Pilarski, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Washington, DC

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