Marco Impossible

January 21, 2013
Stephen is used to “playing sidekick” to his dramatic and openly gay best friend, Marco, even when it means being targeted by bullies. Now that they are graduating from eighth grade, their relationship is straining: not only are the boys going to different high schools next year, but also Stephen is worried by Marco’s apparent indifference to the increasingly dangerous threats around him. All Marco can focus on is sneaking into the high school prom, so he can publicly declare his feelings for a classmate who is playing in the live band at the dance. Though the story unfolds over just two days, readers learn plenty about the boys’ history, including how their fascination with detective work led to the discovery of Stephen’s father’s affair. Readers may find the gravity of the book’s themes, especially the hate crimes directed at Marco, difficult to reconcile with the boys’ hijinks getting into the prom. Still, they will appreciate the fun, if unbelievable, ending that Moskowitz (Zombie Tag) delivers, in which almost all the characters get what they deserve. Ages 10–14. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary & Media.

February 1, 2013
Moskowitz (Gone, Gone, Gone, 2012, etc.) again explores the experiences of a gay teen, in this humorous take on a teenage rite of passage--the prom--but with a twist. Eighth-graders Stephen and Marco long have been best friends. Marco, a happily out gay kid, is small and bullied; Stephen sees himself as Marco's protector. The boys fancy themselves crime solvers; they uncovered Stephen's father's infidelity, leading to his divorce. Now they plan one more caper before middle school ends: crashing the senior prom so Marco can announce from the stage his crush on exchange student Benji, bass player in the prom band. The story, told in Stephen's voice, focuses primarily on their harrowing yet hilarious attempt to get to the prom, complete with bus disasters, tux problems and getting beat up. Also uncovered is the boys' complicated friendship as they wrestle with fears of separation and of growing up at different paces. While best friends argue, this relationship seems too dysfunctional to believe, though. As a victim of hate crimes, Marco elicits empathy, but it's confusing that sweet Stephen would continue to be friends with such an obnoxious, self-centered kid--he's as "impossible" as the title states. A less-insufferable protagonist and more-likely friendship would strengthen this gay-boy prom story. (Fiction. 11-14)

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March 1, 2013

Gr 6-8-Eighth-graders Stephen and Marco, who came out in the seventh grade, have been best friends and co-schemers in elaborate "heists" since elementary school. As they inch toward high school, when Marco will take off for a private school, a new weight is placed on their friendship. When Marco proposes an elaborate plan to sneak into the high-school prom and proclaim his love for British student Benji, a rocker who is heading back to London in a matter of days, it seems the perfect way to have one last adventure before the boys go their separate ways. An imperfect plan and some tense and very real confrontations with a school bully bring out issues in the boys' friendship that have been simmering below the surface. The knock-'em-out resolution, in which the good guy not only defeats the bully, but also wins a kiss from his dream boy, will make readers pump their fists with excitement, and the strain in Stephen and Marco's friendship exemplifies the growing pains that many will be able to relate to. Moskowitz's novel, which plays out in a matter of two days, successfully portrays the world of middle school both as it is and as it might be-one in which parents are faulty, but the boy gets the boy and the school bully gets it square in the nose.-Joanna Sondheim, Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, New York City

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2013
Grades 5-8 Now that eighth grade is finished, so is 13-year-old BFFs Stephen and Marco's sideline of solving minor schoolyard mysteries. Marco is heading off to Clinton Prepatory Academy, and maybe they're getting too old for it anyway. But don't hang up those fedoras just yet. Marco is determined to sneak into tonight's high-school prom so he can jump onstage and declare his love to longtime crush Benji. And Stephen? Well, Stephen just sort of goes along with the loud, bossy, melodramatic Marco. Also, for the first time, Stephen has his own case to solve: do recent anti-gay hate crimes mean that someone is about to target Marco? Despite the zany one-crazy-night concept, Moskowitz's second midde-grade novel possesses a decidedly un-zany mood. Scenes play out casually with an abundance of dialogue and ancillary characters; the swift characterizations of Stephen's countless siblings have a tumbling, affectionate, Spielbergian feel. True, those seeking exciting case-busting will be thwarted. But those looking for an observant take on a growing, bending relationship will soon be bopping their heads to this idiosyncratic tune.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)