It used to be that teen romance was all about how the girl got the guy. You could call these the standard "boy meets girl" stories, but most of the time the story was told from the female perspective. Recently, there's been a shift in the teen romance subgenre. More and more, we readers get to see things from the guy's perspective and learn how male teens do everything from navigating friendships and family turmoil to falling in love.
What's the catalyst behind all this role reversal? Although there is no proven answer, looking at the wider picture of popular culture you might say that it's the trickle-down effect of the popularity of movies like Superbad, Can't Hardly Wait, American Pie and even Spider-Man, all of which center on guys who fall in love and achieve varying degrees of relationship success. In these movies and in many guy-centric YA romances, the main characters are not often the suave jock types that never seem to have any trouble getting the girl. Usually they are geeks and brains, or sometimes just everyday, regular guys who don't seem to stand out in any particular way. Their stories are interesting because of their unique voices and their ways of seeing the world. Another reason for the popularity of guy romance may be that teen readers, male and female, just want to know more about the male perspective.
Given the content of the movies mentioned earlier, you're probably thinking that stories from the teen male perspective are going to focus on junk food, gross bodily functions, and sex. There's no question that teenage boys think about sex a lot and aren't always the most gracious creatures on the planet. This, however, does not mean that all guy-centric YA romances revolve around sex. Many focus more on the process of falling in love than falling into bed. They're cerebral, or you might even say "romantic." They also often deal with identity, self-esteem, school and career choices, and family issues. Some of these titles include:
- My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins & Fenway Park by Steve Kluger (Dial, 2008, 978-0803732278) is a mostly epistolary novel written by a baseball fan, the girl he has a crush on and his gay best friend. The themes of love and acceptance are especially strong in this book.
- Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar (Dutton, 2005, 978-0525473114) follows high school freshman Scott through the craziest year of his life. The girl he shared peanut-butter crackers with in kindergarten is suddenly the class hottie, but what about the Goth girl in his English class?
- Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw (Hyperion, 2003, 978-0786818907) combines romance with cooking. Cyril, an aspiring chef, cooks for his friend Nick, who uses the food to woo Cyril's crush Rose.
- Ninjas, Piranhas and Galileo by Greg Leitich Smith (Little, Brown, 2003 978-0316778541) is appealing to younger boys who are just starting to think that girls are more than vectors for cooties. Three seventh-graders, two boys and a girl, with very different personalities and work ethics are assigned to work on a science project together.
More mature boys may appreciate the following books, which use stronger language and have sexual situations. But don't assume that strong language means lower quality; these books have been named to book lists like YALSA's Best Books for Young Adults and Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults:
- The Making of Dr. Truelove by Derrick Barnes (Simon Pulse, 2006, 978-1416914396) acknowledges from page one that breaking up is hard to do. Diego wants his girlfriend Roxy back, so he poses as a suave online love and sex columnist.
- Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins (HarperTeen, 2007, 978-0060835682) revolves around Kiriel, an underappreciated demon who steps into the body of a fifteen-year-old boy named Shaun. Humans, especially the girl who has a crush on Shaun, fascinate and confuse Kiriel.
- Blankets by Craig Thompson (Top Shelf Productions, 2003, 978-1891830433) is an outstanding, autobiographical graphic novel. In its 500 pages, the narrator falls in love, questions religion, and makes a significant break from his family.
- Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez (Simon and Schuster, 2001, 978-0689841002) is told in three voices: Out-and-proud Nelson, quiet, scholarly Kyle and masculine jock Jason. No matter the gender, love and sex are complicated!
- Storky: How I lost my nickname and won the girl by D.L. Garfinkle (Putnam, 2005, 978-0399242847) tells the all-too familiar story of unrequited crushes who turn out to be not quite as crushworthy as the boy would like to think.
- Beastly by Alex Flinn (HarperTeen, 2007, 978-0060874162) is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast from the beast's viewpoint. Kyle is a cruel boy who has everything until a girl he mistreats at school turns him into a hideous beast, forced to hide until he can find someone to fall in love with him.
Romance has always been a popular genre for teens, and now with the rising number of guy-centric romances it's guaranteed to be just as popular with guys as it is with girls. If your collection mostly features female-centric YA romances, now is the time to diversify your collection and add new titles. What should you look for in a guy-centric romance? First, just like with any other teen novel, you'll want a strong, clear voice. Don't be afraid of strong language. Remember how often teenage boys think about sex? Those thoughts will be reflected in both the inner and outer dialogue. Second, when building a guy-centric romance collection for your library you'll want to make sure that the characters are diverse. Don't just buy books narrated by the geeks, because the jocks can be just as interesting. Third, don't forget that boy meets boy can be just as popular and high-quality as boy meets girl. More and more teens are coming out as gay, and their viewpoint should be reflected in your collection. Fourth, don't forget to diversify your genres! Guy-centric romances can be found in realistic fiction, fantasy, even espionage. Humor is especially important within the realistic fiction category, because many of the movies guys are watching about guy romance are funny.
Despite their smelly gym clothes, teenage boys are often wise, intelligent, and observant about everything -- well, everything except girls. Reflect this in your collection and you're sure to add "avid library user" to their list of qualities.
Carlie Webber is the Young Adult Services Librarian for the Bergen County Cooperative Library System in Hackensack, New Jersey. A reviewer of young adult literature for Kirkus, VOYA and Teenreads.com, she was recently elected to the 2010 Michael L. Printz Award committee. Read her blog at http://blogs.bccls.org/carlie