Boy Meets Boy (novel)
Boy Meets Boy is a young adult novel by David Levithan, published in 2003. Set in a gay-friendly small town in America, it describes a few weeks in the lives of a group of high school students. The story follows the standard romantic trope usually known as "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl" except that the main characters are both boys, the narrator Paul and newcomer Noah. The novel won a Lambda Literary Award in 2003. Plot summary. Openly gay high school sophomore Paul lives in an LGBT-friendly small town in  New Jersey. He is best friends with Joni, whom he has known since early childhood and to whom he came out in second grade, and Tony, who is also gay and who lives in the (much less accepting) next town over with his strict, religious parents. On a night out with Joni and Tony, while listening to a friend play music in a bookstore, Paul meets Noah and is instantly attracted to him. They discover that they attend the same school and after some miscommunication and false starts, they eventually reconnect and start to date. At the same time, Joni  (who has recently broken up with her long-term boyfriend Ted for the twelfth time) starts to date Chuck, a football player who was extremely cruel to Paul's friend, Infinite Darlene, when his crush on her turned out to be unrequited. This relationship causes a great deal of tension within Joni and Paul's friendship, and it also upsets Ted and Infinite Darlene. The previous year, Paul had dated Kyle, who then dumped him and spread the rumor that Paul had "tricked" him into being gay. As Paul's relationship with Noah starts to flourish, Kyle attempts to come  back into Paul's life. He apologizes to Paul and starts coming to him for comfort and support, as he is uncertain about his sexuality and his aunt has recently died. While Paul is at first cautious, he comes to understand Kyle more and see him as a friend. Paul to Joni, who then tells Chuck. Chuck spreads all around the school and before long, people are placing bets on what they think the outcome will be. Noah's feelings towards Paul seem to cool at this stage. Tony is having trouble coping with his homophobic parents, and he decides  to go for a hike with Paul in nearby woods. After their hike, Paul hugs Tony tightly, only to be interrupted by Tony's mother's best friend, who spreads what she saw to everyone she knows. Rumors spread that Paul and Tony are in a relationship, so Tony's parents forbid him from having contact with Paul. The next day, Kyle is feeling a great deal of stress and fear, and Paul kisses him. Noah hears the rumor about Paul and Tony, and in the process of denying that anything happened between the two of them, he inadvertently confesses  the fact that he kissed Kyle that day. Upon learning of this, Noah ends their relationship. Not long afterwards, Paul and Joni's friendship seems to end. Paul is arranging the Dowager's Dance, a dance held yearly by his high school. The theme of the dance is to be Death, and in order to study this theme, the planning committee (including Kyle) go to a cemetery one evening. When Kyle and Paul find themselves alone together, Kyle kisses Paul and tells him that he loves him. Paul says that he doesn't feel the same way, and Kyle is  upset and leaves. Paul goes to see Tony and explain everything to him, and Tony confesses that he is feeling troubled by everything that has been happening but that he is working on showing his parents that he is more than just his sexuality, and that being gay will not stop him from living a full and happy life. Tony's mother comes home and catches Paul and Tony talking, but instead of getting mad, Tony quietly challenges her and she finally allows Tony to see Paul again. Tony also decides that he wants to go to the upcoming dance , and he and Paul decide that his parents are most likely to let him attend if a large group of people come to pick him up. Paul realizes that he is still in love with Noah and that what he has to do is show him how he feels. Over seven days he sets himself seven tasks to prove his love to Noah and make his apology: Noah is overwhelmed by these gestures and asks Paul to be his partner for the upcoming dance. Their relationship starts afresh. Paul goes to see Joni and ask her to be a part  of the group picking Tony up for the dance, but Joni refuses, saying that she and Chuck have already made plans. Paul challenges her, implying that she is letting Chuck control her, and he leaves. On the night of the dance, Paul gathers the group to go to Tony's house and ask his parents if he can come with them. At the last minute, Joni arrives with Chuck to join the group. Tony's mother hesitantly allows Tony to attend the dance. Instead of going straight to the dance, the group go to a clearing in the woods where  Tony and Paul hiked. They start holding their own celebration there, dancing and talking and laughing. Tony and Kyle talk and dance together, and Paul and Noah dance together for song after song. Paul looks around him, wanting to fix this image in his mind forever, and the book finishes with him thinking to himself, "What a wonderful world". References to other works. "Boy Meets Boy" refers to David Leavitt's books "The Lost Language of Cranes", "Equal Affections" and "A Place I've Never Been"; and, in the context of school work, to Oscar Wilde, the Brontë sisters and  Of Mice and Men. Paul is involved with school drama and there is reference to a production of "Mame". A copy of "The Advocate" magazine is mentioned as being found by Tony's mother in his room, thus revealing his secret. "The Breakfast Club" is referred to as a significant film in both Paul's and Noah's previous relationships. Other films mentioned are "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and "Boys Don't Cry", both with LGBT-related themes, and "Say Anything...", a popular romantic movie. "The Sound of Music" was the previous year's school dance  theme, and "The Wizard of Oz" is suggested for this year's. "Gone with the Wind" is alluded to when Paul describes Infinite Darlene as sounding like Scarlett O'Hara as played by Clark Gable. Songs mentioned include "I Will Survive" and "Bizarre Love Triangle", which Paul remembers being played at the elementary school assembly; "It's Always You" (the Chet Baker version) which is playing in Noah's attic during their first date; "Always" which Paul plays when he "goes Elsewhere"; and "If I Had a Hammer" which Tony sings to defuse a fight at the diner. The school band  plays "All Along the Watchtower", "Typical Situation", "One Day More" from "Les Misérables", "We Are the Champions" and "Personal Jesus". The pinball machine they prefer to use plays different Elvis songs depending on the score. References to real life. The exclusion of people who are openly gay from the Boy Scouts of America is mentioned to highlight the gay-friendly nature of Paul's hometown, which decided in response to exclude the organization; instead they have "Joy Scouts". PFLAG is also mentioned. Reception. "Boy Meets Boy" received many reviews that focused on the nature of the book compared to reality . David Levithan, the author of "Boy Meets Boy", said, "I try to disprove the cliché as much as possible." He said that writing books about teenagers in the gay community "[is] not the scary unknown anymore." Being gay himself, Levithan tried his best to have "the chance to connect to his readers" by feeling "as if [his] readers are happy to explore wherever [he] want[ed] to go." "Boy Meets Boy" focuses on the gay community through a teenager's eyes through a "delightfully reversed, pro-gay high school" setting. "[The book is] an upbeat story about acceptance and teen love  long before the all-singing, all-dancing cast of "Glee" arrived on TV," seeing as "Boy Meets Boy" was published in 2003. Lambda Literary included it amongst "10 Outstanding LGBT Teen Reads (from the last 10 years)" calling it "A sweet valentine of a love story". Awards. "Boy Meets Boy" won the 2003 Lambda Literary Award in the Children/Young Adult section.