My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr

Printz award winners and honor books all tend to deal with an issue that they are trying to explore relevant to teens. Some of my favorite books in the last few years have been Printz books. These books tend to be well written with an engaging narrative voice, likable characters, and an unflinching eye for plot. Usually, they don't feel like transparent "issue books".

My Heartbeat is the story of Ellen, a fourteen year old girl iving in Manhattan. She is madly and deeply in love with her brother, Link's, best friend, James. All that goes about the way one expect until someone suggests to Ellen that maybe James and Link are a couple. This opens a discussion on sexual politics for the teenager set.

Link and James implode leaving Ellen to figure out what being gay is or isn't. I like that Freymann-Weyr avoided overly simple categories and embraced the idea that it's possible not to know for oneself the answer to the question, "are you gay?" Neither James nor Link really know if they are gay or not. Definitely they are more than just friends but past that definitions are fluid. James is comfortable with the ambiguity. Link is not.

Ultimately, James and Ellen end up together which further complicates things.

On another level, this is a story about a young woman figuring out what's important to her and defining her identity as separate from her parents.

Something about My Heartbeat felt a little transparent though. Freymann-Weyr is taking on teenage sexuality and sexual identity issues. Both are worthy topics. Her characters are all likeable and the premise is solid, I just came away feeling like it fell flat. For one thing, these characters all come from a very privileged world. I'm not sure that should make a difference but I have a hard time believing that these kids can do all they do in the book. For example, Ellen picks up drawing with no effort over what seems like a couple of weeks and is suddenly accomplished. James and Link perform similar feats. 

There are many things to like about this book, but I feel that it might very well alienate many teens who are living more normal and average lives.