Vanilla

Billy Merrill

Book - 2017

Told in a series of blank verse poems, two boys Van (called Vanilla) and Hunter tell of their relationship which began before they were teenagers, but foundered in high school, mostly because Hunter thinks they should be having sex and Vanilla is not so sure.

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Subjects
Published
New York : Scholastic Press 2017.
Language
English
Main Author
Billy Merrill (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
306 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9781338100921
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Hunter and Vanilla have been boyfriends since middle school, but, now 17, their relationship has begun to fray. Ostensibly this is because Hunter is ready for sex, while Vanilla is not. But perhaps there's something deeper here that the reader will learn along with the two boys. Merrell's first novel in verse, of course, Merrell being an accomplished poet is a sometimes melancholy exercise exploring the enigmatic face of love and its various meanings. The two boys, though alike at first in their love, are two different people Vanilla being a shy introvert, Hunter an outgoing though sensitive poet. Their story is told in alternating first-person voices, although in the book's second half, a third voice is added to swell the duet to a chorus: that of a flamboyantly gay boy named Clown, who is, at first, Vanilla's bête noire, teasing and making fun of him. But, like Vanilla and Hunter, he changes. A strength of Merrell's thoughtful book is how he dramatizes the many changes the boys go through in terms of their fluid relationships and growing maturity. An important part of this is their evolving sexuality, a process not without surprises and satisfactions. The book is, in sum, a feast for those hungry for character-driven literary fiction.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2017 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Boyfriends Hunter and Vanilla have known, and loved, each other for years, but their relationship is showing stress fractures in high school: Hunter is ready (beyond ready) to have sex, and Vanilla is very much not. Writing in free verse, first-time novelist Merrell (coauthor of The Full Spectrum) alternates between the boys' voices, painting their longings and differing views in sharp relief. "I knew this would happen/ eventually," Vanilla acknowledges. "One of us-him specifically-/ would change/ and we'd both know why-/ specifically me." Additional pressure comes in the form of "the Gang," a group of out, sex-focused guys at school; Merrell incorporates poems from their ringleader, genderfluid Clown, as Vanilla and Hunter's relationship becomes further strained. "At least Clown/ sees me as sexual,/ can imagine me/ on top of someone," thinks Hunter. Keeping track of who's narrating takes some work once three voices get involved (the speakers aren't labeled, though the fonts are differentiated), but it's well worth it as Merrell poignantly shows these queer teens reckoning with individual fears and desires, as well as powerful external pressures. Ages 14-up. Agent: Kate McKean, Howard Morhaim Literary. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 10 Up-A novel in verse depicting three gay teens as they navigate life and love. Hunter and Vanilla have dated since middle school. Hunter really wants to have sex with Vanilla, who is less-than-excited at the prospect. The couple breaks up over Vanilla's unwillingness; they then have to learn how to navigate a friendship after a relationship. Angel, aka Clown, also narrates some of the chapters in this book, but serves only as a bystander and observer of Vanilla and Hunter's relationship. Vanilla is a romantic asexual, and once he understands this, he is relieved that he is not weird or wrong for not wanting to have sex. While the diversity of characters in this book is to be celebrated, its treatment of consent and asexuality is not. Hunter frequently states things like: "I think of Vanilla and how vanilla he is,/ and I want to hold him and tell him/ it's okay if he says he isn't ready,/ even if I don't believe him-/or that if he isn't ready,/ it's for all the wrong reasons." Hunter and many of the secondary characters continually pressure Vanilla to have sex even when he clearly isn't interested, and the message that there could be "wrong reasons" not to have sex is disturbing and potentially damaging. The acephobia throughout as well as issues with consent make this a difficult purchase to recommend. VERDICT Purchase Kathryn Ormsbee's Tash Hearts Tolstoy instead for solid asexual characterization.-Jenni Frencham, Columbus Public Library, WI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

This verse novel follows boyfriends Vanilla and Hunter's sometimes conflicted relationship from seventh grade into high school as Vanilla realizes he's asexual. The thoughtful if sometimes overly sentimental poetry--in the voices of both boys and a genderqueer friend--shows adolescent sexuality and emotion from a variety of angles, with the foibles of still-maturing teens in full view. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Falling in love was the easy part for Hunter and Vanillastaying together's the challenge."You two have been married / since the seventh grade," says their in-your-face queer classmate Clown. Hunter and Vanilla progressed slowly from being friends to being a couple, and now, at 17, everyone thinks of the two white boys as inseparable. Clown and another aggressively gay classmate regularly throw sexually charged, all-male parties for The Gang. The boys don't usually attend though Hunter seems to want to. He's ready to take their relationship beyond kissing and petting; Vanilla is not. Merrell's debut novel for young adults explores the rocky relationship of the duo in minute emotional detail from both boys' perspectives as well as from the outside through Clown's eyeswhich gives readers a more nuanced view of gender-fluid Clown as well. Different typefaces indicate the point-of-view character for each free-verse poem as they remember the early days of their relationship and coming out and as they fumble through first romance and new sexual-identity issues. The verse is at times beautiful, touching, and though-provoking but at other times feels merely like prose broken into short lines. It presents a mature and frank (though not explicit) picture of a relationship struggling to survive. Tighter construction might have added more punch to the poetry, but teens will identify with the quest for identity and ground in that most groundless of times. (Verse fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.