I have this weird obsession with John Green and his amazingness as a writer and overall human being, and I love me some realistic fiction more than I love a glass of wine at night (okay, let's not get crazy here), but I do like it a lot. So, when I saw Winger on my recommendations list from Amazon, and I read the amazing reviews posted, I had to get my hands on a copy. One problem, it isn't exactly a middle school book (according to School Library Journal and Booklist), and I have been banned from buying any more books off Amazon. Yes, my husband put a moratorium on buying any books; I am a librarian after all. I however, know people in high places and by high places, I mean my friendly high school librarian who will inter-office me any YA book I want. After making said request, two days later I had Winger in my hands.
Winger is told from the point of view of Ryan Dean, a fourteen year old genius Junior at a boarding school. He is also in a little bit of trouble because of some hacking he had done the year before and is now rooming in the "special dorms" with the school's meanest and dumbest boy in school. However, both are teammates on the rugby team, so hopefully his life will be spared before the first semester ends and he can get back to the regular dorms. I know you are now asking yourself, "what does a fourteen year old boy think about over the course of an entire book?" And the answer is sex. He thinks about sex a lot; like how Annie, the only girl he truly has eyes for, wants to kiss him; how Annie's friend has a hot mustachey type hotness about her (nothing a little wax couldn't take care of), or how Annie's mom is definitely hot. I laughed out loud at all his sex thoughts and especially one scene with a school nurse that nurtures poor Ryan back to health. I laughed so hard that I had to read it out loud to Jim, who promptly responded with, "Yep, that's about right."
Ryan Dean is lovable and sweet and becomes friends with the most unlikely people. It not only made me laugh, but I cried and couldn't stop crying for a few days after. I have decided that this book definitely has its place in my library. I can already name a few boys and girls who would find this book and never want to let it go, much like I felt when I had to re-inter-office it back to the high school. In a time where Dystopia and Action are the genres of choice, Winger has this undeniably necessary place on any teens bookshelf, and sorry Jim, but I may have already ordered my own personal copy.
