Overview
A trip out West to work at a racetrack — and a sojourn with a sophisticated gay uncle — bring unexpected discoveries in this quick-witted coming-of-age novel by the author of STONER & SPAZ and MARGAUX WITH AN X.I was in the West. The Old West. The Wild West! A whole summer in a new place: a place away from my parents, a place so hot the girls probably wore bikinis to church, a place where I'd take a giant step toward my dream: becoming a vet. A place where — who knows? — anything might happen.
From the moment sixteen-year-old Billy steps off the train in Tucson, he knows this will be a summer unlike any he's seen in small-town Bradleyville, Missouri. For starters, he's staying with his cool gay uncle, who has managed to get him a job at the racetrack caring for horses. Still, Billy doesn't expect the horseracing world to be quite as rough and tumble as this — toiling side by side with a macho survivalist and falling hard for the feisty, romance-shy "exercise girl" Cara Mae. With his trademark fast-paced dialogue filled with wit and compassion, Ron Koertge tells the tale of an insecure teen who discovers that gaining stature involves more than Stetsons and boots — and that lessons on love and manhood come from the places you least expect.
Sixteen-year-old Billy spends the summer with his gay uncle in Tucson and works at a racetrack, where he falls in love with an outspoken horse exerciser named Cara Mae.
Synopsis
A trip out West to work at a racetrack — and a sojourn with a sophisticated gay uncle — bring unexpected discoveries in this quick-witted coming-of-age novel by the author of STONER & SPAZ and MARGAUX WITH AN X.
I was in the West. The Old West. The Wild West! A whole summer in a new place: a place away from my parents, a place so hot the girls probably wore bikinis to church, a place where I'd take a giant step toward my dream: becoming a vet. A place where — who knows? — anything might happen.
From the moment sixteen-year-old Billy steps off the train in Tucson, he knows this will be a summer unlike any he's seen in small-town Bradleyville, Missouri. For starters, he's staying with his cool gay uncle, who has managed to get him a job at the racetrack caring for horses. Still, Billy doesn't expect the horseracing world to be quite as rough and tumble as this — toiling side by side with a macho survivalist and falling hard for the feisty, romance-shy "exercise girl" Cara Mae. With his trademark fast-paced dialogue filled with wit and compassion, Ron Koertge tells the tale of an insecure teen who discovers that gaining stature involves more than Stetsons and boots — and that lessons on love and manhood come from the places you least expect.
Publishers Weekly
After spending the summer in the land of cowboys with his gay Uncle Wes, Billy, 16-year-old shrimp and virgin, finds he's not only done a lot of growing up, but he's got Cora Mae, the girl of his dreams, to leave behind when he goes home to Missouri. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
After spending the summer in the land of cowboys with his gay Uncle Wes, Billy, 16-year-old shrimp and virgin, finds he's not only done a lot of growing up, but he's got Cora Mae, the girl of his dreams, to leave behind when he goes home to Missouri. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)Children's Literature
Sixteen-year-old, very-straight Billy steps off the train from Missouri into the heat of Tucson with fear and trembling—and dripping with sunscreen—to spend the summer with his gay uncle Wes. With the help of the very cool Wes and a job as stable hand at the local racetrack, Billy reinvents himself. Filled with track lore, friendship with the survivalist Lew, and romance with the sharp, needy exercise girl Cara Mae, the novel sympathetically follows Billy's transformation from a short Mama's boy to a short, but proud—and tanned—independent young man. Written at the height of the U.S. AIDS epidemic, safe sex (both hetero and homosexual) is a strong underlying theme. The author writes humorously and well, painting quick, unforgettable images of secondary characters—like Lew's father, who prowls the house in camouflage, machine gun in hand, ready to take on all mutants while Lew's mother zones out on rock. Then there is the perfectly pressed Wes, not to mention the trainer Jack, who changes toupees with his moods. In short, this is a welcome reissue. 2005 (orig. 1988), Candlewick Press, Ages 14 up.—Kathleen Karr