Teens - Life & Relationships, Teens - Poetry, Drama & Literary Criticism, Teen Fiction

The Realm of Possibility

Name: The Realm of Possibility
Author: David Levithan
ISBN: 9780375836572

by David Levithan

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Overview

A variety of students at the same high school describe their ideas, experiences, and relationships in a series of interconnected free verse stories.

Synopsis

Here’s what I know about the realm of possibility—
it is always expanding, it is never what you think it is. Everything around us was once deemed impossible. From the airplane overhead to the phones in our pockets to the choir girl putting her arm around the metalhead.
As hard as it is for us to see sometimes, we all exist within the realm of possibility. Most of the limits are of our own world’s devising. And yet,
every day we each do so many things that were once impossible to us.

Enter The Realm of Possibility and meet a boy whose girlfriend is in love with Holden Caulfield; a girl who loves the boy who wears all black; a boy with the perfect body; and a girl who writes love songs for a girl she can’t have.

These are just a few of the captivating characters readers will get to know in this intensely heartfelt new novel about those ever-changing moments of love and heartbreak that go hand-in-hand with high school. David Levithan plumbs the depths of teenage emotion to create an amazing array of voices that readers won’t forget. So, enter their lives and prepare to welcome the realm of possibility open to us all. Love, joy, and these stories will linger.

Publishers Weekly

Through a series of poems, readers meet a group of friends and acquaintances, reflecting a diverse range of sexuality, race and social standing. PW called it "a realm worth exploring." Ages 12-up. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, David Levithan

David Levithan has said that with Boy Meets Boy, he "set out to write the book that I dreamed of getting as an editor -- a book about gay teens that doesn't conform to the old norms about gay teens in literature." According to the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program -- and his rabid readers of all ages -- he's succeeded.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature

If you are looking for a great book that tells a story in poetry in the style of Mel Glenn or Sonja Sones, this is it. Focusing on one high school in a contemporary setting and twenty of its students, this book shares the voices of teens agonizing over failed romances, romanticizing the looks that pass between them in hallways, struggling with teacher and parent expectations, enjoying personal successes, coming out of the closet, and struggling to define themselves against so many competing pressures. The poems in this book are the teenage condition, and within them the hope, the angst, the beauty, the insecurities of everything young. One of my favorites follows the male narrator as he despairs over his girlfriend being in love with Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye and her negativity towards him because he does not appreciate Holden. "Holden is a failure with girls, and my girlfriend says that's because he hasn't met the right girl, one who'd UNDERSTAND him. She says this the same night we argue for an hour about the fact that I always say "I love you" before she does." In so many ways, if this does not sum up the teenage experience, I do not know what does. This is a must-have book for any library or classroom. 2004, Alfred A. Knopf, Ages 12 to 18.
—Jean Boreen, Ph.D.

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Most readers will find someone they can relate to in this enchanting collection of linked poems that delve deep and go far beyond the original stereotypes. Twenty teenagers-sensitive outsiders, cruel popular girls, body-obsessed jocks, gay teens in the throes of first love-take turns pouring their hearts onto the pages, detailing their loneliness, heartaches, hopes, and joys. All attend the same high school, and as the book progresses their stories slowly weave together to form a larger view of the school community. In the first selection, for instance, Daniel talks about his relationship with Jed; Jed's view of their romance closes the book. Though friendships and romantic relationships grow and change, character is much more the focus here than plot. Each chapter contains four points of view, and it will take patient readers to determine who's who and exactly how they are linked. Effort is rewarded, however, in selections such as "The Patron Saint of Stoners," in which a girl seeks out a drug dealer for reasons few will guess. Another standout is "Experimentation," in which a boy writes about his sexual experiences with astonishing insight and tenderness. Thoughtful teens will find much to appreciate here.-Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Editor and author Levithan winningly joins the ranks of talented authors exploring the novel-in-verse and kicks it up a notch. Though there is a progression of events in these mostly blank verse poems, it's less a story than an examination of teenage relationships-with family, friends, self, and lovers-from every angle. Twenty distinct voices chime in with their own poem, series of poems, or cycle of songs; and several relationships and incidents are described by more than one character. No synopsis could do justice to the complexities of the interconnectedness of these characters. If high school is a dim memory for you, you might need a scorecard to keep track of who knows who and how well. However, all teenagers will find themselves, their relationships, and their attitudes toward life, love, and the pursuit of happiness somewhere in these poems. A must for YA collections used by those unafraid of poetry, strongly suggested for all others. (Fiction. YA)