Will

Publishers Weekly

When 17-year-old Will drops his pants to moon the bus of girls from the sister school to his all-boys academy, he is exiled to the land of geeks, aka, the band for the school musical, a punishment suggested by his English teacher. The school leadership has grown weary of Will's hijinks, and this is his last chance to prove himself. But in the year since his father died, Will has ceased to care about most things, dwelling in a silent grief that is slowly revealed to readers. But through the strong supporting cast--Zach, the seventh-year student who idolizes Will; Elizabeth, Will's crush; Chris, Will's best friend; and Mark, the lead in the musical, who comes out to Will--Will is brought slowly back to the land of the living. Readers should find it easy to sympathize with Will's vibrant, deadpan narration and his frequent use of slang, while recognizing that his jocular exterior hides a deeper vulnerability. Debut novelist Boyd effectively handles Will's final outpouring of repressed emotions: the personal growth achieved by her realistic, likeable protagonist is abundantly clear. Ages 12–up. (July)

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up—Will Armstrong is a popular, Year Eleven guitar-playing cutup at St. Andrew's College, a boys' high school in Sydney, Australia. When a dare goes wrong, he is punished by being assigned to work as a "musician and general dogsbody" for the musical staged by St. Andrew's and its sister school, Lakeside Girls. Will isn't, as he expects, deserted by his popular friends, although his Saturdays are now spent at rehearsals rather than at "footy" matches. The cringe-worthy choice of musical (The Boy Friend) gives him the chance to meet, albeit awkwardly, with a Lakeside girl, and he becomes a friend to and protector of Zachariah Cohen, who is in Year Seven and is affectionately known as "Freak." Will is quickly given a lot of responsibility (he is conducting all of the student musicians) and, for the most part, he rises to the occasion. Subplots surface: he refuses to discuss the death of his father, something that hints of a traumatic secret that is never quite explained. He must also examine more deeply his stereotypical views of how a gay student might look and behave. This interesting book, which, despite playing to the High School Musical crowd, doesn't focus on music, chronicles a young adult's growth toward maturity. The Australian spellings and slang ("whingeing," "cutting your grass," "dacked himself") will give pause to many readers, but the casual use of four-letter words is within keeping of many a 17-year-old's vocabulary.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX