Synchro Boy

Description:




Age range 14+

Bart is a teenaged boy drawn to synchronized swimming, which puts his masculinity — and worse, his own expectations — into question.

Sixteen-year-old
Bart Lively desperately wants to feel comfortable in his own skin. Being a jock
doesn't mean he isn't the target of gay jokes, and the macho culture of his
swim team is wearing him down. When he gives in to his curiosity and tries
synchronized swimming, he discovers he has a natural talent -— not to mention a
spark with one of the girls. So when Erika Tenaka asks him to swim the mixed
duet with her, he commits to taking them all the way to the Olympics.

But
judges' scores and Erika's sudden decision to quit the duet threaten to derail
Bart's dream and kill what made the sport so liberating and alluring in the
first place. And it doesn't help that as he falls in love with Erika, he's
falling in lust with her frenemy ... not to mention a cute boy in the diving
club.

Ultimately,
Bart will have to give in to his intuition as it leads him to realize there are
many ways to be a boy. If he doesn't, he'll lose not only his friendship with
Erika but also his new Olympic dream — and the joy he feels as he dances in the
deep.

'Synchro Boy is the kind
of book the world needs more of: a book that challenges readers to think more
deeply about gender and gender expression. Bart's story -- of a boy who has
never fit easily into a gender stereotyped box, who has endured years of gender
policing, who is bravely determined to find his own path in both sports and
relationships -- is an important and powerful one. Readers will cheer Bar