February 15, 2018
Presumed to be abducted five years ago, a 17-year-old returns home to reveal the truth, collect an inheritance, and grapple with merging his disparate lives.Michael Sterling was haphazardly raised by his alcoholic mother, a dancer ("not ballroom") who made sure the bills were paid, but only just. Leaving his small Maine town, he dyed his blond hair and settled into a secluded life with a well-meaning couple as Sean Woodhouse. Reluctantly returning to claim an inheritance that will enable him to rescue Trip, his best friend of the past five years, from an abusive home, Sean believes the only discomfort he'll endure is accepting responsibility for the fallout from his disappearing act. But as intermittent flashbacks shed light on the previous demidecade, Sean's unresolved anger softens and the cocoon of safety he's constructed unravels. Maine's white-centric census is reflected in the cast list, with only class distinctions between the haves and have-nots providing diversity. Sean's confusion over how to define what he and Trip share culminates in the fateful night when Trip risks outing Sean as both Michael and his love interest. The identity crisis now becomes a double-layered query: Am I Sean? And does Sean love Trip?A split-personality coming-out coming-of-age novel that proves the old adage: No amount of hair dye can smother your true self. (Fiction. 13-17)
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March 15, 2018
Grades 9-12 When Michael Sterling returns home after five years, insisting he be called Sean Woodhouse, everyone assumes he was kidnapped and brainwashed. What nobody wants to know or hear about are the real reasons behind Sean's disappearance, namely that it was less about kidnapping and more about running away. When he returns to live with his previously absent mother, he realizes that many of the people he thought he knew have changed much more than he anticipated. This quiet and unassuming novel will take readers by surprise with its depth and emotional complexity. Dunbar (These Gentle Wounds, 2014) has developed a slow-burning narrative that reveals the terrifying and tenuous connection between two young men who are both unsure of what exactly they mean to each other. This is a gorgeous examination of the painful and delicate connections formed in the midst of trauma and desperation. A caustic read in many ways, but one that will resonate with readers across a range of experiences and backgrounds.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)