ON YOUR SIDE

In Wise’s YA novel, a teenager finds potential romance at a new school where he’s also victimized by bullies.

Not long after his mother dies, 15-year-old Carlton McNeil leaves his Vermont hometown to live in New York City. Things are great with his uncle Ricky, a well-known retired hockey player for the New York Finbacks, who encourages Carlton to treat his penthouse like home. However, the teen runs into trouble at school: Fellow students Chad Eldridge and Marvin Gerhardsson start bullying him almost immediately, and it becomes a daily occurrence. They’re especially brutal—a cafeteria altercation leaves Carlton with a bloody nose, for instance—but Carlton doesn’t want to transfer elsewhere, as he’s smitten with his schoolmate: a charming “Goth girl” named Emily Shelton. To connect with her, he dives deep into the Goth subculture and even pushes Ricky to date Emily’s mother, so that he’ll have more chances to talk to Emily himself. Meanwhile, Chad and Marvin don’t let up; indeed, they frighteningly pursue Carlton outside of school. Carlton can only hope that they’ll eventually grow bored and leave him alone, before things get out of hand. Wise masterfully blends young love, student conflict, and family drama in this novel. Although the accounts of the bullies’ violent assaults are painful to read, they’re happily offset by the scenes of Carlton and Emily’s developing relationship. The tale also reveals that adults can be victims of bullying, too, when Ricky, as a guest commentator on a TV sports show, gets grief from its regular panelists. The dynamic cast also includes Ricky’s instantly likable former teammate Sébastien LeFort, and a teacher, Ms. Telton, who refuses to ignore the ongoing bullying, unlike other faculty members. An overall theme of being true to oneself shines through, despite the fact that Carlton’s reason for embracing the Goth lifestyle seems a bit questionable. Still, he has realistic and believable faults; he can be a bit manipulative with adults, but he’s also smart and mature enough to acknowledge his shortcomings.

A diverting, insightful portrait of surviving adolescence and relying on family.