A Tale of High School and Rugby - Winger by Andrew Smith

I profiled this book briefly in my Beach Reads post, but I thought that Winger by Andrew Smith deserved a closer look. This is the story of fourteen-year-old Ryan Dean West, an 11th grader who goes to a boarding school and rooms with a guy who hates him. To top things off, he is in love with his sixteen-year-old best friend who thinks of him as a little kid.

This novel is an emotional, funny coming-of-age story, but don't think it's like an after school special. It evokes the teenage boy psyche like nothing else I've read, especially with Ryan Dean's obsession with thinking about sex (even though there is no actual sex in the book) and a lot of swearing. However, Ryan Dean is very smart (smart enough to be a junior in high school at fourteen) and over the course of the novel he must mature and grow into a man. Like The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, this book features comics drawn by Ryan Dean which are hilarious and silly.The novel also touches on themes of friendship and loyalty, authenticity, overcoming prejudices, and the trials of growing up.

Teens will identify with Ryan Dean's self-deprecating attitude and his many insecurities.  Adults might find the situations that Ryan Dean gets himself into a little ridiculous, but both teens and adults will love the tale of Ryan Dean's high school rite of passage.