Boy Book Review - Crossing Lines

Crossing Lines by Paul Volponi

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This story deals with a high school football jock, named Adonis (and getting away with that name), faced with a new cross-dressing student, Alan and his homophobic teammates. Adonis is determined to keep his spot in the high school hierarchy and gain the beautiful girl. When Alan becomes friends with Adonis' sister--President and Vice-President of the school's fashion club--Adonis fears he will be tainted by association with the boy everyone thinks is gay. As the bullying of Alan, now nicknamed Alana by other members of Adonis' team, escalates, Adonis faces a line that could lead him or Alan into disaster.

This is a story with a good message, but the treatment seemed forced. Too many 2-dimensional characters: Alan's career soldier father, Adonis' gruff but well meaning father, the cute girl who expects Adonis to do the right thing. Even Adonis himself is a stereotypical jock to whom image is everything, even if maintaining the image requires that he lie about bagging the girl. I liked how the members of the fashion club banded together with Alan, but even that seemed forced, as in girls are good, it's those boys that are the problem.

My real problem with this book was the ending, it just fell flat. This has a good message on being a reluctant bully and the cost that can have to both the bully and people around him, but the message is too in-your-face. I wanted more into how the events effected Adonis and family members, and even Alan. Instead the book just presents things and then stops cold.

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