Boys of the Beast

Boys of the Beast

Three cousins. Four days. One car. This smart and fearless road-trip novel is perfect for fans of David Levithan, Benjamin Alire Saenz, or Meg Medina. THE ROUTE. Seventeen hundred miles from Portland, Oregon, to Albuquerque, New Mexico. THE BEAST. Grandma Lupe's 1988 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. THE BOYS. Three strangers who also happen to be cousins: Matt. Evangelical Christian. Earnest. Film nerd. Carrying a dream to make movies--despite the future his father has planned for him. Ethan. Jewish. Gay. Sci-fi nerd. Carrying a phone that contains his entire relationship with Levi--unless they finally get to meet IRL on this trip. Oscar. Stoner. Smartass. Too cool to be a nerd. Carrying a letter that haunts him--no matter how hard he tries to escape it. THE END... just might be a new beginning. This powerful voyage in three voices marks the brilliant debut of Monica Zepeda. Gr 9 Up-Zepeda uses her own life experiences to weave a realistic tale in a road trip novel. This book tackles several important themes, such as mental illness, developing first relationships, and finding one's own voice as a soon-to-be adult. Matt, Ethan, and Oscar are cousins who barely know each other, besides being connected through the Latino roots of their moms. At the funeral for Grandma Lupe, the boys decide they could all benefit from a road trip from Portland, OR, to Albuquerque, NM, in their grandmother's Thunderbird. Each cousin has his own journey to work through: Matt wants to find his voice as an Evangelical Christian and follow his passion of becoming a filmmaker, Ethan wants to meet a boy he met online that he feels strongly about but isn't sure those feelings will translate into real life, and Oscar wants to run away from his emotions related to major trauma. Despite their differences, the three bond and help each other grapple with their growth, forming a family bond sure to make their grandmother proud. Zepeda spends some time throughout the novel exploring the boys' Latino identity, especially in an encounter with law enforcement. VERDICT A good addition to any library with a healthy circulation of teen male readers and those who enjoy road trip novels.-David Robertsα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. "Boys of the Beast zips easily along, just like the 1988 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe that carries its three cousins to their satisfying destination." -- Foreword Reviews "[A] refreshing, smoothly written debut." -- Booklist "Starting off as mere character sketches, the three Latinx cousins (Matt has a White father) soon develop into fully endearing heroes thanks to Zepeda's deft, potent writing. Alternating short chapters from each teen's perspective packs nuance and depth in this quick read splashed with melodrama and humor...Like a missive from the soul. " -- Kirkus Reviews "[A] sure-footed debut...As the cousins go from mutual wariness to becoming a close-knit trio of co-conspirators and confidantes, their discussions, punctuated with fart jokes and f-bombs, are thoughtful explorations of identity; mental health issues, including self-harm; romance; and acceptance." -- Publishers Weekly " Boys of the Beast will hook you with its vibrant characters right away, and suddenly you'll be on a road trip you never want to leave! A truly great read." -- Bill Konigsberg, award-winning author of The Bridge "A thrilling, funny, and profound journey to that magical place where differences turn into the sparks of friendship." -- Francisco X. Stork, award-winning author of Illegal Monica Zepeda is a Southern California native who spent her teen years in the desert wilds of Joshua Tree. She moved to Los Angeles, London, and Arizona before settling down permanently in L.A. Along the way, she's worked as a bookseller, produced reality television shows, and written plays, feature films, and video games. Monica now serves as a teen librarian and lives near the beach with her husband and their unbelievably cute cats. You can find her on the web at monicazepeda.com, on Twitter at @MZWrites, and on Instagram at @MZWrites2. Ethan Oscar pushes the shopping cart like a maniac. He's swerving around guys in button-downs and moms in yoga pants. He makes choo-choo noises as he races down an aisle. He's going to get us kicked out, but it's hilarious. Matt's in the aisle with packing tape, pretending like he doesn't know us. But then Oscar slides the cart next to him. "Whaddup, cuz?" Matt's trying not to lose it. I see the anger in his face draining as he takes a couple of deep breaths. Matt is one very repressed guy. Either he's going to have an ulcer by the time he's twenty, or he's going to end up a tool like Uncle Dennis. He puts a couple of rolls of packing tape in the cart on top of the folded boxes we'd picked up earlier. "Okay, we're ready to check out." "Then what?" Oscar asks. "Then we go back to the house." Matt says it slow, as though Oscar