Items related to The Blue Lawn (Collins Modern New Zealand Classic)

The Blue Lawn (Collins Modern New Zealand Classic) - Softcover

 
9781869505394: The Blue Lawn (Collins Modern New Zealand Classic)
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The Blue Lawn is a powerful novel about relationships, the story of a strong physical attraction between two young men. David is fifteen and a talented small-town rugby player. He is the attractive, popular only son of loving parents. Theo is sixteen and an outsider. He is new to the town, the grandson of wealthy eccentric, Gretel Meyer. David must work out how to deal with his feelings, but how can he do that when he doesn't know what he really wants? Who can he turn to for help? How should you do it? And when? The Blue Lawn is, arguably, William Taylor's finest writing in a notable career as an author for young people. First published in 1994 as a Harper Collins Tui title, it was reprinted in 1995, and has now been chosen as the second Collins Modern New Zealand Classic.

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About the Author:
William Taylor has written many children's books and has been published worldwide. He won the New Zealand Library Association's Esther Glen Medal for Agnes the Sheep. His titles have been honoured by both the New York Public Library and the American Library Association. William Taylor used to be a teacher, and he lives in Raurimu near Mt Ruapehu in the central North Island.
From School Library Journal:
Grade 9 Up-A study of a powerfully charged friendship between two teenaged boys in rural New Zealand. From the moment 15-year-old David Mason sees Theo Meyer, an outsider who smokes, drinks, and drives fast, David is drawn to him. Theo is also attracted to clean-living David. A violent locker-room confrontation between the two betrays a mutual passion that neither one quite understands, or is willing to accept. David soon becomes a regular at Theo's house, where he meets the boy's grandmother, Gretel, a Holocaust survivor. As the seasons change, measured by Gretel's garden and her lawn of grape-hyacinths, David and Theo's relationship grows, and both teens are aware of its sexual energy. While David is so well adjusted to the possibility that he may be homosexual it strains believability, Theo struggles with the idea of being "queer." When Gretel discovers the teens together, she separates them and their friendship is suspended. Their relationship is symbolized by the blooming of the blue lawn, a testament to the beauty in being different. While David and Theo come across as multilayered individuals, other characterizations are less successful. David's parents are blithely supportive background figures and his sister is immediately accepting of his homosexuality. While there are too few positive examples of coming out, here it is too pat. The boys' intimacy goes remarkably unnoticed and unchallenged in their school and in the larger community. This absence of social conflict makes the thread of Holocaust history awkward rather than integrative. A thoughtful, if slightly flawed character study.
Jennifer A. Fakolt, Denver Public Library
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781555834937: The Blue Lawn

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ISBN 10:  1555834930 ISBN 13:  9781555834937
Publisher: Alyson Books, 1999
Softcover

  • 9781869501402: Blue Lawn (Tui)

    Harper..., 1995
    Softcover