How to Speak Boy

Gr 9 Up–High school senior Quinn lives alone with her mother, a waitress who is building a photography business on the side. Living in a small town in Idaho, Quinn faces the typical teenage drama—social insecurity, academic overload, and relationship woes. She has her two close friends, Naomi and Carter, in whom she confides, but recent events have caused some distance between them. Her main focus is the Speech and Debate team, for which she has been elected co-president with her competitor, Grayson. As the two leaders attend meets together and oversee the running of the club, they enter into flirtatious banter, which alternates between friendly and accusatory tones. When Quinn starts an anonymous correspondence with a mystery student in her AP Government class, she wonders if the writer could be someone she knows. As she begins to feel a close connection to this person, she makes questionable decisions that lead to unexpected outcomes. Rumors fly and friends become suspected enemies. Quinn struggles to figure out her future, while simultaneously facing pressing issues that are right in front of her, including her unspoken desire to jump-start her love life. Smith’s prose is straightforward and uncomplicated, and gets to the heart of the teenage experience. Although she occasionally falls into formulaic writing, she makes it work by imbuing her characters with depth and authentic traits.