Bad Boy

By Diana Wieler

Book Overview

Hockey is the only game worth playing in the rough-and-tumble prairie town of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. When sixteen-year-old A.J. Brandiosa makes the Triple A team of his dreams, he can hardly believe... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385304153
• ISBN13: 9780385304153
• Release Date: February 1992
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Bad Boy: Great YA Novel with Gay Character: One of the Best

I saw this award-winning Canadian novel mentioned by a college student who had found it invaluable for his coming out in high school, and I can understand why. A.J. is a 16 year old hockey player in Moose Jaw, Saskatchuwan, on the sparsely-populated Canadian prairie, who is desperately trying to put his baby fat behind him. To that end he bought a second-hand weight set which sits in the basement of his best friend's home. Tully, named Tulsa after the Oklahoma city where his formerly hippy parents probably conceived him, is a golden-haired, air-guitar playing social wizard, beloved by all. A.J. likes spending time at Tully's home because he has a family, including a sister, Summer, who mesmerizes him, whereas A.J. only has his father whose work schedule does not allow much interaction. Both A.J. and Tully try out for the local Triple-A hockey team and, in a surprise to them both, they make it, though A.J., who tends to watch the puck rather than the game, knows he is marginal in the coach's eyes. Much as A.J. reveres Tully he knows that Tully has a dark side that may include hashish use. But Tully has a classic bright red Ford Mustang with a leather interior and a V-8 engine, and there is no place that A.J. feels more at ease than in the passenger seat with his best friend driving, headlights cutting through the vastness of the prairie. A.J. rarely talks, but Tully always listens, and as they cruise together to school and to hockey practice Tully and his car are A.J.'s refuge. But Tully has a secret that involves a mean-spirited member of the same team, Derek, who attends a different high school. When A.J., at Summer's request, tries to track Tully down one night by bicycle, he spots the red Mustang near a bar which, A.J. discovers, has same-sex clientele. In his rush to leave he crashes into Tully who has Derek's arm draped over his shoulder. This event occurs in mid-book. The rest of the book deals with A.J.'s reaction to what he sees as a violation of his trust by Summer's brother and his former best friend. The book has aged well over twenty years. There is nothing to date it except for the mention of $1 bills, since Canada moved to $1 coins years ago. It is such an excellent book that it should be on the required reading list in high schools. Diana Wieler creates narrative and events and situations that transcend most YA novels. It is truly one of the best.

Realistically Exciting

Bad Boy is a great book for kids or teens to read because it deals with things that the youth would relate to. Two best friends A.J. and Tully both made the Tripple A Cyclone hockey team, that they have wanted to be on for years. They have both grown up pretty violent and rough. Everything was starting to come together when A.J. found out that someone he nows is gay. This is a very modern book. If you like hokey and like to read very realistic books, I know this will be one of your favorits.

Award-winning and powerful

This book is the winner of eight awards - including those from the American Library Association, the Canadian Library Association and Canada's most prestigious award, the Governor General's Award for Children's Literature. And it's obvious why.The Canadian Children's Book Centre says, "Wieler's characters are well rounded and real. Even minor figures like Coach Landau are fully alive on the page. Main characters particularly change and grow, their reactions and development interesting and plausible. At the close of Bad Boy the reader knows that A.J., Tully and Summer will continue to grow not only in relation to one another but in their own right as well. .. (Wieler) has created one of the best young adult novels to be written by a Canadian, a book which is gripping and thoughtful and moving. Bad Boy is controversial...but adolescent readers who are kept from it will be deprived of one of the most important reading experiences of this or any other year"This is a powerful book, and highly recommended. Both my teenagers loved it - one son and one daughter -- and couldn't put it down. Diana Wieler has become a real favourite in our house.

A great teen novel for the gay jock in your family

One of few novels about teenage athletes that deals with gay subject matter, Bad Boy is one of my favorites, a sweet and touching story that also deals with related issues of violence and growing up. When my young cousin came out and suffered some problems on his football team, I gave him a copy. He found it inspirational. He doesn't play hockey, but learned how to balance being athletic with dealing with his sexuality. - Stan G.