This timely middle-grade novel from the prolific David Levithan looks at the impact of an attempt to ban a (possibly) gay-inclusive book in a fifth-grade classroom. The story is told in three strands: The first is from the perspective of fifth-grader Donovan, who leaves The Adventurers, the book his language arts teacher assigned, on his kitchen counter. His mom flips through it and becomes concerned over its appropriateness, although Donovan does not at first know why. His response is to read the book in secret and try to figure it out.
The second strand consists of passages from The Adventurers itself, which seems a light but action-packed story of two boys and a girl who must save the world from an evil villain and former reality TV star who was elected governor of Florida, of all places. (The book doesn’t go into it, but Florida’s then-pending “Don’t Say Gay” bill, not to mention certain other former reality TV stars-turned-politicians, must have been on Levithan’s mind when he wrote this.)
The third strand involves a budding friendship/crush between two fifth-grade boys, Gideon and Roberto, whose relevance to the other strands is not initially clear. Their connection to the rest of the story becomes clear by the end. Without giving too much away, I’ll say I think it serves as a reminder that there have always been kids who realize at early ages that they are queer, and that these kids can grow up into happy and responsible queer adults. That’s an important message for young readers.
As the story unfolds, we learn that Donovan’s mother objects to a passage that implies the two boys in The Adventurers fell in love. She feels that the school should not be “promoting such ideas” and asserts, “I don’t think a teacher should determine what my child reads without my permission,” echoing real-life “parents’ rights” battles. Complicating matters, perhaps, is the fact that Mr. Howe, the teacher who assigned the book, is gay. But as one of Donovan’s classmates observed, “If Mr. Howe was straight, your mom probably wouldn’t have said a thing.”
Other students, including one with two moms and one who comes out as gay himself, are understandably outraged when the school orders the students to turn in their copies of The Adventurers until the school board holds a hearing on the matter. Levithan avoids the easy plotline of making Donovan gay; Donovan is pretty sure he’s not, but also appreciates Mr. Howe’s reassurance that it’s okay if he hasn’t figured it out yet. He also tries to be a good ally even though this means taking a stance opposite to his mother’s.
In the school board meeting to decide the book’s fate, adult readers will recognize a clear echo of real-life school board meetings about book bans. Levithan is perceptive enough not to paint things in black and white, however. While some parents speak against the book because they simply feel their children aren’t “ready” for it, other speakers rail against the evils of “homosexuality” in general. The book makes clear these are two different things, and (perhaps optimistically) shows that the former parents can be swayed, especially once they realize the extent of the hatred coming from extreme conservatives.
Through Donovan, Levithan also makes the excellent point that many kids learn about LGBTQ identities because they have LGBTQ classmates or classmates with LGBTQ parents, and this is often long before their parents may think they’re “ready” to learn about such things. Levithan also shows how these differing attitudes are in many ways generational ones, and makes it clear his money’s on the younger folks. In fact, right from the start of the book, where he asks readers to evaluate the passage in The Adventurers that triggered the controversy, he shows how much faith he has in young people to form their own opinions.
With book bans and challenges at an all-time high, this book just might help young readers navigate actual situations in their communities or better understand headlines they see. Its multiple perspectives, from both queer protagonists and allies, offer multiple ways of connecting with the story. At 176 pages, it’s a quick read, but an important one.
The main characters read as White, except for Roberto, who is Latino, and one character in The Adventurers, who is described as having dark skin.
