In Sáenz’s novel, 15-year-olds Aristotle and Dante struggle with the complexities and insecurities of growing up as they try to understand and navigate family secrets, their sexual identities, their identities as Mexican-Americans, and their increasingly complicated friendship. Lin-Manuel Miranda hands in a nuanced performance, capturing Ari’s inner confusion and self-loathing, his unexpressed rage at his parents, and his mixed feelings about best friend Dante. Miranda is just as effective in capturing Dante, lending him an upbeat, likable, nerdy voice. For the book’s other characters, the narrator takes an understated approach, allowing listeners to understand who is speaking to whom without creating full-fledged character voices. Because of Miranda’s standout performance, listeners will truly understand these two boys as they travel the difficult journey toward becoming men. Ages 12-up. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. (Apr.)

Fifteen-year-old Aristotle (Ari) has always felt lonely and distant from people until he meets Dante, a boy from another school who teaches him how to swim. As trust grows between the boys and they become friends (a first for Ari), Ari’s world opens up while they discuss life, art, literature, and their Mexican-American roots. Additionally, the influence of Dante’s warm, open family (they even have a “no secrets” rule) is shaping Ari’s relationship with his parents, particularly in regard to a family secret; Ari has an older brother in prison, who no one ever mentions. In a poetic coming-of-age story written in concise first-person narrative, Sáenz (Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood) crystallizes significant turning points in the boys’ relationship, especially as Ari comes to understand that Dante’s feelings for him extend beyond friendship. The story swells to a dramatic climax as Ari’s loyalties are tested, and he confronts his most deeply buried fears and desires. It’s a tender, honest exploration of identity and sexuality, and a passionate reminder that love—whether romantic or familial—should be open, free, and without shame. Ages 12–up. (Feb.)

Benjamin Alire Saenz is a writer with a sidewinder punch. Spare sentences connect resonant moments, and then he knocks you down with emotional truth. The story of Ari and Dante’s friendship widens and twists like a river, revealing truths about how hard love is, how family supports us, and how painfully deep you have to go to uncover an authentic self.

"I’m absolutely blown away. This is Saenz's best work by far...It’s a beautiful story, so beautifully told and so psychologically acute! Both Ari and Dante are simply great characters who will live on in my memory. Everything about the book is absolutely pitch perfect...It’s already my favorite book of the year!"

"This book took my breath away. What gorgeous writing, and what a story! I loved both these boys. And their parents! Don't we all wish we had parents like theirs? The ending - and the way it unfolded - was so satisfying. I could go on and on...suffice it to say I will be highly recommending it to one and all. I'm sure I'll reread it myself at some point. I hated having it end."

"Sáenz is a master at capturing the conversation of teens with each other and with the adults in their lives."

"Primarily a character- and relationship-driven novel, written with patient and lyrical prose that explores the boys’ emotional lives with butterfly-wing delicacy."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Ari’s first-person narrative—poetic, philosophical, honest—skillfully develops the relationship between the two boys from friendship to romance."

"Sáenez writes toward the end of the novel that “to be careful with people and words was a rare and beautiful thing.” And that’s exactly what Sáenez does—he treats his characters carefully, giving them space and time to find their place in the world, and to find each other...those struggling with their own sexuality may find it to be a thought-provoking read."

"Sáenz has written the greater love story, for his is the story of loving one’s self, of love between parents and children, and of the love that builds communities, in addition to the deepening love between two friends."

Fifteen-year-old Ari is a loner who is trying to figure out his place in the world when he meets Dante, a boy from another school. Despite their many economic, social, and personality differences, they quickly become best friends. It's complicated though; Ari wallows in his loneliness and anger caused by family secrets around his older brother who is in prison and his father's service in Vietnam. Dante, on the other hand, is outgoing, open, and erudite. The novel quietly and poetically explores family relationships, sexual and ethnic identity (both boys are Mexican Americans), heroism, PTSD, and drug and alcohol experimentation without being overwhelming. Ari narrates the story and it's easy to slide inside his mind as situations play out. He calls himself "inscrutable" and readily admits he doesn't understand himself—and neither does the reader who lives Ari's confusion, loneliness and anger throughout. Saenz never minimalizes or sensationalizes events and feelings; rather he quietly explores Ari's hesitant journey from childhood to manhood. Both boys have incredibly understanding parents, especially given that the story is set in Texas the 1980s. Otherwise characterizations are extremely well done, as is the novel's pacing. The book reads quickly, yet the reader feels suspended in time, living the year with Ari and Dante. As Ari confronts his deeply buried desires and fears, it's his parents who help him realize that making mistakes is part of life and encourage his taking off his self-imposed the blinders. As much about family, friendship, communication as it is about sexual identity, this is a truly powerful story. Reviewer: Peg Glisson

Fifteen-year-old Aristotle "Ari" Mendoza prefers his own moodiness to the company of others. He is shadowed by memories of his incarcerated brother, of whom his parents never speak, while his father has nightmares of his service in the Vietnam War. In the heat of an El Paso summer, Ari unexpectedly makes a friend: Dante Quintana, an expressive boy who confesses to being crazy about his parents, swimming, art, and star-gazing. The boys hang out, explore their hometown, and—most importantly—laugh together. The Quintanas' easy family relationship helps Ari begin to understand the ghosts haunting his family, and the boys' parents also bond. The end of the summer is nearing when, in the midst of a rainstorm, Ari pushes Dante out of the path of an oncoming car, sustaining severe injuries himself. In the aftermath of the accident, as his body slowly heals, Ari wrestles with the meaning and consequences of his actions—what moved him to risk his life for Dante? How does saving a friend's life change the friendship? To answer his own questions, Ari must face the inevitability of growing from a boy to a man. Readers familiar with Dance on My Grave by Aidan Chambers (/Macmillan, 1983/VOYA October 1983) will find parallels in Saenz's novel. Dante and Ari are similar to Barry and Hal, though without their reckless behavior and unhealthy obsessions. Ultimately, Saenz has written the greater love story, for his is the story of loving one's self, of love between parents and children, and of the love that builds communities, in addition to the deepening love between two friends. Reviewer: Joanna Lima

Read with a convincingly teen-sounding voice by Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, this 1980s-set coming-of-age novel, which was awarded a 2013 Printz Honor, will be a popular addition to YA collections. Both Aristotle and Dante are of Mexican heritage but seem to have little else in common. The boys meet during summer break and help each other discover their place in the world and their identity—ethnic, sexual, and family. Aristotle's family relationships are complicated, with a brother in prison and older, married sisters. Dante is an only child whose college professor father moves the family to Chicago for a sabbatical. Over time, the teens and their families develop a relationship that deepens through adversity. Aristotle saves Dante's life. Dante, openly gay, falls in love with Aristotle. VERDICT A thought-provoking read for teens struggling to develop individuality.—Cheryl Youse, Moultrie, GA

Gr 9 Up—In the summer of 1987 in El Paso, TX, two 15-year-old loners meet when Dante offers to teach Ari to swim, and they have a laugh over their unusual names. Though polar opposites in most aspects other than age and Mexican heritage, the teens form an instant bond and become inseparable. This poetic novel takes Ari, brooding and quiet, and with a brother in prison, and Dante, open and intellectual, through a year and a half of change, discovering secrets, and crossing borders from which there is no return. Two incidents, one in which Ari saves Dante's life and his family's temporary move to Chicago, help Dante understand that he is gay and in love with his friend. Yet, Ari can't cross that line, and not until Dante is hospitalized in a gay-bashing incident does he begin to realize the true depth of the love he has for him. With the help of his formerly distant, Vietnam-damaged father, Ari is finally able to shed his shame—the shame of his anger, of his incarcerated brother, of being different—and transition from boy to man. While this novel is a bit too literary at times for some readers, its authentic teen and Latino dialogue should make it a popular choice.—Betty S. Evans, Missouri State University, Springfield

A boring summer stretches ahead of Ari, who at 15 feels hemmed in by a life filled with rules and family secrets. He doesn't know why his older brother is in prison, since his parents and adult sisters refuse to talk about it. His father also keeps his experience in Vietnam locked up inside. On a whim, Ari heads to the town swimming pool, where a boy he's never met offers to teach him to swim. Ari, a loner who's good in a fight, is caught off guard by the self-assured, artistic Dante. The two develop an easy friendship­, ribbing each other about who is more Mexican, discussing life's big questions, and wondering when they'll be old enough to take on the world. An accident near the end of summer complicates their friendship while bringing their families closer. Sáenz's interplay of poetic and ordinary speech beautifully captures this transitional time: " 'That's a very Dante question,' I said. 'That's a very Ari answer,' he said.… For a few minutes I wished that Dante and I lived in the universe of boys instead of the universe of almost-men." Plot elements come together at the midpoint as Ari, adding up the parts of his life, begins to define himself. Meticulous pacing and finely nuanced characters underpin the author's gift for affecting prose that illuminates the struggles within relationships. (Fiction. 14 & up)