When You Get the Chance

Written by Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson
Running Press Teens
978-0-7624-9500-9
272 pp.
Ages 12+
May 2021

 

(n.b. This review was originally posted in May 2020 but because the release was delayed until this month, I have reposted it here to ensure everyone knows about it.)

 

Teens Talia and Mark may think that their destiny is to attend Toronto Pride when they and their families visit Ontario for a funeral but, though they get there, their stories in When You Get the Chance are all about the journey.

When Talia and her dad Gary come from Victoria and meet up with his sister Janet and two kids, Mark and 10-year-old Paige, who live in Halifax, the atmosphere is cool. Though Gary and Janet are attending their father's funeral and trying to help their mother through the loss, their long-term estrangement causes great friction, especially about the family cottage in Muskoka which Gary thinks should be sold and Janet hopes to visit with her kids. Grandma insists they all go up there and spend a week together before a decision is made.

But, when Grandma has a fall and the adults rush back to Toronto, leaving the kids to fend for themselves–grant you, Talia and Mark are in their late teens–the summer becomes a whole lot more interesting. Paige is determined to discover what lead to her mom's estrangement from her brother so, while she and Talia clean and sort, she speculates and puts clues together. Mark, on the other hand, is smitten with local boy Darren who has come around to help fix a 1970 Ford Mustang discovered in a shed. Mark, unfortunately, is all about Mark and, after he learns what Darren is really like, he decides to head to Toronto for Pride. Talia, whose partner Erin had recently moved to Toronto, is desperate to see them (Erin is non-binary and uses they/them/their pronouns), insists Mark take his cousin and, of course, Paige must come along too.

However, when the old Mustang breaks down, their trip looks like it's ended early. But, after meeting diner owner Shirley Jr. and her mechanic partner Babs who offer to take the kids to Toronto themselves, it's a new journey for Mark and Talia in resolving past relationships, meeting new people, experiencing their first Toronto Pride, and discovering who they are and what they need.

For anyone who doesn't know where they fit in, When You Get the Chance provides the promise that somewhere there is such a place for all. While Mark is confident in being out as gay, Talia has come from a small community where she and partner Erin depended on each other for support. But when Erin leaves for the big city and finds a new community, Talia has to balance what she needed then with what she wants now. Fortunately, with much soul-searching and some heartbreak, Talia finds her way.

These are my people, this is my community. I may not know how I identify or whatever, but I'm pretty sure that whatever I am, there's a place for me under this great big queer rainbow. (pg. 177)

Writers Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson have given us a road trip story with a twist in When You Get the Chance. By writing in the alternate voices of Mark and Talia who are from different coasts and have different experiences with their sexuality, Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson present distinct and valid perspectives on being gay or queer or however a young person may identify. By including a myriad of communities from young and old, to gay, straight, non-binary and even polyamorous, they have demonstrated that everyone belongs and sometimes all it takes is one chance and a trip in a vintage yellow Mustang to find one's self, one's voice and community.

36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You

Written by Vicki Grant

Running Press Teens

978-0-7624-6318-3

288 pp.

Ages 13+

October 2017

This is a love story.  It's the story of eighteen-year-old Hildy meeting nineteen-year-old Paul–though they're supposed to refer to themselves as generic Betty and Bob–as participants in a university research project to determine whether the asking of 36 questions could facilitate personal closeness that might result in a relationship.  Although the two teens come into the study from different perspectives, where they end up is heart-warming with a final scene right out of a Hollywood romantic comedy. (Yes, the book would make a GREAT film.)

Hildy is a bit of a mess.  She seems to be a little clumsy and does a whole lot of babbling though it's clear she is bright and astute and interesting.  But she describes herself at the onset of the study as someone who has

"...a lot of stuff happening in my life right now.  My own fault, of course.  Big mouth.  Tunnel vision.  Faulty social radar." (pg. 14)

That statement is very telling.  Without revealing all there is about her situation, Hildy suggests a crisis in her family, for which she is willing to take blame, but what is going on with younger brother Gabe, ER doctor mom Amy, and school principal and drama coach dad Greg, is only revealed in dribs and drabs through the context of Hildy's get-togethers with friends as well as in her meetings with Paul a.k.a. Bob Somebody both in person and online. (They have to extend their session beyond the original hour needed after she reacts to some comments he makes and she throws a puffer fish at him.)

Paul/Bob is more of a closed book.  When he's supposed tell the details of his life in four minutes (that's Question 11), Hildy assesses his answer as,

"That was a ten-second cover-up of a thirty-six-part docudrama.  What you didn't say was way more interesting than what you actually said." (pg. 62)

He gives very little away about himself and blankets most of his answers with an attitude Hildy doesn't appreciate. He does reveal his drawing ability in his endless doodling–mostly of a hand, Kong the puffer fish whom he adopts temporarily, and Hildy–and a love of drumming.  But Paul/Bob just wants to get this over with and collect his $40.

As the questions become more intimate and revealing, Hildy and Paul share more about themselves and seesaw between anger, frustration, appreciation and affection.  But when Hildy stands Paul up and can't locate him to try to make things right, it looks like the project and their budding friendship might all be in jeopardy.

Readers are going to fall in love with Hildy and Paul. They are so not perfect, separately and together.   They are masses of weaknesses and missteps especially when dealing with others and it's a wonder they ever got to the place where they'd want to do the psych study.  But, along with their weaknesses, they are strong and courageous and compassionate.  And yet, the two are infinitely different.  Still, Vicki Grant doesn't let that stand in the way of a great love story, one in which the complicated Hildy and the casual Paul can see beyond their frailties and foibles and expose themselves to possible happiness that no questions could have predicted. It is impossible not to laugh with them and laugh at them when you read their dialogue i.e., discussions based on the 36 scripted questions.

Question 10

Paul: If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

Hildy: I wish I hadn't been kept in the dark so much.

Paul: Explains why you're so pale.        (pg. 53)

I know this may be a spoiler but I don't want readers to worry that Hildy and Paul might never get together.  Rest assured that Vicki Grant, with her trademark humour, will bring the two teens to completing their psych study obligation and, better yet, to undertaking a new, more personal, venture on their own, with or without Kong in tow. And it only took 36 questions.

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