Night of a Thousand Boyfriends
October 22nd, 2009 Brian Herzog
I was sitting next to our Teen Librarian as she was deleting books she'd just weeded from the Young Adult collection. We were kind of joking about the books that didn't circulate, and also lamenting how important cover art is to teens - if the cover of the book looks dorky or dated, they will not take it out.
Among those that didn't make the cut was Night of a Thousand Boyfriends - a choose-your-own-adventure book about dating. Ha. I loved those books when I was growing up, and thought one about dating was a funny idea.
I flipped through it, curious how "far" a YA book would go, and got quite a surprise. Here are some excerpts:
- If you take the Ecstasy, turn to page 23.
- If you decline the offer, turn to page 72.
and
- If you suggest things are moving a little too fast anyway, turn to page 88.
- If you insist that Brian run to the drug store for protection, turn to page 67.
- If you throw caution to the wind and unfasten his belt, turn to page 39.
I'm sure teens have to make choices like this, but we both were amazed this made it into the YA collection.
Beyond that, this book was just bizarre - which is to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book is about dating, so many of the paths involved going to clubs or bars, drinking, and going home with strangers. But some of the endings resulted in passing out, lesbian sex, kidnapping, internet porn, marriage, pregnancy - and being the Queen of Neptune.
So if you're looking for a book for a book club, Night of a Thousand Boyfriends by Miranda Clarke will certainly provide plenty topics of discussion.
