Alan Cole Is Not a Coward

Gr 4-6--All Alan Cole has ever wanted is to blend in. He takes care not to let his cafeteria tablemates, Zack and Madison, become his friends. Alan stays quiet at the dinner table so as not to upset his irascible father, and tries to avoid his brother, Nathan, who relentlessly bullies him. One day Nathan forces Alan to play a round of Cole vs. Cole, in which each brother must attempt to accomplish as many of Nathan's proposed seven assignments as possible within a week. The tasks are tough and include learning how to swim, retrieving a slip of paper from inside a broken vending machine, and receiving a first kiss. If Alan loses, Nathan will reveal his biggest secret to the whole school: Alan is gay and has a crush on one of his male classmates. With its well-developed characters, juxtaposition of supportive adult educators and aggressive parents, and message of hope, this novel feels like a contemporary version of Gary D. Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now. Many of the book's most memorable scenes involve its lovable supporting characters, including Zack, a sweet kid who brings new meaning to the phrase free spirit, and Madison, who is named after three U.S. presidents and feels that his name comes with a responsibility to speak as eloquently as possible at all times. VERDICT A strong debut; recommend to tweens who enjoy realistic fiction, particularly readers looking for stories about LGBTQ kids.--Shira Pilarski, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Washington, DC

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"There are books in this world that show us why it matters that we become our truest selves. This is one of them."—Gary D. Schmidt, Newbery Honor and Printz Honor author of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and The Wednesday Wars