Five Reasons Why We Should Worship David Levithan

1. He can create characters you will root for desperately.

I've read quite a few books in my time that presume that you, as the reader, will root for the characters they contain. You know what I mean - those lazy narratives that have a lot of pluck but don't quite hit the mark in terms of showing you why you want this protagonist to succeed. David Levithan does not presume. His characters are so real, so imperfect that you believe in them completely, and want nothing more for them to be happy.

2. He tackles vast issues without once condescending to his audience or alienating anyone or simplifying the vastness or complications of those issues.

By which I mean you are not likely to put his books down.

3. He is uncompromisingly optimistic.

It would be very easy to see nothing but darkness in the world of his characters, but Levithan's stories always look for light.
I've just finished his first novel, Boy Meets Boy in which it is quite normal for the High School's best quarterback to be a magnificent drag queen by the name of Infinite Darlene. Some reviewers have called the world of Boy Meets Boy to be a fantasy for these reasons, but I'm convinced Levithan is just looking to a not-so-distant future.

4. His prose is beautiful.

"I want to give her a good day. Just one good day. I have wandered for so long without any sense of purpose and now this ephemeral purpose has been given to me - it feels like it has been given to me. I only have a day to give - so why can't it be a good one? Why can't it be a shared one? Why can't I take the music of the moment and see how long it can last? The rules are erasable. I can take this. I can give this.
When the song is over, she rolls down her window and trails her hand in the air, introducing a new music into the car. I roll down all the other windows and drive faster, so the wind takes over, blows our hair all around, makes it seem like the car has disappeared and we are the velocity, we are the speed. Then another good song comes on and I enclose us again, this time taking her hand."

(From Every Day, Chapter 1, page 13)

5. He is very wise.

No, seriously. I feel like I was learning several great life lessons in each of his books and finding new ways to look at the world and the people in it.


Convinced? Oh good, I'm glad I've converted you. Now go and buy everything he's every written:

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