20 July 2003 OUT OF ORDER by A.M. Jenkins, Harper Tempest, August 2003, ISBN 0-06-623968-0

"I hate this class. English has always been a nightmare to me. It's a battle for me to stay in regular and not get stuck in remedial. I've always kept ahead of the game, but I still hate English. I hate books, I hate school in general. Always have. Any minute somebody could be expecting you to read out loud, or to explain something."

Boy, do I feel stupid.

Don't tell anybody, but Richie--who has a reputation to maintain for having read nearly EVERYTHING when it comes to recently published YA literature--has never before read a book by A.M. Jenkins. Not even the previous one, which was designated a BBYA Top Ten. I couldn't even tell Shari if A.M. Jenkins was a man or a woman. (Shari was the one who looked on the copyright page and discovered that A.M. stands for Amanda McRaney.)

I can joke about it (even if I am truly embarrassed to admit this particular gap in my knowledge) because having grown up as an excellent reader and student I've always understood that knowledge gaps of all sorts are easily bridged by finding the right book--or sometimes, these days, the right website--and reading the necessary information.

That is, you can easily bridge knowledge gaps IF you have the skills to read and comprehend the language--if, like me, you learned to read well as a young child and then steadily improved your abilities through coaching and practice.

We never learn specifically why sixteen-year old, star baseball player Colt Trammel had such a hard time learning to read, but he did, and it is obvious that the school system has failed him by never providing the help he has desperately needed:

"I can't remember the first time I knew I was stupid. It must have been in kindergarten or first grade, when everybody else could already tell the letters apart and I couldn't, even though I started school a year late on account of my birthday's in June and my dad didn't want me to be the smallest boy in my class for the rest of my life. But even with a year's head start, I kept getting the letters mixed up. I still don't read so good.

"But I am good at copying, lying, cheating. I get notes like 'doesn't work up to potential,' and 'would rather entertain his classmates than work.'

"And that's why I could always sit through a whole class period, doing nothing but watching Grace. I'd give anything to be smart like that. The only smart I am is smart-mouthed. And if somebody like Grace--intellectual, pure, refined--could fall for me, then nobody will ever guess that I'm just plain fucking stupid, after all."

This feeling of stupidity colors Colt's entire world and his interactions with everyone in it, be it a girl, a teacher, the coach, or his fellow ballplayers. It results in his intolerance of people who are different so that he can feel better about himself.

In one of the year's great coming-of-age stories, Colt Trammel teeters on the edge of complete disaster: Grace is ambivalent about their relationship. Colt is reaching the critical point at which accumulated years of not understanding the subject matter in his classes is steadily sinking his chances of even cheating his way to the passing grades necessary to remain on the baseball team when spring arrives. Even his mother is tightening the screws. Through a complicated system of coping mechanisms, Colt has learned to deal with the system that has failed him, but his whole carefully constructed facade is on the verge of crumbling.

" ' "He was a man," ' Mr. Hammond reads off the printout, ' "without a mask." '

"I do what I always do--I stare right at him, so nobody knows I have no clue what he's talking about, and nobody can complain how I'm not paying attention. It's an old trick--just look the teacher right between the eyes, just keep your own eyes glued to that one spot on the bridge of their nose, and then your mind can wander wherever it wants."

A catalyst for Colt's transformation arrives in the form of Corinne, a green-haired girl with attitude who transfers to his school and ends up trying to help him:

" 'I'll skip this next part,' she tells me. 'It's basically comparing poetry to beer.' Which perks my ears up--but she's already going on:

" 'But take it: if the smack is sour,

The better for the embittered hour....

"She stops suddenly and looks me dead in the eye.

" 'What do you think that means?'

"This whole situation's so weird that just for a second I hesitate.

"But just for a second.

" 'It means you're a fucking psycho,' I tell her.

" 'Wrong!' She thumps the open book with her hand. 'It means that you're my vaccination.'

" 'Your vacc--'

" 'See, Golden Boy, you're a pain in the ass right now, but gradually you'll make me immune to all the other morons in this oppressive caste system you call a school. You're my cowpox, my measles shot, my DPT booster.'

"I start to say something about at least my hair's not the color of snot, but I'm not really sure what all she just said, and besides, snot comments are too fourth grade."

Colt refers to her as Chlo (short for chlorophyll) and she refers to him as Terrell (just to mess with his mind). That he and Corinne have sufficient contempt for each other is paradoxically what allows them to drop their facades and be real with each other.

And while that dropping of their guards may be a more pivotal component to the story, I was fascinated and enlightened by the author's ability (through Chlo) to bring Colt to see how some works of the Romantic poets (as well as A.E. Housman) can actually relate to his life. Chlo is a person who has learned how to use her intellect not merely to get good grades, but to find truth and compassion in her world.

OUT OF ORDER will cause readers to empathize with the kids in their own lives who hide themselves behind facades, and could cause some of those masqueraders to seek help.

Richie Partington

http://richiespicks.com

BudNotBuddy@aol.com