cover image The Mayday Rampage

The Mayday Rampage

Clayton Bess. Lookout Press, $17.75 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-882405-00-8

In perhaps no other YA novel to date has the topic of AIDS been dealt with as graphically and thoroughly as in this timely book by the author of Tracks and Bic Man and the Burnout. Structured in the vein of Paul Zindel's The Pigman , with two teens chronicling events which have led to a major crisis in their lives, the story begins with seniors Molly and Jess telling how they decided to write a series of articles on the HIV virus for their school newspaper. The young journalists set out to research their topic by interviewing several people in their community, including medical professionals, a prostitute and the mother of a five-year-old AIDS victim. The devastating effects of the disease become even more immediate when the pair learns that the housemate of a favorite teacher has contracted the virus. Although the protagonists' mutual attraction borders on over-cuteness, their dialogues for the most part are compelling and true-to-life. Besides dramatizing the impact of the AIDS epidemic on a high school population, Bess provides facts and statistics which may shock uninformed readers. Most hard-hitting of all is his epilogue, which traces the growth of the disease and reveals the sad, ironic fates of the two students. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)