Play Me Backwards

Leon Harris is a quintessential slacker, whiling away his high school years working at a “B-list ice cream parlor” with an unpopular bunch of misfits including his best friend Stan, who tells everyone he’s actually Satan and that “My parents just leave out the first A so I can go to St. Pius.” After Leon comes to the Valentine’s Day rescue of popular Paige Becwar, he ends up falling for her, even as the girl of his dreams, Anna B, might be returning to Iowa after years of living in England. Selzer (I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It) packs the story with bawdy, hormonal humor and scenes of Leon, Stan, Paige and their friends talking about life and sex, playing invented games to pass the time, or embarking on faux-heroic quests to find a rare “Slushee” flavor, inspired by Ahab’s quest in Moby-Dick. It’s a mordantly funny story of a teenager bumbling headlong into love and sex while caught in high-school limbo, waiting for life to kick into gear. Ages 14–up. [em]Agent: Adrienne Rosado, Nancy Yost Literary Agency. (Aug.) [/em]