Indestructible Object

Printz Honoree McCoy (I, Claudia) braids multiple plotlines in this Memphis-set novel about relationships and social norms. Lee Swann, white and quietly bisexual, has been planning her post–high school future with her boyfriend and podcast-producing partner Vincent, who’s biracial (Black/white). Then they break up on air, during their podcast about artists in love. Now what? Lee’s artist parents are also splitting up, and old family friend Sage, who is white and nonbinary, has just come for a visit with their queer son Max, who’s half Filipino. A skilled sound engineer, Lee starts reimaging her life by investigating the past as a podcast, aided and abetted by Max. Would Lee’s parents be together if not for her? Is love possible? Lee and Max compare notes on intersectionality and life experience, while Lee interviews her parents, their friends, and gets input from Vincent and new friend Risa, to whom Lee is increasingly attracted. Alongside details of various relationships’ workings, McCoy conveys Lee’s ruminations about love, loss, history, and white/straight privilege. It’s rare in YA fiction that parents’ emotional lives are given the importance they actually have in many teens’ lives, and this book offers a well-drawn corrective while keeping Lee at the forefront. Ages 12–up. [em]Agent: Patricia Nelson, Marsal Lyon Literary. (June) [/em]