Wednesday, October 05, 2016

The Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge

Yet another coming of age story about 16-year-old Billy who has moved to Tuscon to spend the summer with his gay uncle who has arranged for him to have a job on a racetrack so he can figure out whether he has the aptitude to become a vet. Short and bright he comes with certain self-confidence issues hardly helped when he faints in the heat after getting off the train.

The subject matter is rather mature for YA though we are spared the profanity that would obviously be the argot of a backstretch. We do get immersed in the jargon of horse racing and betting and confront HIV and teenage sex. Uncle Wes is the kind of friend every boy should have as a mentor.

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