Since I started blogging, Hannah Moskowitz has come very strongly recommended to me by a number of bloggers I love and trust. Sadly, I haven’t had a chance yet to read one of her books, until I finally found my review copy of MARCO IMPOSSIBLE buried somewhere deep in the black hole of no return, also known as the back of my bookshelf. I dove into this little book without knowing much about it other than the basics – middle schoolers and best friends, one gay and one straight, plan to announce to the world and the boy of one’s dreams that he’s in love with him.It’s a pretty fantastical plan, no? And I am definitely all for promoting GLBT stories, especially for middle grade fiction, a category I am quickly dipping my toes into and exploring now that young adult is souring a bit for me. What I found was a wonderful story about friendship, first love, family, adversity, diversity, and one whiny kid who needed to be smacked.MARCO IMPOSSIBLE…TO LIKE?I should just be blunt. I thought Marco was insufferable. He spends the majority of the book being an ungrateful little snot who whines, demands, controls, and basically uses his best friend Stephen and Stephen’s family as doormats while his parents are away in Japan adopting a baby (which isn’t feasible but I’m leaving that alone – it’s not important). By the end of the story, I kind of understood where he was coming from with his hostilities, but it was just grating to see him treat his best friend like his assistant or his servant. Poor Stephen is the narrator of our tale, but rarely does he ever get to make decisions in the story. It’s all about Marco.Otherwise, I loved the characters. It’s a fully realized cast from various backgrounds, even if a few threads related were left unfinished to an extent, such as Marco’s issues with his bully.ACTION, DRAMA, BOYS!MARCO IMPOSSIBLE is about two boys who fancy themselves as detectives, not just two boys where one happens to be gay. There are mysteries to solve, events to plan, bullies to be caught! That’s all that needs to be said. Also, I’m getting very tired. Sleep is imminent.A STORY THAT NEEDED TO BE TOLDAbove all, the feature of MARCO IMPOSSIBLE that sold me was the fact that it is a story that needed to be told. I mean, how many stories are there for middle schoolers (and for older people like me looking for this sort of story) about a 13 year old boy wanting to declare his love for his crush who just happens to be another boy? GLBT is underrepresented in kidlit, but this seems to be one of the rare stories that makes it through, a story that more people should be reading. I looked at how many reviews it has on Goodreads and was kind of stunned. It’s been out for almost 3 months and only that many people have read it? If I knew middle schoolers (I don’t, mind you) I would be putting this book into their hands and singing its praises. MARCO IMPOSSIBLE might have an almost impossible to like boy named Marco as the main attraction, but it’s a story about growing up as someone different. Marco has faced bullying, his family wanting another child, his impending move to another school, and a whole host of other issues. But his courage is very apparent, as is his mouth.VERDICT: Although Marco is a bit brash, MARCO IMPOSSIBLE is a story that is impossible for me to hate – maybe because it’s the story I want to see told more often in literature for children.♥♥♥♥ - FOUR HEARTS
