An honor-roll teen falls for her community college professor in this mawkish romance.
Madelyn Hawkins, 16, is enrolled in a program that allows high school students to take college courses. The first day of biology 101, she becomes besotted with her young professor, Bennett Cartwright. At first, it seems destined never to be more than a crush, but then the two run into each other while hiking the hills of their Seattle suburb. From that point on, a romantic yet chaste relationship blossoms, as Bennett believes Madelyn is 18 and wants to wait until the course is over before he even kisses her. After many platonic dates, they consummate their perfect love only to have it fall apart when Bennett discovers Madelyn’s true age. The story is written in awkward second person as a letter from Madelyn to Bennett after the end of the affair and includes details the character couldn’t possibly remember like, “…a long tangled strand of my wavy dark-blond hair slid forward….For a split second, your eyes followed it down before you looked back at your computer.” But despite the paper-thin characterizations and unimaginative dialogue, the topic and short length may be attractive to some reluctant readers.
For more complex examinations of student-teacher affairs, readers should be directed to Barry Lyga’s Boy Toy (2007) or R.A. Nelson’s Teach Me (2005). (Fiction. 14 & up)