Kate’s 2¢: “Elliott and Win” by Carolyn Meyer

“Elliott and Win” by Carolyn Meyer

 Kate’s 2¢: I down-loaded this book upon the recommendation of a Behind Our Eyes colleague.  It is a YA novel that addresses some of the issues children  have when they are raised by only one parent. ‘Los Amigos’ is an organization that pairs boys whose fathers are absent with men who can befriend and be a role model for the boys. Sometimes, they become friends and sometimes,  they aren’t a good match.

   I’ve included my colleague’s review of “Elliott and Win”.

From ‘The Blind Perspective”, an e-mag,  September 2021 Volume 7 Issue 9

By Bonnie Blose

…In the 1980s, books for teens underwent great change. Like romance writers who learned readers wanted real life stories with believable problems, novels for teens underwent similar change. As a result, broken families were everywhere. Sometimes fathers left, but mothers did too. This left teens beginning to find their own identity with complicated romantic relationships with questions of how and when love can be lost and what, if anything, can be done to make it stay.

…Teenagers and adults often make quick judgments about others. Often, it is to hide something they wish not to face or to feel better about themselves.

… As Win grows closer to Elliott, he decides to take on some of his interests, in particular cooking healthy meals.  He invites Heather to what is a dangerous place to share a picnic. That time together changes the future for both. Knowing he can confide in Elliott when he can no longer hide his tears and sadness, he tells him the terrible truth and what happened on that awful night. How difficult it is for anyone and perhaps most of all a teen to discover no firm ground underfoot.

…As I read this wonderful but short novel, I imagined the fragility of teenage years and remembered uncertainty and doubts  face during that time. Carolyn Meyer illustrates the stark reality of the pain caused by what we believe. Imagine you are a teen finding your way in a world which seems to change constantly. What we believe at any age comes from experience and what friends believe. How easy it is to plant doubt! This book is about trust. It’s about what to believe while trying to figure out with whom we can share doubts and fears.

…”Elliott and Win” was published in 1986 during the Aids crisis. This is a sensitive portrayal of the importance of both adults and children and the need they have for each other.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born June 8, 1935,[1] as an only child in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, Meyer began her first “novel,” Humpy the Caterpillar and Gladys the Snail: A True Life Romance at age eight. However, she completed only three chapters.[1]

   Meyer’s latest work published is Beauty’s Daughter: The Story of Hermione and Helen of Troy, published October 2013.

Her previous published work was The True Adventures of Charley Darwin, focusing on the life of Charles Darwin, quite a leap from her usual subjects, for she has gone from royalty, to European artists, and now to scientists. The True Adventures of Charley Darwin is unusual in that it breaks from Meyer’s formula of always having a female narrator, as Charley narrates his own story. The hardcover version of this book was published on January 26, 2009.[2][3] Before Darwin came In Mozart’s Shadow, a historical novel about Mozart and narrated by his older sister, Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl, released in 2008.[4]

   Mother to three grown sons, she resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her husband, E.A. “Tony” Mares, a New Mexico poet, essayist and historian, and professor at the University of New Mexico, died January 30, 2015.[1]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Elliott and Win DB25341

Meyer, Carolyn Reading time: 4 hours, 46 minutes.

David Palmer National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Young Adult

Fourteen-year-old Win has just moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his divorced mother, who has arranged with an agency to pair Win up with an adult male volunteer “role model.” To his chagrin, Win is matched with Elliott Deerfield–who doesn’t own a TV, attends the opera, jumps rope, and serves Win gourmet chicken salad instead of burgers and fries. Some violence and descriptions of sex. For junior and senior high readers.

Download Elliott and Win DB25341