"Boy Toy" Literary Review

Boy Toy by Barry Lyga
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a disturbing read that provokes human thought and interaction... Josh is an eighteen year old baseball player who just wants to graduate from high school and go to college. The only problem is that he's being haunted by Eve, his seventh grade history teacher who molested him, and the scandal that has somehow turned him into a social pariah.
The message is that Josh wants to be normal, but furthermore, understood teenager. Baseball, girls and straight A's take up most of his time. However, when a controversy involves you and puts pressure on you, it's hard to deal with.

As a teacher reading this, it was more like a horror story considering the molestation factor, but Lyga presents the book in a way that makes it a disturbing, upsetting read in which the reader doesn't want to put it down. I even gave up sleep to finish this page-turner. However, I have concerns letting young adults (especially my own students)read this for the events and content involved, for the simple fear of possible controversy.

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