Book Descriptions
for Freaks and Revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Alternating chapters beginning in 1973 chronicle the lives and journeys of two individuals whose radically divergent paths eventually meet. At ten, Doug is a victim of anger in his family. As a teenager he finds relief in expressing his own rage through violence. Jason is thirteen when he comes out to his family. His hyper-religious mother throws him out of the house, and he’s soon living on the streets, eventually hustling to survive. In 1980, Doug’s racist, neo-Nazi gang attacks a group of gay street kids in Los Angeles, and Jason becomes the focal point of their violence. Davida Wills Hurwin chronicles each boy’s journey—paths of pain and hurt that leave one boy looking for safe harbor and love, and the other striking out in fury—to that terrible meeting in this chilling novel that also explores redemption by documenting the aftermath over the next twenty-five years. Her book is based on the real lives of Timothy Zaal and Matthew Boger, who met doing work at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles as adults and realized they had crossed paths years before when Zaal viciously beat Boger on the streets. Hurwin doesn’t shy away from explicitly describing the reality of either boy’s life in this compelling novel with a conclusion that would be hard to believe were it not based on fact. (Age 14 and older)
CCBC Choices 2010. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2010. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
This raw, moving novel follows two teenagers-one, a Mohawk-wearing 17-year-old violent misfit; the other, a gay 13-year-old cast out by his family, hustling on the streets and trying to survive. Acclaimed author Davida Wills Hurwin creates a riveting narrative told in alternating perspectives of their lives before and after the violent hate crime that changed both their futures. This tragic but ultimately inspirational journey of two polarized teens, their violent first meeting, and their peaceful reunion years later is an unforgettable story of survival and forgiveness.
This story is inspired by the real lives of Matthew Boger and Timothy Zaal, who have shared their story on The Oprah Winfrey Show and NPR.
This story is inspired by the real lives of Matthew Boger and Timothy Zaal, who have shared their story on The Oprah Winfrey Show and NPR.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.