One Word, Six Letters by Adib Khorram
Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book!
Dayton is dared to shout a word during an assembly at school. He is offered $20, and he wants to buy some Pop-Tarts. So, he shouts out a word that is a slur against people who are gay. He didn’t see anything wrong at the time but learned quickly that it was a very bad idea. He is pulled into the office, and his dad is called. He ends up getting three days of in-school suspension, his parents are mad at him, his friends are mad at him, and even his brother is mad at him. He didn’t mean to upset anyone. He can’t figure out why no one else will just forgive and forget.
Farshid is a freshman at school, and he was at the assembly. He keeps hearing people saying that word over and over again. Are they saying it about him? He doesn’t even know if he is gay or not at this point. But he can’t stop hearing that word all over school. I will point out that the word in question is never actually printed in the book. I did appreciate that; you know what the word is, but not having it typed out makes it more obvious that this is not a word one should be saying. I think this would also help if a teacher were reading the book or parts of the book aloud to their class to not have this word printed.
The book jumps back and forth from Dayton and Farshid’s POVs. I liked being able to hear their inner thoughts. It helped to understand the confusion and stress they were going through. I am back and forth on how I feel about it, though. I think I really did like understanding their thoughts and emotions, but I think it just took me a while each time I started reading to get used to thinking like a teen boy. I will say it was helpful for someone who has no experience as a teen boy, but works with them daily.
When Dayton gets to the ISS room, he meets another student, Brody, and they start talking. Brody often says things like “no homo” and “we’re just guys” to explain away most of his rude behavior. Dayton doesn’t really understand this, and he is trying to figure out if this kid is right, should Dayton be more like this? Should he be making rude jokes about “wacking it” because “that’s what guys do”? I’ll admit this was annoying to read about, but I know from school that this is often how students act. Not all, for sure, but a lot of them say rude things, and others laugh because they don’t know how else to react. Dayton starts hanging out with Brody more because his old friends want nothing to do with him. Little by little, he starts to see the harm he caused with his words. It takes a while, though. He really expected everyone to just get over it after he finished out his ISS.
Farshid is doing his best to navigate high school. He has started working out to gain some muscle. He can’t stop being rude to his mom. And he keeps worrying that he might be gay. His friend wants to join the school ‘Rainbow Connection’ to be an ally for another friend. He is immediately concerned that this might make people assume he is gay. I don’t ever remember having these thoughts as a teen. Is this more of a guy worry, or are times just different? He starts going to the gym every morning to work out and build muscle, and he is watching what he eats very carefully. Again, this has to do with keeping people from thinking he is gay. His eating habits are basically eating disorders. Maybe it is an eating disorder, I don’t know. I just know it doesn’t sound fun to track every single bite. I sort of understand his fear of coming out as gay in the sense that he doesn’t know how most people will react. But he is part of a club at school that is all about supporting the lgbtq. His parents must know he is a part of this, so they can’t be against it. Yes, there are always horrible people out there, but his school seems to have a lot of support and seem to take bullying seriously. I’m more worried about his physical health. He is way too into the gym and macros.
In the end, this book is about trying to overcome toxic masculinity and going against what you think society expects of you. Maybe it has to do with what I saw growing up; there were a lot of openly gay people in my high school and in college as well. I don’t remember anyone really caring if someone said they were gay. I started off as a fine arts major in college, and someone coming out didn’t even slow down a conversation. I was aware that others had a harder time, but the people I was around truly did not care who you liked. That being said, just because I grew up with mostly accepting people, that doesn’t mean everyone did. I think this is a great book for teens to read and discuss.
Four out of Five Magical Coffee Cups
Literary Coffee 