Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Kicking off our month o’ love, here’s a little Christmas in July, a wintery romance to cool off to.
Dash isn’t exactly a people person, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t looking for that special someone. When he encounters a slim red notebook in the Salinger section at The Strand, he begins an adventure that just might lead him to an interesting girl.
Lily’s brother has decided it’s time she falls in love. He and his boyfriend devise a plan. They arrange clues in a notebook which is strategically hidden, hoping to lure in the right boy for Lily.
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares is written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the writing team responsible for Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. This is definitely for teens who are smart, quirky, off-beat and at the fringes of the crowd, as neither Dash and Lily are particularly social creatures. It will be best enjoyed by teens who have the intelligence to get the wordplay and mature enough to handle the language and sexuality.
Vocabulary that will make you think: Decemberist, Bolshevik, philatelist, titillating erudition, gentrified bohemia, bourgeois hypocrisy.
Great for: Fans of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, either the book or the movie. This is also the kind of YA book that adults often enjoy.
Finally, as this set over the winter break, it’s a fun Christmas read.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Well, yes. All three. It’s tricky because not much sexual actually happens, but in certain relationships depicted in the book it seems that you could fairly assume the couple is having sex. There are jokes about sex, including both muppet sex and nun sex (at this point you’re either dying to read this or about to click away from the blog!). Arousal is mentioned. Some characters report getting to third base and there is a part where characters remember pretending to “go down” on wax sculptures.
LGBT – There are multiple characters that fall into this category most significantly Lily’s brother who is in a stable serious relationship. Dash has gay friends. Lily sings with a guy and his boi. A club bouncer is described as a she-man.
Profanity – “darndest”, “fuck” multiple times, also fucking more than once – I believe both in verb and adjective form, “ass”, “hell”, “shit” (in English and French), “frickin’,” “suckage/suckahs/Mothersucker”, “prick,” “damn,” The middle finger is used.
Death, Violence and Gore – Dash mentions liking French films about mass murder.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Lily’s caroling group drinks chocolate laced with peppermint liqueur. Dash’s dad gives him 100 dollars and tells him not to spend it all on booze and women. Lily gets drunk.
Frightening or Intense Things – Lily is a bit emotionally scarred by the loss of some childhood pets.
Adding to my list of to-reads now….
Definitely for the older crowd, given the language alone. Sometimes I wish authors would give us some great stories without the f word. There may be other adjectives, adverbs, etc. in both (or either) English and/or French. Imagine that.