Heavy Metal and You by Christopher Krovatin

Bibliographic information:

Krovatin, Christopher. Heavy Metal and You. PUSH/Scholastic Press. 2005.  ISBN 0-439-74399-0       

Plot Summary:

            Sam is a teenage connoisseur of heavy metal music at an all male prep school in New York City.  He has built up a tough self-image to reflect his lifestyle and music choice.  Sam seems to only find solace in his music.  Melissa is an artistic and somewhat preppy girl who enters Sam’s life and the two begin a relationship.  Melissa is at first attracted by Sam’s heavy metal persona, but eventually tries to change him.  Sam finds himself quitting drinking, drugs, and smoking, and spending less time with his friends, all to please Melissa.

            Sam feels as if he is alienating himself, his lifestyle, and his friends to be what Melissa wants him to be.  The matter comes to a head when Sam meets some of Melissa’s friends who he finds out are very much different from him.  This results in a mutual dislike and Sam blowing up at her friends and telling them off in a harsh way.  Melissa feels that Sam has been unfair and Sam feels that Melissa has no appreciation for the real Sam.  The conflict between the two and the attempt to repair this leads to personal development in both.

Critical Evaluation:

The author displays an intricate knowledge of the history and culture of heavy metal music.  The theme and history of heavy metal is woven throughout the work.  The protagonist’s thoughts are punctuated with the symbols for pause, rewind, and play to help pace the flow of the work in an artful bit of design and editing.  The language and themes can be considered somewhat dark and coarse, but are quite natural considering the characters involved.  A display of the subcultures prevalent among teens is well done and one gets a smattering of teens in many different groups. The writing seemed to be fairly original, but was not of as high a caliber as one sees in other YA titles.  I was not a huge fan of this book, but do not discount the fact that it may be very much applicable to the lives of many potential users from this age group.  

Reader’s Annotation:

            Heavy metal is more than music for Sam; it is a way of life.  Melissa is into a different set.  The two teens get involved with one another and Sam begins to change up until the point where he feels he is losing himself.  The two teens encounter the clash of their backgrounds and try to make their relationship and identities remain intact while remaining together.

Information about the author:

Christopher Krovatin was a student at Wesleyan University at the time of this book’s publication.  He is currently 25 and has served as a PUSH writing intern.  He was born and raised in New York City and has an appreciation and detailed knowledge of heavy metal music and subcultures of teens.
He currently has 2 published books and a number of articles. Krovatin also acts when he is not writing novels or pieces for Revolver Magazine.  He maintains a MySpace site which can be found in a link below.

Genre:

Coming of Age/ Music Fiction

Curriculum Ties:

Music appreciation.

Booktalking Ideas:

1. Discuss how people from different groups maintain a relationship with each other. 

2. Focus on how Sam’s prep school background conflicts with the background of other heavy metal fans in the book.

3. Talk about the conflicts within Sam which define his actions throughout the book.

Reading Level/Interest Age:

16+

Challenge Issues:

Drugs/Sex/Alcohol/Coarse Language

Challenge Defense Ideas:

1.  Read the book.

2.  Be Familiar with the policy of the ALA and your institution.

3. Make a note of the contents of the work and how they fall in with the collection development policy of your institution and the standpoint of the ALA. 

4. Gain an awareness of the awards, reviews, and criticisms of the work, as well as other works by the same writer.

5. Know the process for materials challenges at your library.

Why did you include this book? : 

Krovatin is starting out as a writer and was very young at the time of this book’s release, I was interested in exploring what this new writer had to offer.
Author's MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/bloodinmystool