9. The Lover's Dictionary: A Novel

Levithan, David. The Lover's Dictionary: A Novel. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2011. Print.


Annotation:

breathtaking, adj.

Those mornings when we kiss and surrender for an hour before we say a single word... How does someone express their love? How does a person tell their significant other how they feel? Feel the power of words through this novel where the leading protagonist shares his story being in a relationship.


Justification for Nomination:

There is a nameless male who shares his love story. How could one really describe what love is? How could one really tell another person what love means to him or her? Through this novel, David Levithan has built a great way for his protagonist to speak to a wide range of audience. The protagonist opens up a window that allow people to read about love and relationship in our day and age. He expresses his thoughts and emotions, and shares his love life through each given word that is both bittersweet and heartfelt at the same time.

Levithan is a young adult author who took a different turn this time. The Lover's Dictionary: A Novel is written for an older audience, but young adults will fall in love with this book as well. It is written in dictionary entries and Levithan is a genius at creating a nameless protagonist which we come to find out early on is a male. However, this could be read by anyone whose ever been in love or hurt. Each word, put in alphabetical order, is given a definition anywhere from a word to a descriptive event that allow readers to put the pieces together. Although the protagonist is a male, anyone could relate to this and that is why this novel is worth your time.

Genre: Love; Romance; Multicultural; Adult Readings for YA