Show Daily: Interview with Alex Sanchez

Coming Out in Middle School

by Kate Pavao -- Publishers Weekly, 6/10/2004

When Alex Sanchez was touring for Rainbow Boys, his first novel in a series about the interlocking lives of three gay high school boys, he began hearing from middle school teachers and librarians about the need for something written for that age group. He also began hearing from straight and gay middle school fans of the book.

The interest made sense to Sanchez. “The middle school age, that’s when we’re hitting puberty,” he says. “What if we start feeling our first emotional, sexual attractions and crushes to someone of the same gender?” Also, he says, that’s when a lot of homophobic slurs start to fly. “There’s definitely a need and opportunity here,” Sanchez remembers thinking. “So what would the story be?”

In So Hard to Say, Sanchez’s October release from S&S, he alternates between the perspectives of Fredrick, a shy eighth-grade boy who has just moved to a new, largely Latino school, and vibrant Xio, the girl who falls for him. They become fast friends, but when they kiss at a party, Fredrick finds himself not thinking of Xio, but of a boy named Victor instead. He starts to worry that he might be gay.

Sanchez says he took a different approach in writing for a younger audience. “A big part of the Rainbow books is the boys actually exploring and coming to terms with their sexuality,” he says. “The story for a middle schooler would be much more about identity.” That is, Fredrick isn’t as interested in finding a relationship as he is in figuring out who he is.

As a first-time BEA attendee, Sanchez says he expects to feel a bit overwhelmed. He likens it to the feeling he gets going into bookstores, seeing all the books and realizing he’s competing for attention with so many other people. He’ll also be attending the Lambda Literary Awards—the second book in his series, Rainbow High, is a finalist in the Children’s/Young Adult category. “I know several of the other finalists,” he says, referring to the category, “so that makes it both exciting and also—what’s the word?—uncomfortable.”

There’s no doubt that this has been a busy time for Sanchez. Not only has he been doing publicity for the Rainbow books, but he traveled to Thailand in March to promote the first foreign printing of Rainbow Boys. He’s also working on a proposal for a straight teen romance written from a male perspective.

And he’s been researching and writing the next book in the Rainbow book series, which has added some miles to his odometer. That’s because Rainbow Road, the third book, finds recent high school graduates Nelson, Jason and Kyle driving across the country together.

“A lot of it is what they learn from their experiences with the people who they meet along the way,” he says of the book, which is scheduled for publication in fall 2005. But that’s not all. “The other piece that happens is that now these three very different boys are cooped up in a car with each other.” Sounds like quite a ride.

Sanchez signs copies of Rainbow Boys and Rainbow High this morning, 10:30-11 a.m., at table 29, and galleys of So Hard to Say will be given out.