7 Days at the Hot Corner

7 DAYS AT THE HOT CORNER by Terry Trueman (Harper Tempest, February 2007, $15.99 Hardcover) Scott Latimer lives for baseball. The high school senior plays third base (known in baseball jargon as the "hot corner") for his undefeated school team, and has dreams of playing professionally after he graduates. His best friend, since age seven, is Travis Adams, who helped comfort him when his parents got a divorce. Scott's life seems to be placed on hold, when Travis moves in with Scott and his dad, following his being thrown out of his home because he is gay. It's rather unsettling news to Scott as well, since he always assumed Travis was straight and had never been told otherwise. He also remembers an incident in which Travis bled badly after a batting-cage accident, and Scott now wonders if Travis may have had unsafe sex and passed HIV on to him. He withdraws emotionally and physically from his friend, and decides to get tested, then goes through an agonizing seven days waiting for the test results. Travis decides to "come out" in an anonymous interview in the school paper, and Scott is also worried that his friends will figure out it is Travis, and perhaps assume that Scott is gay as well (which even Travis' mom assumed, since they were so close.) An excellent, non-stereotypical and realistic story, especially recommended for teen readers. A bit short (runs 160 pages, but printed in relatively big type on small pages, which likely stretched it by 50% over what it would be in "normal" formats), but well-written and covers all of the bases (pun intended). Excellent selection for a gay teen to give as a gift to a straight buddy who may have problems dealing with his coming-out, and also debunks some common (even this long into the epidemic) myths about how the AIDS virus is transmitted. A definite "home run" (Last one, I promise! :) and I give it five stars out of five.

"The hot corner." In baseball, it's third base. So named because of the fact that you always have to be ready for anything, and no one knows it better than eighteen-year-old Scott Latimer. Scott is the starting third baseman on Thompson High School's varsity baseball team. The Spokane All-City High School Tournament is coming up in a matter of days, so of course Scott is worried about how he'll handle himself on "the hot corner." The only problem is that, as life has a way of doing, things in his personal life are a little messed up at the moment. His best friend, Travis, was recently kicked out of his house by his parents and has been staying with Scott and his dad. And that was fine, until Travis handed him a copy of the school newspaper, which contained an article entitled "Coming Out." Now "the hot corner" isn't just on the baseball field, but everywhere Scott looks. He doesn't know what to do about his friendship with Travis. He especially doesn't know how to handle some of the things Travis has said to him, such as the fact that Scott has issues with being the son of divorced parents. During these next seven days, it's up to Scott to figure out how to make things right again -- both on the field and off of it. Again, author Terry Trueman has taken a well-drawn character and put him into a realistic situation. This is another great read from one of my favorite authors, and I can guarantee you won't go wrong by picking up a copy. Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"