The Mayday Rampage

This book was published in 1993 and concerns a sequence of events in a California high school in 1988. What can a book published in 1993 about 1988 tell us in the new millennium about a disease like AIDS? Lots. This very entertaining book, written completely in rivetting dialogue as a transcript of a tape recording between a high school boy and a high school girl, is full of so much. It has these two kids pitted against their school and their community in a struggle to find a voice of their own through their school newspaper. It gives a streetwise talk about AIDS, how young people contact the disease, the history of treatment for the disease and a projection for the future course of the disease. It presents the frank truth about a government and society who stuck their heads in the sand while the disease blossomed and rampaged through our community. These kids are real. They talk like real kids, not like mouthpieces. They fall in love and (gasp) have sex. They're lovable and funny, and their story is gripping from beginning to end. Don't be fooled by the publication date of this novel. It is right up to date with many issues that involve young people today. Looking for a way to talk to kids about sex, so that they can be educated about both the dangers and the joys which lie ahead of them in the new millennium? Give them THE MAYDAY RAMPAGE and watch them enjoy and learn.

Clayton Bess did a wonderful job of portraying teens, and what the world as a whole veiws are about AIDS. It's definatly a book that will grab you by the Heart Strings and never let go, even after you've finished the book.