Draw the Line
Draw the Line
Select a format:
Publisher's Hardcover ©2016--
To purchase this item, you must first login or register for a new account.
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Annotation: A teen boy survives a hate crime against another gay student through his art.
 
Reviews: 8
Catalog Number: #122076
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Copyright Date: 2016
Edition Date: 2016 Release Date: 05/17/16
Pages: 520 pages
ISBN: 1-481-45280-0
ISBN 13: 978-1-481-45280-9
Dewey: Fic
LCCN: 2015029314
Dimensions: 22 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

High-school junior Adrian's a self-loathing closeted teen stuck in small-town Texas. His only reprieve from the world of football and beer is drawing his anonymously published webcomic about an openly gay superhero, Graphite. (Episodes of the comic, illustrated by Linn, are interspersed throughout.) Despite Adrian's bitter and sardonic narration, this is a story of love triumphing over hate and art defeating bigotry.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

At the risk of revealing his closeted sexuality and artistic talent, a Texas wallflower combats small minds. Adrian Piper dresses to hide. Innocuous palette, faded jeans, a hoodie: disappearing = safety at Rock Hollow High, where Bubbas with a penchant for pickups and longnecks are the dominant species. Adrian's escape from aggressive heteronormativity is "the feel of a 3B pencil skimming across the paper's surface." The result of said skimming: a gay superhero named Graphite with a flair for Renaissance couture and a longing for love. (Adrian's artwork as drawn by Linn peppers the pages.) Outside of artwork, Adrian finds comfort in two close friends, outspoken Audrey and goth Trent (both know Adrian's secrets). When outwardly gay and not-so-invisible Kobe is brutally attacked by a brutish football star, Adrian risks exposing his own identity to intervene. Identifying as LGBTQ can force accelerated maturity: allegiances shift, social repercussions abound, and the hopeful search for others like you begins. All of these waves of evolution are braved as Adrian morphs from timid shadow to burgeoning Norma Rae. A diverse landscape (white, black, Protestant, Jewish, plus-size, skinny, middle class, wealthy) is robust rather than a flat reaction to pleads for diversity. A definite draw for comic-book fans, it will resonate with anyone struggling with a concealed or revealed identity. More defiant than its superhero's diaphanous costume portends. Bravo. (Fiction. 12-18)

Voice of Youth Advocates

At sixteen, Adrian Piper is just trying to get through high school in one piece. He wears grey and gets by largely unnoticed, understanding that if people knew he was gay, not to mention the creator of his own sort-of Renaissance-superhero webcomic, he would become a target for bullies, like jocks Doug and Buddy. Once he steps out of the shadows by interrupting Doug's public beat-down of a gay student, Adrian must decide who he can trust and how far he is willing to go for his principles.Muppet-maker and book designer Laurent Linn has extended his artistic prowess into the realm of literature. His debut outing is assured and engaging, both in proseAdrian's voiceand in the pencil sketchesAdrian's artinterspersed throughout the book. Every character has a distinct voice and understandable perspective, from the school administrator protecting the star football player to Doug himself, who suffers from pressures Adrian has never considered. Home life and parents, and the degree of support they provide, also play a role naturally significant for an age group still living at home. Though Adrian's friends are not always there for him in the way he would like, he finds a sweet and unexpected boyfriend who introduces him to the larger LGBTQ community. Exposure of one's inner life, and to whom, and when, is a recurrent source of both risk and reward. Compellingly relevant and effortlessly readable, Draw the Line examines friendship and love and bravery in a way that feels new.Lisa Martincik.

Starred Review ALA Booklist (Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2016)

Starred Review What to know about Adrian? Well, he is 16; he is gay, though only his two best friends know it; he is diffident and welcomes his ability to fade into the background; and he is the creator of Graphite, a gay superhero whose illustrated adventures he posts on an anonymous website d which are integrated into the novel's text to dramatically good effect. Meanwhile, Adrian is busy with adventures of his own, beginning the night he observes an openly gay boy being attacked by the star of the football team and attempts a rescue. Suddenly Adrian is plucked from obscurity, becoming a potential target of the bully himself. Since, like Graphite, Adrian is about creating, not killing, he draws the incident and posts it on his website. But is that enough to bring the bully to justice? At the same time, our hero discovers a secret about Lev, the gorgeous boy who sits behind him in French class. Despite a slow start and some early problems with motivation, Linn's compelling story doesn't let go of the reader. While it's ingeniously plotted, its best aspect is its characterization, especially its multidimensional treatment of Adrian and his friends; they come alive and drive the narrative to its satisfying conclusion. Readers will be both impressed and delighted.

School Library Journal (Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2016)

Gr 9 Up-Gay, geeky, artistic: all traits that Adrian feels he has to hide to make it through the day in his Texas high school. His sanctuary is his graphic novel, published anonymously online, which he hasn't even shared fully with his closest friends. When he steps up to aid a boy who can't help but attract the kind of attention Adrian is trying so hard to avoid, all his secrets start coming out. Enlivened with expressive art, this debut novel beautifully captures the voice of a teen walking the line of being out to his friends but not anyone else. Adrian is intensely likable, and the exploration of the "gay but not that kind of gay" place many people inhabit respects the reasoning and punctures the internalized homophobia in naturalistic, nonpreachy ways. The swoony romance is a delightful lightener of the story. There is also a nuanced dive into the complexities of being honest online. How Adrian speaks his truth affects the people he depicts, a consideration that we all must make in the confessional digital age. Unfortunately, while Adrian and his white male classmates are quite richly drawn (even the bullies), his friend Audrey is painted in broad sassy-black-sidekick strokes. VERDICT A welcome addition to collections depicting LGBTQ youth, but not an essential text. L. Lee Butler, Hart Middle School, Washington, DC

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

At the risk of revealing his closeted sexuality and artistic talent, a Texas wallflower combats small minds. Adrian Piper dresses to hide. Innocuous palette, faded jeans, a hoodie: disappearing = safety at Rock Hollow High, where Bubbas with a penchant for pickups and longnecks are the dominant species. Adrian's escape from aggressive heteronormativity is "the feel of a 3B pencil skimming across the paper's surface." The result of said skimming: a gay superhero named Graphite with a flair for Renaissance couture and a longing for love. (Adrian's artwork as drawn by Linn peppers the pages.) Outside of artwork, Adrian finds comfort in two close friends, outspoken Audrey and goth Trent (both know Adrian's secrets). When outwardly gay and not-so-invisible Kobe is brutally attacked by a brutish football star, Adrian risks exposing his own identity to intervene. Identifying as LGBTQ can force accelerated maturity: allegiances shift, social repercussions abound, and the hopeful search for others like you begins. All of these waves of evolution are braved as Adrian morphs from timid shadow to burgeoning Norma Rae. A diverse landscape (white, black, Protestant, Jewish, plus-size, skinny, middle class, wealthy) is robust rather than a flat reaction to pleads for diversity. A definite draw for comic-book fans, it will resonate with anyone struggling with a concealed or revealed identity. More defiant than its superhero's diaphanous costume portends. Bravo. (Fiction. 12-18)

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)
Wilson's High School Catalog
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Voice of Youth Advocates
Starred Review ALA Booklist (Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2016)
School Library Journal (Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2016)
Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Reading Level: 7.0
Interest Level: 7-12
Reading Counts!: reading level:5.3 / points:22.0 / quiz:Q67929
Lexile: HL590L
Draw the Line


I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BORN with an owner’s manual.

You know the WARNING page at the beginning that mentions all the dangers? This morning I’ve got a new one to add to the growing list that would come with mine: Don’t let nerd boy cut his own hair. I could add: at 3 freakin’ a.m. on a school night, but really, any time would have been a bad idea.

They say that everything always looks better in the morning. Well, they lie. As I blink through this 7:something a.m. sunlight blaring through my bathroom window, all I see in the mirror is irreparable damage and, over on my drawing table, the art inspiration for my hair massacre.

When it’s late at night and the world finally leaves me alone, I shut my bedroom door, settle down, and draw. People talk about how when they smoke pot or take some other crap or whatever, they go somewhere else in their head. Well, the feel of a 3B pencil skimming across the paper’s surface, trying to control that tiny resistance to the graphite leaving its mark, lifts me up . . . to a world I create. That’s my zone.

I completely escape.

So there I was last night with my best pencils and inking pens all lined up, an epic video game soundtrack in my headphones, plenty of Dr Pepper at the ready, and my calico cat, Harley Quinn, asleep under my drawing table lamp. She was kinda curled up right smack in the way, but that’s okay. We understand each other.

I started sketching and, after a couple hours, was speeding along on drawing a new comic panel of my secret superhero creation: Graphite.

I set up a website for him a couple years ago, which has a nice little following out there. But it’s anonymous. Just two people on earth know the site’s mine, and my only two friends would never tell a soul.

Crafting the details of my world takes time, so I don’t update the site very often. But when I do finish a comic sequence it’s cause for whoopin’ it up or, it seems, grabbing the nearest scissors.

I was so loving how I’d drawn Graphite’s hair to flip up in such a perfect way that, in my caffeinated, sugared-up, sleep-deprived stupor, I lost it. Possessed by this delusional superhero side of me, I just knew I could re-create that hair on myself . . . with craft scissors. Actually, with slightly-rusted-and-gummed-up-with-bits-of-tape craft scissors (even though my good pair was just a drawer away).

Starting with my bangs, I was soon snipping along, moving around the sides. I may be a good artist, but hair is a tricky material, especially when one is being an idiot. It went scary wrong. So in my continued brilliance I set out to “fix” what I’d already done by tiptoeing around and searching for Dad’s electric hair buzzer. I found it. My repair job didn’t quite work out how I’d hoped.

So basically, in the middle of the night I became a toddler.

And here I am now, applying globs of hair goop from every container I have and that I could sneak out of Mom’s bathroom after she left for work. But all this stuff only darkens my copper-brown hair more, making the missing chunks scream out.

I need hair cement, but I got nothin’! What’s thick and sticky . . . maybe toothpaste? Stupid, I know, but I’m desperate. Hey, yeah, it kinda works. Oh, god, no it doesn’t. It just adds glittery blue sparkles.

CRAP!

From my bed, C-3PO’s muffled voice moans, “We’re doomed!” Digging through the sheets, I find my phone.

Text from Audrey: Hey boy, just seeing ur text from . . . 3AM!?! U = certifiable. WTF!?!?! Howz the new do?

I roll my shoulders, which pop, then type: I’m very talented. Wait till u see in person.

Audrey: Lordy. I’m scared. Those selfies u sent would wake the dead - which you look like.

Me: YOU’RE scared?!

Audrey: What were u thinking, Adrian? You’re 16, not 6. Shoulda consulted with me first. You need a fashion chaperone.

Me: If u say so

Audrey: Chill. Maybe not so bad in person? & after all, you’re the superhero, Graphite Boy.

Yeah, right.

I type: See you before first period?

Audrey: If i can apply my face in time!

Me: ok

Well, what did I expect from her? She’s never even had one strand of hair out of place, much less sculpted a topographical map on her own head.

How’d it get to be almost time to go? I’ve gotta hurry.

Dammit, I’m better than this! I’m so careful about blending into the background—how’d I slip up like this?

I dump my whole shirt drawer on the bed and apply what I know about color psychology. Blue is true, white is pure, red is angry or sexy. Purple is regal and commanding. Maybe I still have that purple T-shirt? Here it is. . . . Oh, yeah. With Super Grover crashing into a streetlamp printed on it. Not so commanding. I toss it to the floor.

The mound-o-shirts moves and a pair of jade eyes peers at me from between the folds.

“Comfy?” I say. Harley Quinn blinks at me.

That’s it: camouflage. I don’t mean the army kind, too aggressive. I need the animal kind that blends into its surroundings to avoid predators. The school lockers are taxi yellow, the hallway tile is navy blue, the cafeteria is eggshell white, so, what . . . plaid? This is insane.

I go for my usual smoky gray, psychologically meaning death, depression, and nothingness.

To a gray T-shirt, I add faded jeans, cheap old sneakers, and a gray hoodie . . . my almost-perfect cloak of high school invisibility. Like any good freak superhero wannabe, I’m an expert at fading into the background. However, I’m neither super nor hero. Just freak.

My drawing table is piled up like a crime scene, so I shove everything into my mess-of-a-desk. Oh, god, not this? In the bottom drawer I uncover the piece I entered in that Freshman Art Show two years ago. It was my best work way back then. I called it Renaissance Hero. I worked so freakin’ hard on it, but it didn’t win anything. Instead, some a-hole vandalized it, scrawling across it what other kids always thought of my art. I never showed anything at school again.

In fact, that was the last time I signed my name on my art.

And now I’m about to waltz into school with my latest masterpiece . . . attached to the top of my head.

I put my old, defaced drawing back, cover it up with stuff, and shut the desk drawer. Then I tuck away last night’s Graphite drawing between pages sixty-six and sixty-seven of Michelangelo at the Louvre. My parents wouldn’t think to look at my art books. Not that they’d even bother to come in here, but you never know.

Why did I hang this Power to the Geek poster so high on the back of my bedroom door? Whenever I leave, Geek stares me right in the face. Like I need reminding.

I replace Mom’s hair goop, and then up goes my hood and I hustle down the hall, past the gallery of old framed photos of little-kid me. My stomach still gets queasy seeing the one of me squealing with Mom and Dad, taken as we plummeted down the big drop of that massive Six Flags roller coaster. Back then—when Dad used to be Dad and, well, we did things—we actually took family pictures.

I stop and try to straighten the photo frame, but it just wants to hang crooked.

So I dash to the front door, grab the knob, and yell, “Bye, Dad.”

“Yup.” Dad twists in his recliner to glance at me from the living room, giving me his half-assed wave. I step outside and shut the door.

Here we go.

It may be October, but in Rock Hollow, this hometown slice-o-heaven, it’s still hot, and this hoodie over my head doesn’t help. Even though it’s a quick walk to school, I slip my backpack off my shoulders and carry it to avoid a lovely bag-shaped sweat stain.

In picturesque places I’ve never been to, a few leaves on the ground at the beginning of fall probably mean a gorgeous, colorful autumn is on the way. But here, the horrific Texas summer drought has pretty much killed everything, so the dead leaves are just dead leaves, all starting to texture the front yards of sickly pea-green grass.

One last corner to turn and . . . this is it. Glorious Rock Hollow High.

Excerpted from Draw the Line by Laurent Linn
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

After a hate crime occurs in his small Texas town, Adrian Piper must discover his own power, decide how to use it, and know where to draw the line in this stunning debut novel exquisitely illustrated by the author.

Adrian Piper is used to blending into the background. He may be a talented artist, a sci-fi geek, and gay, but at his Texas high school those traits would only bring him the worst kind of attention. In fact, the only place he feels free to express himself is at his drawing table, crafting a secret world through his own Renaissance-art-inspired superhero, Graphite. But in real life, when a shocking hate crime flips his world upside down, Adrian must decide what kind of person he wants to be. Maybe it’s time to not be so invisible after all—no matter how dangerous the risk.


*Prices subject to change without notice and listed in US dollars.
Perma-Bound bindings are unconditionally guaranteed (excludes textbook rebinding).
Paperbacks are not guaranteed.
Please Note: All Digital Material Sales Final.