Love is humbug, rages teenager Ben in this sober, contemporary remix of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Ben's beloved girlfriend, Marly, has died of cancer, and, as his town and high school celebrate Valentine's Day, he tries to cope with his raging grief. Levithan's heartbreaking narrative, illustrated with occasional small, crosshatched drawings, relates how Marly's ghost comes to Ben with three other spirits that take Ben first to the past he cannot forget (his first sight of Marly, their first kiss, their passionate embrace), then to his present sorrow (when, like Scrooge, he lashes out at everyone), and finally to the possible future (when he commits suicide--unless he can stop himself). The future vignette is the only point where the message gets heavy. The magical realism is powerful throughout, especially in the love story, and Levithan (who wrote Boy Meets Boy, 2003) also touches on gay relationships when dealing with the annual Valentine love fest enjoyed by the town and Ben's high school. A solid story to mark the holiday.

This intriguing but rather affected modern-day reworking of A Christmas Carol substitutes Valentine's Day for Christmas; Ben, a bitter sixteen-year-old turned against love by the death of his girlfriend Marly, for Scrooge; and a teenaged gay couple named Tim and Tiny for the Cratchits. Though Levithan unconvincingly foists archaic dialogue from the original onto his high school characters, the set-up is compelling.

<p>Sixteen-year-old Ben has shut down because Marly, his girlfriend of three years, has died after a long illness. Ben never wants to love againa"or interact with anyone. "Love is a humbug," he says; it always ends badly. The night before Valentine's Day, Marly's ghost appears, telling him he'll be visited, that night, by three more spirits. Valentine's Past, Present and Future visit showing him shadows of the Was and Might Be. And Ben, Ebenezer actually, has a change of heart. Levithan's fresh spin on Dickens's A Christmas Carol keeps most scenes and characters in one form or another. Fred and Sarah are Ben and Marly's best friends. Freshmen Tiny and Tim are a gay couple in the blush of new love. Selznick bases his wonderful pen-and-ink illustrations on the original engravings. With nary a reference to the original in the text, this remix of the classic will likely be adored by those young enough not to be tired of Christmas Carols pasta"especially teen girls. A great addition to the literature of the (Valentine's) holiday season. (Fiction. YA)</p>

In Levithan's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Boy Meets Boy) clever but rather thin retelling of <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">A Christmas Carol, he casts sad teenaged Ben as Scrooge. Because of his girlfriend's death from cancer, he has a "bah humbug" attitude about love as Valentine's Day approaches. His girlfriend, Marly, appears to him as a ghost, telling him he will be visited by the Ghost of Love Past, Present and Future. After their visit, Ben realizes that "giving up on love is the same thing as giving up on life itself." There are some fun adaptations in this modern version; Tiny Tim, for example, is not a boy who may die, but rather a young gay couple (Tiny and Tim) at risk of breaking up. But the book, attractively packaged as an unjacketed, red cloth-covered hardcover featuring a black-and-gold embossed heart bordered with chains, takes a bit too long to unfold. While readers will sympathize with Ben who says he "wanted to die" without Marly, they will likely be ready for some action long before Marly's ghost arrives. The witty writing is also a bit too self-conscious at times (at a present-day anti–Valentine's Day party, "only the sadder love songs would be broadcast tonight: The Cure with no sense of a cure, breakup breakdowns and long-player longings"). Selznick's cross-hatch pen-and-inks give a nod to Victorian drawings and boost the novel's haunting aura. In the end, this novel has charm, but is likely more memorable for its premise than for its story line. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Jan.)

Gr 7-10-In this modified version of Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Scrooge has been replaced by Ben, a high school student whose girlfriend has passed away, leaving him extremely cynical about love as Valentine's Day approaches. The creatively mutated story follows the basic action of the original as the teen is visited by Marly's ghost, then three spirits: The Ghost of Love Past, The Ghost of Love Present, and-well, you know. While this seems like a promisingly inventive way to address bereavement, nothing quite clicks in this remix of the classic. Prior knowledge of the original story seems to diminish rather than enhance the power of this adaptation. There are downright awkward moments, too. The character Tiny Tim has morphed into a pair of gay freshmen, Tiny and Tim, for example, and the young lovers' presence in the story seems gratuitous and synthetic. Selznick's pen-and-ink drawings, while very well done, don't quite seem to fit in either, reflecting the overall problem the story has establishing and sustaining a uniform tone and mood.-Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.