New Books for Missouri Students

2004

A 2004 top 10 romance novel for youth —Booklist

Booklist Editors' Choice

2004

New Books for Missouri Students

2004

A 2004 top 10 romance novel for youth —Booklist

Booklist Editors' Choice

2004

Horn Book "Fanfare" book

2004

Selection of the Junior Library Guild

2003

Dutch "Silver Kiss"

1999

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis

1997

First prize in Raben & Sjogren's competition for best love story

1992

Booklist

"This is no gushy, sentimental, happy teenage love story,' warns the nameless 16-year-old narrator of this moving, truthful novel … A conclusion touched with magic realism provides a measure of closure that avoids both bleak fatalism and preachy earnestness. If its European honors are any indication, this searing portrait of a teen caught unawares by the transience of love may well become the Forever of a new generation."

Publishers Weekly

"The nameless hero of this Swedish import, Nilsson's U.S. debut, could almost be any teen who has recently been spurned, so universal are his feelings. Taking on the persona of an objective, distanced narrator, Nilsson describes his protagonist from the outside first, giving just enough information to pique (and maintain) readers' curiosity.… Audience members will eagerly turn pages to find out whether he chooses to use the razor blade and bottle of pills lying conspicuously on his desk throughout the novel, reconciles with Ann-Katrin or finds a way to go on without her. A memorable presentation of a universal theme."

Horn Book

"Like its emotionally fragile main character, this affecting, uniquely constructed Swedish novel about first love —and first heartbreak —puts up a pretense of detachment. … Nilsson sensitively portrays how sweet and self-absorbed young love can be, as the boy is so busy writing poems to his beloved and crawling around on his bedroom floor, collecting left-behind strands of her hair with tweezers; that he doesn't realize she considers him just "a good friend."

Booklist

"This is no gushy, sentimental, happy teenage love story,' warns the nameless 16-year-old narrator of this moving, truthful novel … A conclusion touched with magic realism provides a measure of closure that avoids both bleak fatalism and preachy earnestness. If its European honors are any indication, this searing portrait of a teen caught unawares by the transience of love may well become the Forever of a new generation."

Publishers Weekly

"The nameless hero of this Swedish import, Nilsson's U.S. debut, could almost be any teen who has recently been spurned, so universal are his feelings. Taking on the persona of an objective, distanced narrator, Nilsson describes his protagonist from the outside first, giving just enough information to pique (and maintain) readers' curiosity.… Audience members will eagerly turn pages to find out whether he chooses to use the razor blade and bottle of pills lying conspicuously on his desk throughout the novel, reconciles with Ann-Katrin or finds a way to go on without her. A memorable presentation of a universal theme."

Horn Book

"Like its emotionally fragile main character, this affecting, uniquely constructed Swedish novel about first love —and first heartbreak —puts up a pretense of detachment. … Nilsson sensitively portrays how sweet and self-absorbed young love can be, as the boy is so busy writing poems to his beloved and crawling around on his bedroom floor, collecting left-behind strands of her hair with tweezers; that he doesn't realize she considers him just "a good friend."

Kirkus Reviews

"For any teenage girl who has ever wondered if boys have souls, and for any teenage boy without the words for his anguish, this remarkable tender story chronicles a first love. … Sure to be devoured by its target audience."

School Library Journal

"The novel's melodrama reflects the ups and downs of a first love and first breakup, and readers who want to experience a romance from a male point of view will find it appealing."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"As the sixteen-year-old protagonist of this Swedish novel discovers, somewhat requited love may be worse than no love at all. … The book expresses the boy's agony in vivid terms ("And now the Green-Eyed Monster started to show him terror-pornography," as he finds himself compulsively picturing Ann-Katrin in bed with her new love) to which readers will viscerally respond, and it's all the more a relief when he begins to climb the rocky path to recovery. First heartbreak is best experienced vicariously; readers willing to flow with the narrative devices will get an intense introduction here."

Voice of Youth Advocate

"Nilsson's novel uses the itemized list of mementos to abstractly, even poetically, present the progression of the two young lovers' relationship. Only after the book is complete does the reader realize that the boy is never given a name. … older teens will likely relate to the intense feelings presented by the main character as they, too, discover love and loss for the first time."

Library Media Connection

"Because this novel is so short and focuses so realistically on the highs and lows of young love, it will be read. The book's somewhat sophisticated format will make it a success with good students, whereas its brevity will appeal to many."