Wide Awake, by David Levithan
David Levithan is no stranger to imagining alternate, and perhaps better, Americas -- communities or societies where being gay is no big deal. He imagines an open and caring town community in Boy Meets Boy, and in Wide Awake, he imagines a future America where a gay Jewish man named Abe Stein is elected president.
The novel follows teenage Duncan and his boyfriend Jimmy, who are elated when Abe Stein is elected and outraged when the conservative governor of Kansas demands a recount. Stein supporters and Stein haters all converge on Kansas to protest one thing or the other, and Duncan and Jimmy enter this politically charged atmosphere as well. Their trip to Kansas, and the experiences they have there among a diverse array of people, significantly change life for both of them -- at the same time, their relationship mirrors the successes and setbacks of living and loving in a diverse America. Levithan shows how history is made by the sometimes complex, sometimes simple, way people touch each other's lives.
This book is in our fiction section under F Levithan.