"You've got a Funny Boy there"

Hey there Fallowers!

Glad you’re back and can join me again! This week I am going to be discussing the book Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai. This book is a coming out novel of a young boy growing up gay in Sri Lanka. As always, I evaluate these books as a teacher. When I evaluate a book, I first ask myself if this books is educational and would benefit my students on an educational level. I believe that Funny Boy is very educational. This book not only will teach my students about different kinds of people and a culture of a sexuality that they may not be familiar with but, it also teaches them about the Sri Lankan culture which we learn is very different from our American culture today. Also through reading this book with my students, I hope to open their minds to a lot of the misconceptions and stereotypes of the gay culture. A lot of people, especially youth, believe that the gay culture (especially among men) is just about partying and anonymous sex with strangers. In this story we see a young gay man have strong feelings of love for another man and they do not become intimate on a sexual level until they share that love equally. Selvaduri even describes their sexual experience as “making love” and not “sex.”

In reading and evaluating this book I also ask myself the question, does this book send a message to youth? I believe that this book does send a strong message to the youth. This book shows teenagers that there are many different types of people all over the world and that you shouldn’t be afraid to be who you really are. Also that you shouldn’t be afraid to love who you really love. This books does also show the harsh reality that being who you really are does sometimes come with a struggle. The theme and message of loving who you really want to love is displayed throughout the book not only with the encounters of homosexuality but with culture as well. We see the struggle with loving who you really want to with Arjie and Shehan, Mom and Uncle Daryl, and also with Dad and the English Girl. These three relationships either deal with the element of their love being taboo because of same sex, interethnic, or both.

The final question that I ask myself is does this book make students want to read? I believe that this book will make students want to read. I found myself wanting to keep reading when I was reading the book. I think that my students will want to keep reading this book because it is a story about someone their age going through real everyday problems.

Well, that’s all for today followers. Thank you so much for fallowing my blog. I hope you are finding my blogs helpful in evaluating books for your child, students, or even yourself to read.

Best,

Ben

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