A Taxonomy of Love

by Rachael Allen

Overview

A Junior Library Guild Selection
A Georgia Center for the Book Book All Young Georgians Should Read

The moment Spencer meets Hope the summer before seventh grade, it’s . . . something at first sight. He knows she’s special, possibly even magical. The pair become fast friends, climbing trees and planning world travels. After years of being outshone by his older brother and teased because of his Tourette syndrome, Spencer finally feels like he belongs. But as Hope and Spencer get older and life gets messier, the clear label of “friend” gets messier, too.

Through sibling feuds and family tragedies, new relationships and broken hearts, the two grow together and apart, and Spencer, an aspiring scientist, tries to map it all out using his trusty system of taxonomy. He wants to identify and classify their relationship, but in the end, he finds that life doesn’t always fit into easy-to-manage boxes, and it’s this messy complexity that makes life so rich and beautiful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419725418
Publisher:	Amulet Books
Publication date:	01/09/2018
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	842,418
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Rachael Allen is the winner of the 2019 Georgia YA Author of the Year Award, whose books include 17 First Kisses, The Revenge Playbook, and A Taxonomy of Love, which was a Junior Library Guild selection, a 2018 Book All Young Georgians Should Read. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, two children, and two sled dogs.

Editorial Reviews

11/20/2017
Over the span of six years, Spencer and his neighbor Hope oscillate between being best friends and virtual strangers. When they first meet, he’s a gawky 13-year-old with Tourette’s syndrome, and she’s a fearless wannabe adventurer. Spencer provides the lion’s share of the narration, accompanied by flowchart-like taxonomies that he uses to try to chart and define their intense bond. Intermittent passages from Hope—usually conversations with her older sister, Janie—flesh out her side of the story. Spencer’s anxiety seeps from the page as his everyday interactions comingle with his intrusive thoughts. But Hope’s life is far from perfect: she falls for Spencer’s older brother, grapples with a death in the family, and enters a self-destructive phase of grief just as Spencer is gaining social traction among his classmates as a wrestler. Allen (The Revenge Playbook) presents an honest look at adolescent attraction and life with a neurological disorder in a story populated by fully believable characters who are trying to figure out who they are and how they fit in the world. Ages 13–up. Agent: Susan Hawk, Upstart Crow. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

**STARRED REVIEW**

" This book is groundbreaking in its demonstration of the complexity of human emotion."

School Library Connection

"There are things that happen in these pages that just gut the reader . . . There's so much emotion packed into these pages."

YA Books Central

"In this sincerely charming account of one friendship in flux over the course of six years—eons in adolescence—the pair wrestle with their relationship. Simple summer crush? Tireless support through family strife and personal illness? Lovelorn confidante? Through sparkling prose (and Spencer’s clever doodles), Allen depicts how debasing unrequited love can feel, and just how consuming that connection can be when shared at long last."

Booklist

"Serve as refreshing reminders that the complexities of adolescent friendship and relationships take place in the context of whole lives, making this a pleasant change from usual teen romance fare."

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"Hope and Spencer are realistic and experience events most teens live through. Like two orbiting planets, they are both drawn to and repulsed by each other as they age and mature . . . Light-hearted, joyful, and yet serious, it bring up topics such as suicide, mental illness, and medication research and side effects. This story, which includes interesting taxonomies, will enthrall readers, bringing them into the life of a struggling and love-ridden teen."

VOYA Magazine

"Serve as refreshing reminders that the complexities of adolescent friendship and relationships take place in the context of whole lives, making this a pleasant change from usual teen romance fare."

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"In this sincerely charming account of one friendship in flux over the course of six years—eons in adolescence—the pair wrestle with their relationship. Simple summer crush? Tireless support through family strife and personal illness? Lovelorn confidante? Through sparkling prose (and Spencer’s clever doodles), Allen depicts how debasing unrequited love can feel, and just how consuming that connection can be when shared at long last."

Booklist

10/01/2017
Gr 8 Up—Spencer has Tourette's syndrome, a perfect older brother he can't live up to, and a love of trying to understand the world by creating his own scientific taxonomies for everything and everyone around him. Then Hope moves in next door. This story takes readers from Spencer's seventh grade to his senior year of high school; the teens become best friends, fight, and their friendship changes into something more. They deal with tragedies, relationships, and growing up. This charming romance skims across time, often dipping only briefly into each year, yet it doesn't feel rushed or forced. While the romance is at the center of the novel, the other relationships and characters' growth are well developed. The multiple plotlines and character arcs lead to a delightful multifaceted novel. Further depth is added by using different formats of storytelling effectively, such as prose, emails, IM chats, and more. Tourette's syndrome is part of Spencer's life but its portrayal doesn't overwhelm the narrative. Instead, the chronic illness is handled with sympathy and empowerment. The sexual content, which occurs primarily through discussions of teens having sex and a description of arousal from a teenager's perspective, isn't gratuitous and is handled in an age-appropriate manner. VERDICT A multilayered and charming novel that blends humor, romance, tragedy, and other universal coming-of-age themes; a strong choice for most collections.—Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage Public Library, AK

School Library Journal

2017-09-26
Two teens chronicle six years of their unpredictable relationships.Despite his habit of sorting people into categories, Spencer Barton, an awkward white boy with Tourette's syndrome, doesn't fit in anywhere. He doesn't share his father and older brother's love of hunting, and his tics make him a bully magnet. But when Hope Birdsong, a "magical" white girl, moves in next door, she becomes his—protector? Friend? Girlfriend? As they grow up in the insular Georgia town of Peach Valley, Spencer details their amorphous, contentious, on-and-off relationship from ages 13 to 19. His self-deprecating narrative, supplemented with snarky flow charts, alternates with Hope's pensive text messages and handwritten letters to her older sister. As Spencer and Hope navigate their feelings for each other, their relationships with friends and family—tinged with parental disappointment, sibling rivalry, and grief—evolve. The long time frame occasionally condenses important events, resulting in some clunky expository dialogue and abrupt character development. However, fast-forwarding also allows Spencer and Hope to reflect (albeit somewhat heavy-handedly) on their maturing views of love, sex, friendship, disability, racism (at the expense of a briefly featured black secondary character), and loss. The ending provides closure, but it feels rather neat after the lessons learned from their messy ups and downs.Patient readers will want to follow Spencer and Hope's tangled relationship just to see where it finally ends up. (Romance. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews