He’s a nice guy who is complicated and flawed, and I loved every minute of his story. And though Del is all about Kiera, his actions never once consider her feelings, or what she might want.ĭel’s not all troublemaker, nor all squeaky clean. Del might be acting with the best intentions, but his friends are giving him the side eye, and even his dad is worried about what this pledge means for his manhood. Like the tv show Sex Education, this book is an excellent portrayal of a male protagonist dealing with the complications of sex. Even if that means taking a Purity Pledge. Which means he’s ready to do anything (however unconventional) to get the girl he wants. But he’s never had a shot until now-it’s their junior year and she just broke up with her boyfriend. The novel follows Del, who has had a childhood crush on Kiera Westing since literally forever. But in Not So Pure and Simple we see just that: a complex portrait of a lovably imperfect boy struggling with his identity in many forms. There can never be a Black teenage boy that falls somewhere in the middle. So much of what is fed to the masses is that Black boys are troublemakers, or that there are only two types of kids: one that is a problem child and another that is squeaky clean. One of the things I’m loving about YA right now is that we’re seeing more and more stories being told by Black male writers about Black boys.
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