First French Kiss: and Other Traumas [Hardcover]

Adam Bagdasarian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2002

Growing up male - funny, touching, and as unexpected as life itself!

This collection of finely crafted stories from the acclaimed author of Forgotten Fire zeros in on the moments of comic confusion and tender transformation that make up one boy's wild ride through childhood and adolescence. Whether it's struggling up a godforsaken mountain with other miserable campers, tossing aside all scruples to scramble to the top of the school social heap, searching for the true path to romantic love, or trying to meet the expectations of a father whose high standards seem impossible to live up to - these funny and affecting tales of triumph, humiliation, love, loss, competitive kissing, and laxatives will touch readers and have them laughing out loud as Will, a boy with an overactive imagination, grapples with "what it takes to be a man" and "what kind of man will I become?"

First Serial Seventeen Magazine

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Fledgling author Adam Bagdasarian surprisingly follows up his grim, highly lauded first novel Forgotten Fire with a series of humorous, autobiographical sketches about his childhood and adolescence from ages 5 to 20. Bagdasarian is at his funniest when commenting on the trials and torments of puberty, especially when it comes to the opposite sex. In the title story, sixth-grader "Will" (the thinly disguised author) discovers that French kissing doesn't just happen: "I tried to find a way to kiss her and breathe at the same time, but no matter where I turned my head, her nose was always there." And in "Going Steady" Will realizes that dating a seventh-grade girl is going to require diplomacy when she "handed me a small white stuffed unicorn with silver glitter on its horn ... as though it were a baseball signed by Willie Mays, and I took it as though it were a poison apple." Beyond dating drama, Bagdasarian's teen self also explores the idea of old age and death. In "A Short Life," he melodramatically fantasizes a lump on his head is a tumor and he will probably die before seeing Europe, and in the more serious "My Tutor," he is moved to tears by an aged geometry teacher who can no longer remember, let alone teach, familiar proofs. By turns witty, ridiculous, and poignant (the stories about Bagdasarian's much beloved father are among the more touching pieces) First French Kiss is a short, sweet collection that teenagers of all ages will read with pleasure and recognition. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From Publishers Weekly

This volume of brief, sparely wrought stories encapsulates significant moments during a boy's youth. Writing alternately in the voice of the boy, Will, and in third person, Bagdasarian (Forgotten Fire) poignantly re-creates universal "traumas," both minor and major. Some vignettes are humorous, such as Will's account of his disappointingly unromantic first make-out session, his memory of being Scotch-taped by his older brother and his explanation of how he became one of the "popular boys" at age 10. Other scenes, more somber in tone, evoke Will's recurring fears and expanding knowledge of mortality. The narrator's obsession with the aging process, eloquently expressed in "Time" ("His heart was sick with sorrow and nostalgia and grief and the knowledge that even this moment was doomed to pass"), foreshadows the death of Will's father. Although the entries are not arranged in chronological order, readers will perceive Will's steady forward movement. And if the shifts between first and third person don't enhance the storytelling, the narrative is nonetheless evocative in its entwinement of childlike candor with adult wisdom. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (September 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374323380
• ISBN-13: 978-0374323387
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #638,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caley's review, December 5, 2002

By 

Caley (Winnipeg (yeah!)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First French Kiss: and Other Traumas (Hardcover)

My friends both recommended this book and I really thought it was both funny and amusing (yes...they are different things). This story of a boy's life is full of many anecdotes, some insightful, all funny. I really recommend

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Joys of Teenage Trauma, September 23, 2002

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First French Kiss: and Other Traumas (Hardcover)

Adam Bagdasarian offers up several short, wonderful tales of the trails, indecision, fears and strange motivations that make being a teenager such a strange and magical time in anyone's life. Whether you are a teenager going through those times or an adult who can now look back at them in humor, "First French Kiss" is a delightful read. With stories depicting such common problems as social acceptance, camping, and an overactive imagination, the memories just come flooding back. Every reader will find at least one of the short vignettes that will speak directly to them. For me it was the experience of Little League, Going Steady, and, of course, that First French Kiss. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip back to my teenage years and the traumatic (but now humorous) times. A fun read for teenagers and adults.

5.0 out of 5 stars from one teen to another, April 5, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: First French Kiss: and Other Traumas (Hardcover)

This book is so right about every thing that happens. Will's first "french" kiss is so realistic it is almost scarey

I really recomend this book to parents because it tell or shoshow dramatic the teen years are in the present day. Every feeling that Will feels is so relatable to what us teens feel when that event happens to us. There is this one par when he is trying to dump this girl that he really was not into in th first place. He must try three times before he can dump her. I read that feeling like I could never do that , but the week later I myself ended up doing the samething myself! :-)