Marco Impossible

TITLE Marco Impossible
AUTHOR Hannah Moskowitz
PUBLICATION March 19th 2013 by Roaring Brook Press
READ February 25 to 26, 2013
SOURCE From Raincoast Books for review

Thirteen-year-old best friends Stephen and Marco attempt a go-for-broke heist to break into the high school prom and get Marco onstage to confess his love for (and hopefully steal the heart of) Benji, the adorable exchange student and bass player of the prom band. Of course, things don't always go according to plan, and every heist comes with its fair share of hijinks.

Hannah Moskowitz became an author I’m very excited about after I read and loved her YA novel Teeth. Her writing style was a fast favorite of mine and I really enjoy her ability to be gritty and honest while weaving a pretty fantastical tale. Marco Impossible showcased everything I love about her but in a much more innocent way. This story dealt with issues such as bullying and tackled the confusing dynamics of many types of relationships.

Stephen has grown up being Marco’s best friend and detective partner. When there is a mystery going on the two of them always pull out their trusty notebook (full of information on everyone and everything) and hop on the case. I really liked how this habit of theirs showcased them striving to remain young in the face of entering high school and attending different schools. With their final heist of getting Marco into the prom so he could profess his love to his crush of 3 years, Benji, you could feel that they were grasping at straws and trying to live inside the heist rather than face reality. While all of their hijinx is taking place you also have Stephens large family in the background which brings a whole other aspect to the story. His now single mother is tasked with taking care of six children and through that everyone really pulls their weight in the family. I really loved the family dynamic here, all of the siblings would step up to help out the mother and their fellow siblings in any way they could and you really felt a strong family bond from all the characters.

I loved that we got the story from Stephen’s perspective. The novel really revolves in most ways around Marco, but we get a much more well rounded view of what is happening from Stephen. His need to protect Marco in the face of the bullying that’s happening is definitely admirable and you could tell he thought of Marco as another sibling of his. Marco didn’t come across as the nicest, most personable guy on Earth but as the story wears on you see that he kind of always has his guard up and I started feeling bad for him. He was ignoring all of the ugly in his life, only showing the pretty and fabulous, and letting everything build up inside. He was nervous about his new baby sister and feeling down because of how people treated him. All of these feelings were building up and really taking a toll on Stephen and Marco’s relationship and the progression their friendship goes on in the novel is really what kept me reading. They drive each other crazy and are holding so much in so I was dying to see the point where everything would finally come to the surface.

For me this story was really about the great relationships between the characters and I loved how well developed everything was. This is so much more than just your average MG novel and I’m happy to have finally read one that features a gay teen on a mission to profess his love. There needs to be more books like this because there is definitely an audience that needs these types of stories and I am thankful to Moskowitz for putting this out there. Marco Impossible is a quick read that will most definitely leave an impact on any reader.