Wide Awake And I Want You By My Side (Book Review: Wide Awake, David Levithan)

David Levithan's "Wide Awake" is set in the near future, and revolves around a time seemingly in the recent past. In the novel, a new President has just been elected by a small margin. Here's the twist: he is the first Jewish President ever elected. And there's more, he is also gay. So you can just imagine how the religious right reacts to this development (In the book the Republicans are called "The Decents")  The book makes you think of that old adage that the more things change, the more things stay the same. The State of Kansas gets into play, however, when it's Governor says that there has been election fraud in his state, nullifying the election. The whole story is told from the point of view of a gay teenager who gets caught in it. The story is told well, and it has suspense, though a lot of it seems to be of the "preaching to the choir" variety. I don't think a book like this will be picked up by the likes of Ann Coulter or Sarah Palin so it will likely not change any minds, but this could be powerful stuff if fed to our youth.