A Tale of Two Novels

There’s so much confusion in the world right now. American Young Adult romance novels are definitely somewhere near the bottom of the totem pole in the grand scheme of things that matter. However, the matter of similarities and differences between my novel from 2022, Finding Jupiter, and Judy Blume’s 1975 novel, Forever, is a nagging bone of contention. I want to go on the record as saying that Finding Jupiter bears no similarities whatsoever to the iconic classic novel, Forever. That novel was groundbreaking and the author is peerless. Spoilers for both novels loading… 

Unlike Forever, Finding Jupiter features all Black characters and alternates points of view between the young lovers to give readers a glimpse into their interior lives as they navigate delicate firsts. The star, a teen girl, is an overachieving athlete who lives in a working-class community and attends a private, predominantly white high school on scholarship. She’s sexually active, uses public transportation and may go to Howard University after high school. She’d only continue her sport in college if she can’t get an academic scholarship, but of course she will get an academic scholarship. Her mother is a serious, protective single-mom who works long shifts, leaving the teen lots of free time-- much of which she spends in her head, but she also entertains her love interest there. Her father, who is of Caribbean heritage, is unfortunately absent. Her best friend who moves through the world in wealth and skin and hair that grant her unspoken privileges often invites her to join her family on their fancy trips to Martha’s Vineyard. That’s her backstory.  

The love interest is a tall, handsome, sensitive slow-bloomer virgin, waiting for just the right girl for his first time. He even rejects the girl’s overt sexual advances initially. He has ADHD and SPD which required occupational and executive function therapy when he was younger. He manages his symptoms with music and swimming as a teenager. He’s a big brother and a high-performing high school and soon-to-be Howard University athlete who experiences some performance setbacks at a crucial time. His family is wealthy. He’s passionate about music and spends lots of time listening to music or recreating it. Due to his sensory diagnosis, he chews the inside of his jaw when nervous or emotional. His mom often cautions him to stop when she sees it. He’s vulnerable and tenderhearted and his characterization in the novel challenges Black male teen stereotypes. His mother is described by one of the characters in the book as a beautiful and stylish, “Claire Huxtable” type of mom. His Dad is a handsome entrepreneur and talented cook, known for his family-favorite dishes. He didn’t go to college, but encourages his son to. The boy’s best friend is shorter with a bigger personality, is an athletic, charming player and relationship "expert” who wants the love interest to loosen up and come out of his shell, but not fall in love too fast.

Some of my favorite moments are the father-son trash-talking basketball scene. And the one where the boy tries to look cool for the girl by purposefully picking blue swim trunks and waiting until she’s across from him at his backyard pool to make sure she sees him streamline all the way across the pool to where she is and emerge from the water. Another one is when his poor dad, who really is just trying his best, bursts into his room and fumbles his way through another awkward sex talk when he realizes things are serious with the girl. I had fun writing that scene, especially the condom part. And there’s a sweet moment between father and son later when dad encourages him to not let her get away if she's that important to him. Probably the most cinematic scene, other than their sweet love scene, is at the end-- outside a café at night, he presses his forehead to hers, there's a kiss, and they look deep into each other's eyes, unsure, but hopeful about the future. I spent so much time on this scene because I wanted it to stand up next to the John Hughes film endings that I obsessed over as a teen—Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles, swoon! And I can’t even pick a moment from Say Anything. I wrote every scene like a movie just in case it would ever be optioned for a film. The screenwriter could take direction directly from the pages, which has always been the dream. Can you imagine everything I just described from my book on screen?! I would die. I’m already dead just thinking about it. 

Finding Jupiter is a character-driven novel, which is why I didn’t include much about the plot in my description. All the characters that I created to tell the story are the soul of the book. They are the reason Finding Jupiter is special. Change the plot and they’d still be the parts of the story that punch straight to the hearts of readers. These characters would level-up even the most basic, generic plot anyone could think of. 

 Enough about Finding Jupiter. Let’s talk about the other novel, Forever by Judy Blume… 

As I mentioned earlier, our books are nothing alike. To start, all the characters in that book are white. Forever stars a mature, high-achieving teenage girl who lives with her upper middle-class parents and little sister. She has no sexual experience, but meets a boy who makes her want to get some. Pun intended. Her parents are happily married. Her mom is a children's librarian and has a relaxed parenting style, trusting her daughter while also guiding and giving her room to grow up and have her own experiences. Her dad, bless his heart, follows mom’s lead, respecting his daughter’s personhood and accepting that she is growing up. He owns two pharmacies. The book closely follows the main character as she has a laser focus on learning as much as she can about the human body, reproduction and safe sex from her friends, yes, but importantly from reliable sources like books and the doctor at Planned Parenthood, where she ultimately gets birth control pills. This was a very important book for young feminists coming of age in the seventies and is still so important today!

As for the love interest, we don’t know as much about him because, unlike Finding Jupiter, Forever is written only from the main character’s point of view. Through her lens, we know that he’s tall and handsome, wears glasses and has a car. He’s sexually active and pressures her for sex, sort of annoyingly, and he’s wealthy. There’s not much to say about his mom and dad, other than they’re kinda rich. It’s not a dual POV like Finding Jupiter, so you just have to imagine what his day-to-day life must be like with his family. The main character does join him on a ski trip with his family, where they end up finally doing it, but his family stays on the periphery of the story. His best friend lives with depression and anxiety and is a sexually confused, very talented theater actor and board game enthusiast who explores his sexuality and plays board games with the main character’s adventurous best friend. The book centers the experiences of the teenagers—a colorful cast of characters that allow the main character’s maturity and self-assuredness to shine. 

The main character’s focus on educating herself and involving grown-ups in her decision to begin to engage in sexual activity are what makes the book so captivating and brave and groundbreaking. A main character who exercises sexual agency, only engages in full sex on her terms and with enthusiastic consent, who educates herself, isn’t shamed for wanting and enjoying sex and enters into a sex life curious and contemplative about love and the ways that it can intersect with sex. With irresponsible sex being such a huge part of American entertainment culture you’d think we’d champion books like this one, not ban it. Girls like this main character exist! Parents like hers exist. They deserve this mirror and I’m so glad Judy Blume was brave enough to write this gem of a YA novel. Talk about empowering teenage girls! The fact that it’s one of the most banned books is the real shame. Kind of also a shame that we haven’t seen anything close to this girl, this cast of characters and this story on screens yet. 

Anyway. Hope this clears that up. Read Finding Jupiter by me, Kelis Rowe. Read Forever by Judy Blume. Bone of contention, picked. Happy Reading. 

XO, Kel