The Mayday Rampage

by Clayton Bess

High school journalists Jess and Molly create an upheaval at school and in their community as they strive to write and publish a series of frank articles about AIDS for their school newspaper.

Genres: Young Adult

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1993

About the author

Clayton Bess, the author of several books for young readers, has lived for extended periods on both coasts of the United States, in Africa, and in Latin America. Much of his writing comes out of the period he lived and traveled in Africa, where he worked as a Peace Corps volunteer teacher in Liberia. His travels and experiences, the stories he gathered, and the people he came to know all give his work authenticity and true flavor.

Reviews

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written in the early 1990s this makes more sense then than reading it more recently. Two high school students living in a small town outside of San Fransisco, write about AIDS and the epidemic. The text switches voices back and forth identified by different fonts as the two record their conversations about the controversies their articles create at the school in the student paper. It's clearly written to get out health information about AIDS. But the story isn't that clearly written, I had the sense the author was keeping things close and hidden to build suspense but that didn't work out well. I also didn't find the ending very plausible or even honest but more for surprise and impact.