A Boy I Once Knew

May 1, 2002
Some English teachers come to fervently wish they had specialized in math or American government instead, for it is to the English teacher that students feel freer to write about their loves, disappointments, and home lives, replete with addictions, absentee parents, and all the varieties of family dysfunction imaginable. So it was with Stone when she became the surprised recipient of a box containing 10 years of diaries by Vincent, her student a quarter-century earlier. During the year that followed, she learned of Vincent's life in San Francisco's gay community, his loss of friends to the scourge of AIDS, and the events leading to his death. Her responses run the gamut of emotions from anger to tears of grief over the loss of the man she finally came to know. As she did, a subtle reversal of roles occurred, and the living teacher found she had much to learn from her departed student. A touching and heartfelt book that should stir plenty of nongay as well as gay readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)

February 4, 2002
She always knew that she'd write about him; however, Stone couldn't imagine that her former student's life story would be written posthumously. She remembered Vincent as a slight, dark 14-year-old with pointy features and a lock of hair that would not stay out of his solemn brown eyes. They had connected over The Gift of the Magi
when Stone taught at Brooklyn, N.Y.'s New Utrecht High School. She recalled that of all of the classes she taught that year, Vincent was the only student with any of the urgent but undefined hungers she remembered having at 14 and, with this common thread, they began a relationship that would transcend the years and the distance that would divide them over time. Vincent died of AIDS 25 years after being a student in Stone's class, and one of his final wishes was to have his diaries shipped from his San Francisco residence to his former teacher's New York home. This book is the fruit of Stone's (and, indirectly, Vincent's) efforts. Though at times morbid, it does tell a poignant story of two people who learned to deal with life's difficulties. Stone tackled the mighty task of turning the journals into a book, adding much about her own life and the lessons she learned from her former student in the process. After Vincent's death, Stone faced the death of her own father and grandmother; Vincent's uplifting approach to life provided solace. Stone sensitively leads readers through Vincent's last days, reminding them that even in the face of impending doom, innocence can thrive.