Birthday follows best friends Eric and Morgan as they celebrate their shared birthday over the course of six years. They begin to realize their individual identities and grow apart in high school, separately exploring love interests, finding new hobbies, and generally shirking the expectations of those around them. The secrets they keep from each other, however, threaten to disrupt the status quo in their lifelong friendship. This book surprised me in so many ways. Though the major themes are heavy (and heart-wrenching at times), I cannot overstate how important books like this one are, for both young adult and "adult adult" audiences. Grab your Kleenex!Publisher Description:
Two best friends. A shared birthday. Six years... ERIC: There was the day we were born. There was the minute Morgan and I decided we were best friends for life. The years where we stuck by each other's side--as Morgan's mom died, as he moved across town, as I joined the football team, as my parents started fighting. But sometimes I worry that Morgan and I won't be best friends forever. That there'll be a day, a minute, a second, where it all falls apart and there's no turning back the clock. MORGAN: I know that every birthday should feel like a new beginning, but I'm trapped in this mixed-up body, in this wrong life, in Nowheresville, Tennessee, on repeat. With a dad who cares about his football team more than me, a mom I miss more than anything, and a best friend who can never know my biggest secret. Maybe one day I'll be ready to become the person I am inside. To become her. To tell the world. To tell Eric. But when? Six years of birthdays reveal Eric and Morgan's destiny as they come together, drift apart, fall in love, and discover who they're meant to be--and if they're meant to be together.