Ron Koertge's The Arizona Kid is just a fun book. It has an enjoyable story, great characters and it pegs the mind of a fifteen-year-old boy to a T. Additionally, it is the perfect first-love/summer romance book. It captures the Billy is spending the summer in Tuscon, AZ, living with his gay uncle Wes. He's working at the local racetrack because he wants to be a veterinarian and his uncle knows a trainer. Since he's from Bradley ville, MO, life and customs (especially the dress code) is new to him.

He has trepidations living with an uncle he's never met, especially a gay uncle. On his first day at the track, he sees the beautiful, distant, Cara Mae riding by on a horse. Her job is to exercise the horses. He thinks she's gorgeous. He meets Lew, who he'll be working with and the trainer, Jack.

The way Billy describes the female exercisers-tight jeans, t-shirts without sleeves, cut off at the midriff, tan arms, etc. is just like a hormonal fifteen year old. Lew and his girlfriend Abby suggest that Billy go over and compliment her or something to get her talking. It doesn't work at first, but ultimately they become boyfriend/girlfriend.

The Arizona Kid describes Lew's father (an attorney by day, guerilla warrior by night), Cara Mae (troubled, insecure, beautiful, emotional), Billy (scared, short, not much self confidence) and Wes (scared of AIDS). It describes the daily routine of exercising horses, cleaning out their stalls, trying to understand what makes them tick. Moon's Medicine is antsy, but surprisngly his friendship with a chicken roaming the track calms him down. Dark Mirage, on the other hand, just needs to be alone.

There's suspense, when two ruffians, Fletcher and Gif, bet their horse can beat Dark Mirage, as they ultimately try to sabotage the race.

There's romance, as Billy and Cara Mae begin to love each other, learn about love and sex and ultimately have to part at the end of the summer.

There's humor when Lew's father kidnaps him for his birthday and takes him out to the desert for a survival weekend.

And there's sorrow, when Billy has to go home, leaving both Wes, a man he's learned to love, and Cara Mae, a girl he's in love with. Of course he doesn't believe the phrase that he'll be in love a thousand times in his life because that first love is always the best and toughest to forget.

I'd recommend this book to anyone. Ron Koertge does it again. ( )

Billy, 16, spends the summer in Tucson with his uncle, who is gay, working at a racetrack; he has his first sexual relationship with a girl, Cara Mae. These strands are easily woven together in a story that is fast (told mainly in dialogue) and often humorous.