"Blackbird is a funny, moving, coming-of-age novel about growing up black and gay. Johnnie Ray Rousseau is a high school student upset over losing the lead role in the school staging of Romeo and Juliet. As if that weren't enough, his best friend has been beaten badly by his father, and his girlfriend is pressuring him to have sex for the first time. All the while, he's intrigued by Marshall MacNeill, whom he meets at an audition, surely the sexiest man to walk God's green earth&38213;at least according to Johnnie Ray."