Dream Boy vs Selection Day: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Gay teenagers, Teenage boys, Fiction
Dream Boy
“On Sunday in the new church, Preacher John Roberts tells about the disciple Jesus loved whose name was also John, how at the Last Supper John lay his head tenderly on Jesus's breast.”
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First love is never easy. But when the new boy in a small town is being secretly abused by his father, first love might be the only thing that can save him. With his mother busy in the kitchen and his drunken father…
Selection Day
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From Aravind Adiga, the bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of The White Tiger, a dazzling new novel about two brothers in a Mumbai slum who are raised by their obsessive father to become cricket stars, and whose…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Dream Boy highest: Dream Boy 4.0 · Selection Day 3.2.
- Dream Boy is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 5 for Selection Day.
- Selection Day has the widest readership — 3332 ratings behind its score.
- Selection Day runs the darker storyline; Dream Boy stays the lighter read.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| Dream Boy | Selection Day | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.2 (3332) |
| Hardcover | 3.9 (20) | 2.7 (6) |
| Apple Books | 5.0 (5) | 4.0 (17) |
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Reception
| Dream Boy | Selection Day | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 20 | 3332 |
| Editions | 4 | 9 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 5023 |
| Reading it now | — | 358 |
| Written reviews | — | 502 |
| Wikipedia attention | 312 | 469 |
| Pages | 195 | 320 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Dream Boy or Selection Day?
Dream Boy has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Dream Boy 4.0/5, Selection Day 3.2/5).
Which is shorter to read: Dream Boy or Selection Day?
Dream Boy is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Dream Boy (195 pages, ≈ 3 h 37 m); Selection Day (320 pages, ≈ 5 h 56 m).
Which is harder to read: Dream Boy or Selection Day?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Dream Boy: Moderate; Selection Day: Moderate.
Have both books been made into films?
Dream Boy: no film adaptation on record; Selection Day: 1 film adaptation.