GLBTQ

Review: Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

| Tasha

openly straight

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Rafe is openly gay in his home town of Boulder, Colorado.  OK, he’s beyond out of the closet, he’s the guy that is asked to speak publicly about being gay, his mother is president of the local PFLAG chapter, and he speaks to high schools about tolerance.  So when he heads to a private all-boys school in New England, he decides to no longer be that out about being gay.  He just wants to be normal, be one of the guys, have guy friends and play soccer.  So he goes back into the closet.  He tells himself that it’s not a big deal, since sexuality is just one part of the whole person.  But things get complicated.  First, a boy on campus has a breakdown.  Then he has to start lying to people when they ask about his girlfriend or even when asked directly whether he is straight or gay.  And yeah, there’s this guy he likes, maybe even loves.  This smart, funny novel explores what happens when coming out at home was easy, but coming out a second time is beyond difficult.

Konigsberg writes such a wonderful character in Rafe.  Rafe is fairly confident on several levels but in so many other ways, he’s a complete mess.  I love that he is a boy who spoke out about tolerance, yet seems unable to tolerate the consequences of his being out and proud.  The idea of returning to the closet is one that adds a freshness to this story while the book still deals with all of the stereotypes and negativity that gay teens face.  I also appreciate the frankness with which this book handles gay teen sex, another refreshing aspect of the novel.

Throughout the book, the tension is created through Rafe’s lies and the growing relationship he finds himself in with his best friend.  Throughout one wonders if this is the moment he breaks his silence and frees himself, but Rafe continues to live in the cage he rebuilt for himself.  It’s a book that is funny yes, but equally tragic too. 

Beautifully written with wit and style, this book takes a new look at being gay and out.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Reviewed from copy received from Scholastic.

Review: Fat Angie by E. E. Charlton-Trujillo

| Tasha

fat angie

Fat Angie by E. E. Charlton-Trujillo

Angie has hit rock bottom.  She tried to kill herself in front of the entire school and now she just wants to make it through each day.  She numbs herself with lots of junk food, eating her way past the pain of her sister being held hostage in Iraq and her adopted brother being cruel to her both in public and at home.  Her mother is just anxious for Angie to be normal or at least to appear normal to everyone.  But Angie’s entire world changes when the new girl is nice to her.  KC Romance is not from Dryfalls, Ohio and it is obvious.  She is innately cool, something that Angie has never even tried to pretend to be.  Best of all, KC sees past the fat and the walls that Angie puts up to the real Angie, the one that Angie herself has never really known was there.  Now Angie is inspired to do more and that means big changes both inside and out.

This teen novel deals with all sorts of issues, all focused through Angie herself.  There is suicide, binge eating, being overweight, a sister missing in Iraq, cutting, and sexuality.  One might think that it all doesn’t fit into a single novel, but it does thanks to the incredible character of Angie.  The author writes with a wonderful snarky voice yet one that is ultimately human and smart.  She is entirely herself even though she isn’t sure who that is. 

I particularly enjoyed the snippets of therapy that are shared along with the therapist’s notes.  This is the sort of humor that pervades this book.  Yet there is incredible sadness within it as well.  There is grief that others don’t share, mean girls that are beyond cruel, and a family that doesn’t try any longer.  Angie has a lot to be angry and sad about, but somehow she rises beyond that.  Most remarkable of all though is that in this book, she does it herself.  And along the way, she helps others rise too.

Beautifully written, dark and wildly funny, this book will have you crying, raging and cheering.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The Sin-Eater’s Confession by Ilsa J. Bick

| Tasha

sin eaters confession

The Sin-Eater’s Confession by Ilsa J. Bick

Ben saw what happened to Jimmy.  Ben was the only witness except for the murderers who stoned Jimmy to death in the woods.  Ben shouldn’t even have been there, not after what Jimmy did to him by taking a sensual photo of him when he was sleeping. But Ben found himself drawn to Jimmy and understood that Jimmy had no one else to turn to.  His older brother was dead and his parents could not accept having a son who was suspected of being gay.  Ben wasn’t sure that Jimmy is gay, and he was not clear about himself either.  What he does know is that Merit, Wisconsin was not an easy place to be gay with prejudice still very evident throughout the community.  Ben had to decide what to do about what he witnessed, what to tell the police.  Now he has to grapple with the guilt that came from the decisions he made and what he intends to do moving forward.

Bick is the author of the Ashes trilogy and here writes a contemporary teen novel that focuses on several large issues.  Issues like parental pressures are huge in Ben’s life where his mother expects him to get into Yale and become a doctor.  Ben never goes out, has never dated anyone, and pours all of his energy into school and his part time jobs.  The book also covers prejudice and homophobia, along with domestic violence.  It’s a lot for a single book to deal with and at times some of the subjects seem to be there more for effect and to make a point than to really be part of the story itself. 

The book does suffer from slow pacing in some areas, though the underlying story is taut and almost mesmerizing.  Seeing into Ben’s thought process is interesting at first, but there are some layers to it that could have been left off to make the book even stronger.

What Bick really does well here is to create a compelling character in Ben.  Jimmy was interesting as well, but it is Ben who really is the soul of the story.  Through his eyes and his hindsight, readers are able to see the mistakes that Ben has made, the impossible decisions he has been forced into, and eventually his coming to terms with his own responsibility for what happened.  Bick has left large parts of Ben unexplained, which works well.  Readers will never be clear about his sexuality, which mirrors the questions about Jimmy as well, placing the reader right in the same place as the bigots in the community.  One has to start questioning why it matters so much to label someone.

A harsh and unflinching look at bigotry and one’s personal responsibility in a community, this book asks tough questions and then leaves the answers in the reader’s hands.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Netgalley and Carolrhoda Books.

Review: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

| Tasha

aristotle and dante

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

This is one of the big winners of the ALA Awards this year.  It won the Stonewall Book Award, the Pura Belpre Author Award, a Printz Honor, and was on the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list.  So I’m not sure what I can say about it beyond that it is one incredible read!

Ari has his entire empty summer ahead of him so he one day he heads to the pool even though he can’t swim.  There he meets Dante, a confident boy just his age, who offers to teach him to swim.  Through that one act, the friendship between these two loners is formed.  They have very little in common except that they are both Mexican Americans.  Ari tends to be angry, is able and willing to fight, and can’t communicate with his father.  Dante, on the other hand, goes to a private school, reads poetry, sketches and actually gives his father kisses.  The two boys form a strong bond with one another, able to have long conversations and tell each other everything.  Well almost everything.

This book is an interplay of strength and fragility with Ari, the physically strong and more strident one, being actually the more fragile as you see deeper under the surface.  It is about the way that friendships form in unlikely places, flourish and potentially fall apart over small things.  It is a book of celebration, a book that wonders at the desert night filled with stars.  It is a book that explores what it means to be gay, what it means to have a best friend that is gay.  It is about being a hero, finding your truth and moving ahead past doubt.

Beautiful, strong and incredibly brave, this book reads like a poem read aloud by a best friend.  Appropriate for ages 16-18.

Reviewed from library copy.

2013 Rainbow List

| Tasha

The 2013 Rainbow list selects books for youth, aged birth through 18 years old, that speak to the GLBTQ rights and lives.  Sponsored by ALA’s GLBT Round Table and Social Responsibilities Round Table, the list includes a top ten (which I have listed first) and has a total of 49 books from 31 publishers.   All of the books were published between July 2011 and December 2012.

This is a marvelous list for librarians to ensure that they are forming an inclusive collection for their communities:

 

TOP TEN

Adaptation (Adaptation, #1) Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Ask The Passengers 

Adaptation by Malinda Lo

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Ask the Passengers by A. S. King

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children Chulito: A Novel Drama

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kristin Cronn-Mills

Chulito by Charles Rice-Gonzalez

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to their Younger Selves The Miseducation of Cameron Post The Song of Achilles 10194183

The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to Their Younger Selves edited by Sarah Moon

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Starting from Here by Lisa Jenn Bigelow

 

RAINBOW LIST

37 Things I Love (in no particular order) Avengers: The Children's Crusade Batwoman, Vol. 1: Hydrology

37 Things I Love (in No Particular Order) by Kekla Magoon

Avengers: the Children’s Crusade by Allan Heinberg

Batwoman, vol. 1: Hydrology by J. H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman

Between You & Me Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3) Boys of Summer

Between You & Me by Marissa Calin

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Boys of Summer by Steve Berman

11699212 Dirty One Don't Let Me Go 

The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

Dirty One by Michael Graves

Don’t Let Me Go by J. H. Trumble

Gone, Gone, Gone Happy Families If I Told You So

Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz

Happy Families by Tanita S. Davis

If I Told You So by Timothy Woodward

12814609 Kevin Keller Kiss the Morning Star Lola and the Boy Next Door

It’s Our Prom (So Deal with It) by Julie Ann Peters

Kevin Keller by Dan Parent

Kiss the Morning Star by Elissa Janine Hoole

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Mariposa Gown My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family 

Mariposa Gown by Rigoberto Gonzalez

My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer by Jennifer Gennari

My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength and What makes a Family by Zach Walls with Bruce Littlefield

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard OMG Queer: Short Stories by Queer Youth One in Every Crowd

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Leslea Newman

OMG Queer edited by Kathleen Radclyffe

One in Every Crowd by Ivan E. Coyote

Personal Effects Roving Pack See You at Harry's

Personal Effects by E. M. Kokie

Roving Pack by Sassafras Lowrey

See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles

Silhouette of a Sparrow Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie Street Dreams

Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin

Sparks: the Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie by S. J. Adams

Street Dreams by Tama Wise

Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom The Thunder in His Head Tilt

Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin

The Thunder in His Head by Gene Gant

Tilt by Ellen Hopkins

Wandering Son: Volume Two Wandering Son: Book Three Way to Go

Wandering Son, Volume 2 by Shimura Takako

Wandering Son, Volume 3 by Shimura Takako

Way to Go by Tom Ryan

When We Were Outlaws Willie and Uncle Bill The Winter Garden

When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love & Revolution by Jeanne Cordova

Willie and Uncle Bill by Amy Schwartz

The Winter Garden and Other Stories by Hayden Thorne

Review: My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer by Jennifer Gennari

| Tasha

my mixed-up berry blue summer

My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer by Jennifer Gennari

June has lived on Lake Champlain with her mother forever.  They run the marina with its supplies and café.  That’s where June learned to make pies, and she is determined to enter the fair this summer to prove what a great baker she is.  But this summer is going to be very different from other summers.  First, her mother’s girlfriend has moved in with them.  Then there is the pressure from Vermont’s new civil union law that has their small town divided.  There are people who won’t shop at the marina anymore because June’s mother is gay.  It is a summer unlike any other, one where June will have to figure out how she feels about having two mothers, and then whether she has the courage to speak up. 

Gennari’s debut novel courageously takes on not only the issue of gay parents but also the political backlash that can occur to a family in modern America.  Through the eyes of June, we see a strong mother and daughter connection, an understanding that her mother is gay, but then the realization that that will be much more public with a girlfriend or spouse.  Gennari makes this a very human story that embraces the power of community and the complexities as well.  As a special aside, I will mention the great librarian character who shows a lot of support for June and her family.

This book is short and active.  It’s a perfect summer read with plenty of dips in the lake, boats on the water, bike rides in the heat, and ripening berries all around.  Nicely, it is about more relationships than the mother and her girlfriend.  June is faced with losing a friend because of their difference in opinion and then June’s changing feelings toward Luke, a boy who is her best friend. 

Perfect for a summer read while floating on a lake, this book is strong, courageous and radiant.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy by Bil Wright

| Tasha

putting makeup on the fat boy

Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy by Bil Wright (Link to InfoSoup record)

Sixteen-year-old Carlos has always wanted to be a makeup artist to the stars, so when his friend suggests that he start out at a makeup counter in Macy’s as a first step, he immediately takes action.  The makeup business may seem glamorous on the outside, but as Carlos discovers it filled with jealousy too.  When Carlos gets on the bad side of his new boss, he has to try to figure out how to make things right again.  Unfortunately, that probably does not include taking a star up on doing her makeup on her TV show.  Carlos has other problems too, including a close friend who won’t talk to him after some expensive boots are ruined, his sister getting beat up by her boyfriend, and his own crush on a classmate.  This book explores the world of a gay teen who has a dream, is not afraid to fight for it, and steps beyond any stereotypes and into a place all his own.

Wright has written a dazzling character in Carlos, a boy who is not afraid of big dreams, drama and fabulous clothes.  Carlos at times can be very self-centered and focused on himself rather than others, but this aspect of him is honestly written and true of any teen who is looking to succeed at their wildest dreams.  Carlos could at first be read as a gay stereotypical character, but as the book continues readers see past the gay makeup artist and into the heart of a real person.

The writing here is straight-forward and reads with great ease.  The story has enough tension to keep it moving, deals with deeper subject matter than makeup and great clothes, and looks into the world of a boy who is out and proud.  Those around him in his family are supportive, but others are less so, something we see in modern society today.  Again, the book is real and honest about acceptance but also points to the importance of being true to oneself.

The winner of the 2012 Stonewall Book Award, this is a book that opens minds, invites in dreams, and is absolutely as fabulous as a pair of Stella McCartney boots.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster.

Review: The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

| Tasha

difference between you and me

The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

Released March 15, 2012.

Jesse wears fishing boots every day.  She cuts her hair short and rough with a Swiss Army knife.  She spends her time writing manifestos for her National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos and then papering the high school with them.  Emily is one of the popular girls and vice president of the student council.  She wears her hair in a ponytail, likes sweaters with buttons, and has a boyfriend.  So what in the world could Jesse and Emily have in common?  Just that they like to make out in the bathroom of the library once a week.  Jesse yearns to have a more open relationship with Emily, but Emily is very comfortable in the closet and in denial.   When Jesse gets in trouble at school, she meets Esther, a girl who is also a weirdo and has a lot in common with Jesse.  The two of them start working against a corporation trying to come into their community and school.  Unfortunately, Emily is helping that corporation sponsor the school dance.  Both girls have to decide what is most important to them: principles or love.

George has written a courageous book here.  The characters are deeply felt, beautifully rendered and gorgeously human.  Jesse is a strong lesbian character who also makes mistakes and is caught in a situation where she has to keep someone else’s secret.  The tension that creates tests her relationship with her parents, her best friend, and herself.  Emily is a study in contradictions that she speaks aloud, lives and breathes.  She is a complicated character, awash in a mix of confidence in public and self-doubt in private.  Esther is a surprising character, added after the reader thinks the book is going to focus on two girls only.  She and Jesse have much in common, including mothers who had breast cancer.  That piece of information notches neatly into the two girls’ characters, offering further depth.

Intriguingly, George has chosen to write Emily and Esther’s sections of the book in first person.  Jesse is seen in third person, something that is distancing.  I found the switch from one tense to another disconcerting at times, and wished that I could have known Jesse from inside as well as the other girls.

The world that George has created is populated with unique characters, adults and teens alike.  It is a celebration of people who are different, living lives that are complicated, filled with emotion, and grounded in principles.  I saw people I knew, people like myself, and people I wanted to meet and befriend. 

Perhaps what I loved most about this book is its sensibilities.  The characters are who they are, struggling with issues larger than themselves, but not deterred at all.  It is a book that encourages teens to take action, change their communities, and speak up for what they believe in.  Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from ARC received from Viking Books.

Book Review: Crossing Lines by Paul Volponi

| Tasha

crossinglines

Crossing Lines by Paul Volponi

Released June 9, 2011.

Adonis plays on his high school football team and all of his best friends are football jocks.  He has just started dating Melody, one of the hottest girls at school.  Alan is the new person at school.  He is the only boy in the Fashion Club and a kid who refuses to conform.  Alan is openly mocked and ridiculed by Adonis’ friends.  Things take a turn for the worse when Alan begins openly wearing lipstick and dresses at school.  He even embraces the name the jocks have been calling him, Alana.  Adonis finds himself pressured by Melody and his younger sister to befriend Alan while all of his friends at school assume that Adonis detests Alan just as much as they do.  Adonis is trapped in the middle, never telling anyone exactly how he feels and where he stands.  But then a plan to bully Alan goes wrong and Adonis is forced to choose sides.

I have mixed feelings about this novel.  Part of me wishes that the subject matter had been handled more subtly.  At the same time, I understand the value in a very accessible book that teens who may feel mixed feelings about GLBTQ issues can relate to.  Volponi writes in a very concrete way here.  His prose is tight and very reality based.

Adonis is a character who will also be easily understood.  His own homophobic-at-worst and mixed-at-best attitudes are clear.  Readers will see themselves in him because we all hesitate at times to speak up, go against our peers, and side with the loner or different.  And here is where I wish that the book had been written with more internal dialogue and less concrete depictions.  Adonis does not ever reflect on why he is homophobic, why he reacts to Alan in the way he does, why he doesn’t leap to defend.  Instead the book stays above those questions, which does not add to its depth.

This lack of self-exploration also hurts the character development of the secondary characters in particular.  Alan is a very interesting character who offers glimpses of his strength but never really comes alive for the reader.  Unfortunately, he never becomes more than a stereotype. 

Volponi has again written a book that teens will relate to easily.  It is a book that asks for discussion, one that will have teens questioning what their reaction would have been in the same situation.   Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from ARC received from author.

Also reviewed by: