Garsee, Jeannine. Say the Word. 2009. 360p. Bloomsbury, $16.99. (978-1-599990-333-0). Gr. 11-12: The “perfect” Shawna Gallagher finds her life turned upside down when she is 17 after her estranged lesbian mother dies and she discovers a family in the mother’s partner and two sons. The book covers a lot of ground—religion (Shawna is Roman Catholic and mother is transitioning into Judaism complete with kosher culture); lesbian lack of rights (the mother’s partner loses everything because the mother didn’t leave a will and they weren’t legally married); freakish control from a wealthy father who gives her everything and nothing; struggle with sexual attraction (Shawna gets tied up with ex-best friend’s twin who just wants to use her); need for family; domestic violence (one of the “sons” is actually the biological son of Shawna’s father after he raped her mother); first love (Shawna’s attraction for the son of her mother’s partner); shame (Shawna’s aunt is seriously homophobic); depression (the younger boy wants to kill himself because he cannot live with the woman he has always known as his mother). Writing moves evenly and the characters are nicely drawn—no stereotypes and lots of confusion–in this good look at children’s problems when their parents change from being hetero to homosexual.–Nel Ward