Posted by: Laurie on: October 30, 2009
Ehrenberg, Pamela. Tillmon County Fire. 2009. 175 p. Eerdmans, $9.00 (9780802853455). Gr. 8-12. With the tenth anniversary of the Columbine shootings in Colorado, Ehrenberg’s tale of an anti-gay hate crime set in West Virginia is a timely, cautionary reminder that bullying and harassment can ignite violence anywhere. Told through the perspectives of eight teens, the […]
Posted by: John on: October 29, 2009
Ruff, Shawn Stewart. Finlater. July 2008. 292 p. Quote Editions, $15.50 (978-1604023954). Gr. 9-12. Cliffy Douglas is a 13-year-old African-American living in Cincinnati in the 1970’s who becomes friends with a Jewish schoolmate, Noah Baumgarten. As their relationship develops, Cliffy and Noah begin a love affair that must navigate their newfound sense of sexual identity, […]
Posted by: John on: October 29, 2009
Satyal, Rakesh. Blue Boy. 2009. 276 p. Kensington, $15.00 (978-0-7582-3136-9). Gr. 9-12. In this coming-of-age and coming out story, Kiran Sharma is a 12-year-old Indian-American kid who likes to play with his mother’s makeup, attend ballet classes, and play with dolls. Awkward and beginning to sense his orientation, he feels like an outcast with his […]
Posted by: Laurie on: October 29, 2009
Hart, Melissa. Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood. 2009. 288 p. Seal Press, $16.95 (9781580052948). Gr. 8-12. “Palabras son libertades,” murmurs Melissa’s mother. “Words are freedom.” Melissa’s memoir shares her freedom ride as the White girl of a homosexual mother and an angry father in 1970s Southern California. The prejudice against homosexual parents limits Melissa’s time with […]
Posted by: Laurie on: October 29, 2009
Meem, Deborah T., Michelle A. Gibson and Jonathan F. Alexander. Finding Out: An Introduction to LGBT Studies. 2009. 480 p. SAGE, $48.95 (9781412938655). Gr. 10-12. While marketed as an introductory textbook for lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) studies, Finding Out handily serves as a reference tool. Each chapter includes a selection of readings supporting topics from the ancient […]
Posted by: Laurie on: October 29, 2009
Jones, Randy and Mark Bergo. Macho Man: The Disco Era and Gay America’s Coming Out. 2009. 232 p. Praeger, $31.96 (9780275999629). Gr. 10-12. Whether at a wedding, bar mitzvah or weekend party, most people have danced the Y.M.C.A. Jones, the original cowboy of the Village People, and Bergo, an accomplished journalist/biographer, share their eyewitness accounts […]
Posted by: blogando on: October 26, 2009
McLaughlin, Lauren. (re)cycler. 2009. 273 p. Random House. $8.99 (978-0-375-85195-7). Grades 8-12. There’s no other way to describe Jack and Jill’s relationship other than to say “it’s complicated.” Four days (or so) each month, Jill morphs into Jack with all the male body parts and some of the “male” personality traits. After Jill’s nightmarish prom […]
Posted by: John on: October 25, 2009
Levithan, David. Love Is the Higher Law. 2009. 176 p. Knopf. $15.99. (978-0-375-83468-4). Gr. 8-12. What meaning did the tragic events of the 9/11 bombing of New York’s Twin Towers have for teenagers who lived through them? And what significance and emotional resonance might they have for teens today? These are the questions that Levithan […]
Posted by: John on: October 25, 2009
Peck, Dale. Sprout. 2009. 277 p. Bloomsbury. $16.99. (978-1-59990-160-2). Gr. 9-12. Teenager Sprout has a secret. And it’s not his green hair (duh). And it’s not the fact that he’s gay, though his English teacher, the redoubtable – and occasionally inebriated — Mrs. Miller, who is coaching him for the Kansas State Essay Contest, wishes […]
Posted by: John on: October 25, 2009
Ketchum, Liza. Newsgirl. 2009. 327 p. Viking. $17.99 (978-0-670-01119-3). Gr. 5-8. 1851. California. Twelve-year-old Amelia, her mother, and her mother’s friend Estelle have journeyed to San Francisco in search of fortune and a place where women can be independent, own property, and fashion a new life together. For Amelia, however, it is the disheartening discovery […]