Posted by: Laurie on: October 31, 2009
Winter, Jonah. Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude. Il. Calef Brown. unp. Atheneum, $16.99 (9781416940883). Gr. K-3. Gertrude is a lyrical introduction to Stein’s prose and a visual treat featuring Picasso and Matisse as a few of the prominent guests who visited the Stein/Toklas salon in Paris. Their life together with Basket, the poodle, […]
Posted by: Laurie on: October 31, 2009
Peters, Julie Anne. RAGE: A Love Story. 2009. 304 p. Knopf, $16.99 (9780375852091). Gr. 10-12. Johanna spends time in her alternative universe, Joyland, while Reeves lives in real-time, seeking refuge in a space called the Pit. When fantasy and reality collide, all the romantic, alluring, gorgeous and exciting expectations turn to painful, desperate hard rage. […]
Posted by: michaelfrombrooklyn on: October 31, 2009
Hurwin, Davida Wills. Freaks and Revelations. November 2009. 240 p. Little, Brown and Company, 16.99 (9780316049962) Told in alternating first person accounts, this is the story of two teenagers in California from 1973 to 2005. One is an angry neo-Nazi punk rocker and the other is a thirteen year old gay hustler thrown out of his […]
Posted by: michaelfrombrooklyn on: October 31, 2009
Cart, Michael. How Beautiful the Ordinary: twelve stories of identity. October 2009. 368 p. Harper Teen, $16.99 (978-0-06-115498-0). Gr. 9-12. Watching two lovers exchange words in the night. The excitement of your first kiss, your first sexual experience, your first Dyke March. Meeting someone new on myspace. The stories from Michael Cart’s new collection relate […]
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 […]