Into the Beautiful North
Posted by: John on: September 29, 2009
- In: 2009
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Urrea, Luis Alberto. Into the Beautiful North. 2009. 342p. Little, $24.99. (978-0-316-02527-0). Gr. 10-12.
One night the people in a small coastal Mexican town watch Yul Brenner; the next day, three teenage girls and a gay man plan to sneak into the United States to find seven brave men who will save their village from the narcs and bandidos who plunder it after all the men leave. Nineteen-year-old Naveli has another purpose for going: her father left his family three years earlier to go to Illinois. The resulting journey is a beautifully detailed and complex picture of the Mexican countryside, Tijuana, and migration with all its poverty and cruelty in contrast to the perspective of the U.S. as a foreign country with black humor woven throughout. Among the unforgettable characters are Naveli’s aunt Irma who becomes the town’s first woman mayor, the generous couple who gave the four a shelter in Tijuana, the first warrior that Naveli finds, the helpful librarian who helps Naveli find her father, and the border patrolman who decides to save the odyssey because of his growing belief in Naveli’s cause. Despite the misery that the protagonists experience, the end provides a sense of hope for the future. This picaresque novel is a must reading for anyone in the United States. —Nel Ward
Into the Beautiful North
Posted by: John on: September 29, 2009
Urrea, Luis Alberto. Into the Beautiful North. 2009. 342p. Little, $24.99. (978-0-316-02527-0). Gr. 10-12.
One night the people in a small coastal Mexican town watch Yul Brenner; the next day, three teenage girls and a gay man plan to sneak into the United States to find seven brave men who will save their village from the narcs and bandidos who plunder it after all the men leave. Nineteen-year-old Naveli has another purpose for going: her father left his family three years earlier to go to Illinois. The resulting journey is a beautifully detailed and complex picture of the Mexican countryside, Tijuana, and migration with all its poverty and cruelty in contrast to the perspective of the U.S. as a foreign country with black humor woven throughout. Among the unforgettable characters are Naveli’s aunt Irma who becomes the town’s first woman mayor, the generous couple who gave the four a shelter in Tijuana, the first warrior that Naveli finds, the helpful librarian who helps Naveli find her father, and the border patrolman who decides to save the odyssey because of his growing belief in Naveli’s cause. Despite the misery that the protagonists experience, the end provides a sense of hope for the future. This picaresque novel is a must reading for anyone in the United States. —Nel Ward
Pink!
Posted by: John on: September 29, 2009
Rickards, Lynne. Pink! Il. Margaret Chamberlain. 2009. unp. Chicken House/Scholastic, $16.99. (978-0-545-08608-0). Gr. K-2.
What’s a bright pink penguin to do? Well, after doctor who tells Patrick that there is nothing she can do, his father suggests he live with the pink flamingos. He can’t fit in with them because he cannot catch fish the way they do, he can’t take a nap standing on one leg, and he can’t fly to the nesting ground. So he returns home where he is welcomed back, and his classmates stop teasing him. “Being different wasn’t so bad after all.†A comical book with bold, colorful illustrations, this picture book combines messages about differences, bullying, and gender identity in a delightful read-aloud story. Although some may not see this as overtly glbtq, it follows the pattern: child realizes difference, classmates tease him, parents send him to doctor, doctor doesn’t help, parents show him similarities with kids far away, kid goes away, it doesn’t work and he comes home, kid works things out for himself and accepts being different. —Nel Ward
Milk: A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk
Posted by: John on: September 29, 2009
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Milk: A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk. Int. Dustin Lance Black; Forewrd. Armistead Maupin. 2009. 144p. Newmarket Press, $19.95. (978-1-55704-828-8). Gr. 10-12.
In 1977, when Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he was the first openly gay man to be voted into a major public office in the United States. One year later he was shot by a disgruntled man who had resigned from the Board and then killed both Milk and Mayor George Moscone. In the past thirty years, Milk has become a hero to those who believe in human rights for the glbt community. This book is a story of how he changed history through his actions and legacy with an introduction about how his life transformed Black’s life when, while he was growing up in a homophobic Mormon household in San Antonio, heard a recording of Milk’s speech giving hope to young glbtq people. Part I, “The History,” provides a history about Milk’s life, 90 photographs ,and recollections from Milk’s activist friends in his Castro Street neighborhood about his work. Part II chronicles “The Making of the Movie,†released in 2008, written by Black, directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring Sean Penn. Peter Travers, in Rolling Stone, said about the movie: “A total triumph! Brimming with humor, heart, sexual heat, political provocation, and a crying need to stir things up. If there’s a better movie around this year, with more bristling purpose, I sure haven’t seen it. An American classic.” An inspiration to people discouraged by the passing of Proposition 8 in California and the fight about the country to repeal legislative action giving glbt people equal rights. —Nel Ward
The Mariposa Club
Posted by: John on: September 29, 2009
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Gonzalez, Rigoberto. The Mariposa Club. 2009. 216p. Alyson, $14.95. (978-1-59350-106-8). Gr. 10-12.
During their final years in high school, the Fierce Foursome—Maui, Trini, Isaac, and Lib—want to memorialize their high schools years by creating Caliente Valley High School’s first LGBT organization, the Mariposa Club, an action that brings out a mix of love from some of their family members and violence from the local gang. Spanish for butterfly, Mariposa is generally used as a derogatory term for homosexual men in the Spanish-speaking community, but these four decide to redefine the label into a term for champions. In this book about the hardships that come from being openly gay in high school, the voices are strong and separate. Each of them shows his personality as they work through their problems in a homophobic community. The issues that they address—gays who stay in the closet, parents who reject their sexual orientation, stereotypes of gay/lesbian youth that don’t work—are realistically presented. And the dialog rings wonderfully true! –Nel Ward
Hello My Name Is Bob
Posted by: John on: September 29, 2009
- In: 2009
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Alsenas, Linas. Hello My Name Is Bob. 2009. unp. Scholastic, $16.99. 978-0-545-05244-3). Gr. PreS-K.
Self-claimed “boring†Bob has a lively panda bear friend Jack. Bob sits, hums, knits, dusts his plants, cooks, and does the laundry while Jack dances, explores the jungle, plays in a band, and surfs before he convinces Bob to go with him to get ice cream, go see the alligator swamp, visit the amusement park, and paint the walls. But at the end of the day they cuddle on the couch. Nothing in this is overtly glbtq, but the two charming bears grow closer and closer, definitely looking like a couple by the end of the day. –Nel Ward
The Boy in the Dress
Posted by: kthorning on: September 21, 2009
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Williams, David. The Boy in the Dress. Illustrated by Quentin Blake. Razorbill, 2009. 9781595142993 Ages 8-11
Twelve-year-old Dennis is a star soccer player coming to terms with the fact that he enjoys wearing dresses. He lives with his gruff dad and older brother, neither of whom understand or accept his fascination with Vogue magazine. Dennis finds a friend and soul mate in Lisa, an older girl at his school who also loves fashion. She encourages Dennis to try on her dresses, something he finds exhilarating and freeing, and then to play at passing as a girl. After Dennis successfully develops a drag persona as Denise, a French foreign student living with Lisa’s family, he even dares to go to school wearing a dress, where no one recognizes him as Dennis until his wig falls off during an impromptu soccer game he can’t resist jumping into. Williams uses stock characters and slapstick humor, but he is surprisingly gentle and respectful in his treatment of Dennis. And while Dennis may be ridiculed by some of his classmates, he never becomes the butt of the author’s jokes. —KT Horning
Magic and Misery
Posted by: blogando on: September 19, 2009
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Marino, Peter. Magic and Misery. Holiday House, 2009. 978-0-8234-6. $17.95. Grades 8-12.
James transferred into Mungers Mills High School during his junior year and ate by himself in the cafeteria until Toni Jo–TJ–got up the gumption to introduce herself one day when she found out that it was both of their birthdays. She describes her feelings for her stunningly beautiful and incredibly pithy new friend as being “fago” a Pacific Islander word that means ” the feeling of both affection and worry for someone at the same time.”   From their very first lunch together, TJ and James become great friends.  An example of the humor in this book is that after James comes out during their science class he adopts the nickname, Pan, which is short for Pansy.  After coming out, two bullies from the football team attack Pan physically and verbally, but he adamantly refuses to report the incidents to any of the adults in their lives.  TJ worries about Pan, especially after a softer-spoken, more thoughtful and less stereotypical member of the school’s football team, Casper, asks her out and they start a relationship that excludes Pan from her life. Magic and Misery deals with a number of teen issues, including the jealousy that arises when one’s best friend gets a boyfriend or a girlfriend.  The gay character in this book is portrayed in a very positive light, although it was troubling to me that he never reported the bullying that he was experiencing to the school or to the police. His response to the most violent and humilating attack was to take matters into his own hands and beat the bullies with his tennis racket, causing him to be expelled from school and being transferred to another school. The family dynamics are diverse and realistically portrayed. Even though the situations are often tense, the humor really shines through making it easy to care about what happens to the characters.
–Arla Jones
Lawrence, Kansas
Losers
Posted by: blogando on: September 1, 2009
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Roth, Matthue. Losers. Scholastic Push, 2008. 9780545068932. $8.99. Grades 8 -10.
Jupiter Glazer  is a loser for too many reasons to list all of them here, but to summarize: he’s from another country, he has only one friend who’s a science geek, and he lives in a factory with his family in the warehouse district of Philadelphia. He gets the opportunity to attend a fancy prep school, but he’s woefully lost.  On the very first day of school, a big, scary guy named Hayes,  beats the crap out of him. Hayes continues to bully him right up until the day he begs Jupiter to take him downtown to meet guys he can date. This short and sweet exploration of how kids who are different from the norm struggle through adolescence until they figure out who they are and how they fit into the universe. Jupiter’s experiences as a Russian immigrant help him to understand what his bully/friend Hayes is going through trying to find “his people.” The author, Matthue Roth,  also published a memoir entitled Yom Kippur-a-go-go, which I can’t wait to read now! –Arla Jones
Tricks
Posted by: John on: August 30, 2009
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Hopkins, Ellen, Tricks. Margaret K. McElderry, 2009. 9781416950073. $18.99. Grades 8 to 12.
Ellen Hopkins delivers another well-spun tale in verse with Tricks, the story of five teens led to prostitution through a series of internal and external factors. The characters are distinct and represent a broad sample of American family life. Some have struggled with poverty or bad parenting, while others have seemingly everything going for them. As much as these characters don’t have in common, they all end up in Las Vegas, selling their bodies to varying degrees and trying to reclaim their self worth. Whether they have ended up where they are out of a desparate need to escape or just a few too many bad decisions, all of them weave important lessons and deeper meaning through their verses. -John Andrews