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Adolescence is a time of discovery, exploration and first love. The pain and issues surrounding unrequited love can be talked about between friends endlessly if the love happens to be heterosexual in nature. But how easy it it for the teenager to talk about a crush if the crush is on someone of the same sex? How easy is it for a teenager to even admit it to himself or herself? The stories below are not just stories of sexual identity. They are stories of family and friendship and acceptance. One does not need to be questioning their sexual identity to get something from reading these books. They are written by or about teenagers dealing with homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender issues either in themselves or with someone they love, such as a friend, sister or parent.
A person does not wake up one morning and decide to be gay any more than a person wakes up and decides to be straight. One cannot force attraction. It just is.
| Bechard, Margaret |
If It Doesn't Kill You
I borrowed this book from the
public library after reading Hanging on to Max. While not as good as Hanging on to Max, the book dealt with how a child copes when the parent comes out. I thought the book, From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson did a better job.
Ben is a freshman football player and has just completed a losing season. He has promise as a player, though, and the varsity team "adopts" him. While he is flattered, he is terrified that they will discover his secret - that his legendary father who also played football at Ben's high school is gay. Ben is angry and confused. At the same time, he is dealing with learning to drive and a fascinating but exasperating new neighbor named Chynna.
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| Chambers, Aiden |
Postcards from No Man's
Land
Postcards is so intriguing,
so well-written and so-not-for-grammar school students due to
two short fairly frank scenes and several allusions. However,
it did win the Printz Award (2002) as well as the Carnegie Medal
in Great Britain (2000), where it was first published.
It tells two stories in alternating chapters; Jake is a seventeen-year-old
British student who is traveling to Amsterdam to attend a ceremony
honoring the soldiers who died at Arnhem during WWII. His grandmother
lost her husband, also named Jake in the battle, but has broken
her hip and is unable to travel. The other story is the memoir
of Geertui, who was nineteen at the time of the battle and cared
for Jake's grandfather when he was wounded. Shortly after arriving
in Amsterdam, Jake receives a cryptic message stating that all
is not as it seems and indeed it is not. Events which unfold
over the next week turn Jake's world upside down. |
| Ferris, Jean |
Eight Seconds
Eighteen-year-old John just
completed his junior year of high school. He "missed"
a year when he had heart surgery and should really be graduating.
He's wondering whether his heart surgery has caused him to miss
other things because he feels out of place and different. He
has a lovely girlfriend pressuring him for a commitment he cannot
give, so he wonders if he should break up with her. He and his
father are the only males in a ranch dominated by three sisters
and a mother. When his father scrapes up the money to send him
to rodeo camp for six days, John leaps at the opportunity to
get away from it all and immerse himself in the dangerous and
grueling sport of bull riding. He meets Kit, an older boy, and
forms an immediate friendship. Upon returning home, he discovers
that Kit is gay and John has to explore his feelings and whether
or not he can or should pursue the friendship. Recommended grade
8 and up. |
| Freymann-Weyr, Garret |
My Heartbeat
Ellen and Link are brother
and sister. James is Link's best friend. The two are inseparable
and they are the only friends Ellen needs. She adores her big
brother and is totally in love with James, but makes it a point
never to take sides. The intensity and exclusive nature of James'
and Link's friendship does not strike Ellen as odd until shortly
after starting her freshman year, a new acquaintance asks Ellen
if James and Link are a couple. As Ellen begins to ask questions,
she sets in motion events which change the friendship, her family's
dynamics and her own relationship with James. An intensely interesting
read with no real easy answers. |
| Hartinger,
Brent |
The Geography Club
Russel was convinced that he
was the only gay student at his high school until his meeting
with an online chat buddy. His buddy is none other than the popular
star of the baseball team. Their quest to find others like themselves
and yet not attract attention leads the boys to devise a club
that would seem so boring and advised by an appropriately disinterested
teacher, that no one would join. And thus The Geography Club
was born where gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers could meet
and find support. All was well until a heterosexual girl with
an interest in geography joined. This novel explores the themes
of loneliness, friendship and belonging with sensitivity, humor
and sadness.
Brent Hartinger's website is truly original
and informative. On the home page, we are treated to a side view
of "Brent's Brain." It is divided into nine sections
and serves as links to various pages inside Brent's Brain on
such topics like "My deep, dark past" and "Being
Gay." The mouse click produces a sickly squashing sound
and the pages are personal and humorous as well as informative.
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| Hartinger,
Brent |
The Order of the Poison Oak
Russel Middlebrook is back
in this satisfying sequel to The Geography Club. It is
summer and he is heading to Camp Serenity with his pals Gunnar
and Min. They are going to be camp counselors to groups of campers
who will come for five two-week sessions. The first session of
camp is reserved for campers who have suffered from disfiguring
burns.
Russel wants to get away from his life
as token gay at his high school, Gunnar has sworn off girls and
Min just wants to have fun. Russel has never worked with children
before and is a little worried about how to treat his first group
of campers. With the help of a fellow counselor who is also a
burn survivor, he learns to treat his campers as individuals.
He befriends Em, whom he realizes would be perfect for Gunnar,
but Gunnar isn't interested and as luck would have it, both he
and Min crush on the same "hottie," a fellow counselor
named Web. Russel also has a knack for forming clubs and comes
up with "The Order of the Poison Oak" to bond with
his campers.
This novel was enjoyable and often laugh-out-loud
funny as Russel is real and likable. Occasionally, the "messages"
get a little heavy-handed, but they are good "messages"
that bear remembering.
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| Koertge, Ron |
Boy Girl Boy
Larry, Teresa and Elliot, boy
girl boy, have been best friends forever with no room for anyone
else except Elliot's many girlfriends. They have outgrown their
small Illinois town and plan on heading out to California together
as soon as they graduate high school. The story is told in shifting
points of view and we learn about Teresa's abandonment issues
and secret crush on the fantastically gorgeous Elliot. Elliot's
ultra-religious parents do not approve of his friendship with
Larry who is out but still coming to terms with his homosexuality.
While Larry does have to deal with blatant
and disguised homophobia and ends up in a hospital, this novel
is not issue driven, but more like a slice of life story about
best friends and how to outgrow them.
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| LaRochelle, David |
Absolutely, Positively
Not...Gay
Sixteen-year-old Steven narrates
this angst-filled, lighthearted, often laugh-out-loud funny story.
So what if he is sixteen and never had a girlfriend, likes to
keep his room neat, dislikes sports but likes square dancing?
He assures the reader that he is absolutely, positively not gay.
He can't talk to anyone about it so he goes to the library and
checks out a book. Unfortunately, the author of the book views
homosexuality as a deviant behavior and suggests some aversion
therapy, which Steven tries with varying degrees of hilarious
failure. |
| Lecesne, James |
Absolute Brightness
Fifteen-year-old Phoebe Hertle narrates this stunning debut novel about the life, disappearance and death of fourteen-year-old Leonard Pelkey, orphan son of Phoebe's uncle's girlfriend. When Phoebe's uncle can no longer care for Leonard; he asks his sister, Phoebe's mother to take him into her Neptune, NJ home. Phoebe is definitely not in the mood for Leonard with his midriff-baring top, madras plaid capris and six-inch platform sneakers. She thinks her single-mother has enough on her plate dealing with the beauty salon she runs, her divorce from Phoebe's dad who ran off with one of the salon's employees and with Phoebe's sister's depression.
Phoebe just wants to hang with her best bud, Electra, work for her mom occasionally, shoplift occasionally for kicks and get through high school under the radar as the homely sister of a beauty queen. Then Leonard starts befriending all of her mother's clients and becomes her mother's go-to man. When he begins suggesting make-over tips and even her sister, Diedre goes for his suggestions, Phoebe just wants to kill him. But she never wanted him to end up dead.
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| Levithan,
David |
Boy Meets Boy
In this lovely book, Paul tells
us about himself. He is gay and lives with his supportive parents
in a caring community and attends a high school which is accepting
of differences. So accepting, in fact that the homecoming queen
also happens to be the cross-dressing captain of the football
team. He is also in love with Noah, a new boy at school. Complications
begin to arise when Paul's old boyfriend tries to rekindle their
romance. The book is a fantasy of course. I wish people could
be more accepting of differences. Reality for most gay teens
in high school can be quite harsh. |
| Levithan,
David |
The Realm of Possibility
Twenty high school students
ponder life and the nature of love in all of its forms in Levithan's
second book. Anchoring the book are two poems told from the points
of view of Daniel and Jed, a couple about to celebrate their
first anniversary, but the rest of the poems come in all shapes
and sizes from a girl struggling with an eating disorder to a
boy who competes with Holden Caulfield for his girlfriend's affection.
Many of these poems require several readings to get, some sit
easily, others ruffle feathers. |
| Matthews, Andrew |
The Flip Side
Matthew, a fifteen-year-old
British student tells a charming story of discovery. He has a
best mate named Kev and a wild crush on Milena. Kev has been
acting a little strange lately and Milena doesn't even know Matthew
exists, so he thinks. Matthew's dad works from home for his mother
who heads a software company and does all the traveling. He has
a lot to think about but gets more confused when he is assigned
the role of Rosamund to Milena's Orlando in the gender-bender
Shakespeare play, "As You Like It." He discovers that
he likes dressing up in girls clothes and with Milena's support
explores it some more. What does it all mean? He definitely likes
girls, but he also likes this "flip side" of himself.
There is nothing graphic in this book but it is a frank look
at gender stereotypes and sex roles. |
| Myracle, Lauren |
Kissing Kate
This is Myracle's first novel
(see ttyl above). Lissa and Kate have been best friends for four
years now, sharing secrets and finishing each others sentences,
but when Kate gets drunk and kisses Lissa and Lissa returns the
kiss, everything changes. Kate throws herself at a boy, freezes
Lissa out and Lissa feels abandoned and confused. It doesn't
help matters when Lissa's new co-worker, a free spirit named
either Ariel or Kimberly decides to be Lissa's new best friend
and won't take "no" for an answer. |
| Peters, Julie Ann |
Luna, a novel
This book received good reviews
but most of the reviewers recommend this book for grade 9 and
up. It is an amazing book about a difficult subject: transgender
teens. Fifteen-year-old Regan has always been her seventeen-year-old
brother's confidante. Liam is a girl born into a boy's body and
each night he transforms into Luna. Regan loves her brother and
recognizes that he is truly happy when 'she' is Luna but Regan
wants her own friends and her own life and for her family to
be "normal." This is an amazing story for mature young
adult readers. |
| Sanchez, Alex |
The God Box
Sanchez's books just keep getting better and better. In this book he explores how young, gay Christians reconcile their sexuality, their belief in God and the interpretation of Scripture which damn homosexuals.
Seventeen-year-old Paul dates Angie, his best friend forever. They truly love each other, but Paul has dreams that disturb him and he wonders why he is not terribly attracted to Angie even though he loves her. These doubts and fears are multiplied when Manuel moves to his town and announces that he is gay on his first day of school.
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| Sanchez, Alex |
Getting It
I always enjoy Sanchez's books. He has a frank but upbeat and breezy style of writing that makes me feel like I am sitting with an old friend and chatting. His "Rainbow" series is wonderful, but its content puts them at the high school level. His book, So Hard to Say, is one of my favorite books.
Getting It is an attention-getting title and "it" is pretty much what is preoccupying the thoughts of fifteen-year-old Carlos. Apparently, he is the only virgin among his quartet of close friends. He has a crush on Roxy, the school hottie, and he knows that he isn't even on her radar. He notices and envies the ease that Sal, the school's only openly gay student, talks to girls with. After he watches a makeover on the television show, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Carlos wonders if Sal would make him over. He stalks Sal for awhile trying to get the courage up to ask for the makeover. Sal agrees but he wants $6 and hour plus expenses and Carlos' help starting a Gay-Straight Alliance at school.
What follows is an engaging story of friendship and self-discovery as Carlos grows to admire and accept Sal but lacks the courage to follow through on his promise. Carlos develops a growing awareness of the homophobic language used by many students at his high school and even from his own group, Les Hornitos. There are some frank depictions of "hook-ups" and the fantasies of some teenagers which some might find offensive, but I found fairly realistic. I don't think this book will make it to the school library shelf, but I will most certainly recommend it to my high school friends and the most mature and discerning eighth grade readers.
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| Walker, Kate |
Peter
This novel was first published
in Australia and is a first person narrative spoken by the Peter
of the title. He is fifteen, an honor roll student and avid photographer
and dirt-biker who lives with his single mom and college-age
brother. He endures the macho, homophobic pecking order of the
dirt bike gang because he loves to bike but chooses not to dump
on the boy the others have dubbed "Alice." One day,
when reminding the gang about the rules regarding their dirt-biking,
Peter is dubbed a "poof" and attempts a foolhardy trick
on his bike to prove his masculinity. His best friend sets him
up with a "hot" chick who's advances repulse him and
his brother brings home a friend with whom Peter immediately
bonds. When Peter finds out that David is gay, he begins to question
his own sexuality. |
| Wittlinger,
Ellen |
Hard Love
John is a high school junior
who is quite cynical about life and does not allow himself to
feel anything. Since his parent's divorce, his mother goes out
of her way to avoid touching him, his father picks him up each
weekend, but they eat out in silence and then John is left to
entertain himself. He has no real friends and no girlfriend.
After reading a Zine called Escape Velocity and admiring the
writing, John publishes his own and conspires to meet the writer
of Escape Velocity. Click on the author's name for one of her
other title's, Zig Zag. |
| Wittlinger,
Ellen |
Heart on My Sleeve
Told completely in email, IM's,
snail mail and postcards, this clever novel works better than
the cute but strained, ttyl. It tells the story of Chloe and how complicated her love life gets when she meets Julian at a weekend get-together for prospective freshmen at the college she wishes to attend. She has been dating her best friend forever and loves him, but isn't in love with him. Her best female friend has been dating her boyfriend for four years and assumes they will all get married and have babies and live in the same town together even though the four of them are going to four different colleges. Chloe begins a long-distance email relationship with Justin, plans her summer of camp counseling and asks her big sister for advice. Her big sister has news of her own. The novel is often laugh-out-loud funny and quite satisfying. |
| Woodson, Jacqueline |
From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun
Melanin Sun writes in notebooks,
not diaries because diaries are a girl thing. He'll be fourteen
in a month and a half. School's out for the summer. He's looking
forward to hanging with his "homies," maybe calling
Angie who gave him her number the last day of school and spending
some time with E.C. his cool, single mother.
Everything is fine until E.C. tells him
that she wants him to meet someone special. Mel assumes she has
met a man and doesn't know what to make of this white woman who
comes for dinner. He assumes the she is just a lawyer friend
of her mother's until several weeks later, E.C. reveals that
they are lovers. Amid the anger, confusion and anguish, Mel feels
overwhelmed by the thought that the whole neighborhood will find
out and he doesn't know what to do.
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