July 29, 2016
Highly Illogical Behavior
Solomon Reed is afflicted with a panic disorder that has made him agoraphobic for the past three years following an embarrassing incident at school. He's also gay, though he's mostly indifferent to his identity, since he's not likely to meet anyone.
Former schoolmate Lisa Praytor wants to try to minister to him in service of writing an impressive college application essay; she wants to leave her town and her uncaring mother and attend the second best psychology program in the country.
Of course she and Solomon quickly become real friends along with Lisa's boyfriend, Clark.
John Corey Whaley's Highly Illogical Behavior is about friendship and acceptance helping people to get through hard times. It offers a look at anxiety and agoraphobia and a no-drama coming out process. This book was uncommon in how legitimately funny it was. Whaley writes snappy dialogue and realistic characters.
Two Summers
Two Summers by Aimee Friedman is a Sliding Doors-esque confection that is indeed perfect for summertime reading. The stakes are just high enough for you to want to keep reading, but this is not a nail biter.
Two Summers is about one teen girl named Summer--naturally--and the two parallel journeys she takes. What if you chose not to take an important phone call and get on the plane and your life took a different path? For me, it was a little hard to empathize with Summer's discomfort in France for the simple reason that she gets to spend an all expenses paid trip to Provence for the summer! It's a fairy tale situation of a teenager's dreams, as she is allowed complete freedom and along the way meets a cute and flirtatious French boy.
The summer adventure spent in the States is less romantic but still edifying. Summer has always seen herself as lacking the artistic talent that her painter father has, but she has the opportunity to develop and recognize her abilities as a photographer.
In both versions she learns a devastating family truth, one that could very well destroy her relationship with her father.
Two Summers is an uncomplicated and leisurely summer read appropriate for younger teens.
July 15, 2016
Being Jazz
One of the things we notice when displaying LGBTQ children's and young adult books is the near absence of biographies of out LGBTQ individuals. The erasure of the history and lives of the LGBTQ community reveals an indifference to these experiences and the stigma of visibility.
Like the picture book I am Jazz, Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teenager by Jazz Jennings is groundbreaking, being one of the few nonfiction books written for young people about being transgender.
Jennings has known she was transgender as long as she can remember. She officially lived as a girl starting at six years old and is fortunate to have a supportive family. She describes her experience with teenage depression and antidepressants, but the book is mostly very uplifting and accessible, from the joyful front and back cover images to Jennings' vivacious personality and the abundance of photos in the book.
The parentheses in the book's title suggest that Jennings is a regular teen, that being trans doesn't make her life unrelatable to cisgender teens. However, she clearly has pride in her identity; at the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference she said that she'd rather be trans than a cisgender girl. The fortitude of the Jennings family is impressive. They navigated hostile and ignorant schools and sports teams and media attention, all the while creating the scaffolding for Jazz to safely be herself.
Being Jazz is an inspirational memoir that any teen can learn from and that transgender teens and families will cherish.
The back matter includes an extensive Q & A with the members of her family and LGBTQ resources for youth and families.
July 01, 2016
If I Was Your Girl
If I Was Your Girl by first time author Meredith Russo is a book written by a transwoman about a transgirl and featuring a transgender cover model. For such a groundbreaking YA book, the story is pretty rote. The background and the content of the book make it capital-I Important; however, the story is a conventionally told fish out of water romance. Happily, Russo educates her reader on trans etiquette without being too awkwardly didactic.
Trans issues also bring up feminist issues. As it is with cis women, safety is an important issue for transpeople. As Russo says, "Being a girl in this world means being afraid. That fear’ll keep you safe. It’ll keep you alive."
Amanda Hardy has moved in with her dad to Lambertville, Tennesse, where she's never visited before, to escape the dangers of her life in Georgia. In her transition from male to female, she suffered an assault and now that she is living as a girl, she moves away from her mom, seeking safety and anonymity.
Amanda's anxiety is palpable and real, but as a character she's a little too good to be true. She's beautiful and passes easily as a girl. She is deferential and sweet and gets along well with her classmates.
Russo explains this in a note from the author. She wanted the book to be as palatable and relatable to as many readers as possible. "I have, in some ways, cleaved to stereotypes and even bent rules to make Amanda's trans-ness as unchallenging to normative assumptions as possible."
I was disappointed by some things that happen in the story, though relieved by other revelations. Without giving away too much, girls get an opportunity to be heroic. If I Was Your Girl is well worth reading and is another important accomplishment in the creation of a well rounded canon of LGBTQI teen literature.
June 27, 2016
Say Hello to Your Friends
For anyone who's ever been mystified by the obsessiveness of series book fandom, this article explains the enduring hold that the eternally 12-and 13-year old ( core five, at least) Baby-Sitter's Club members have over their readers.
"For many girls coming of age in the '80s and '90s, The Baby-Sitters Club, the best-selling middle-grade series, was a PG precursor to Sex and the City: a story of female friendship in all its complexity."
Girls and boys are now big fans of Raina Telgemeier's graphic novel renderings of Ann M. Martin's original series.
The characters are distinct from one another but are more than stereotypes. Their appeal is that they're simultaneously aspirational and relatable.
June 01, 2016
Sing a rainbow in June for LGBT Pride month!
In addition to the Obama administration's declaration protecting transgender students' access to the restroom of their gender identity, the LGBT movement will be recognized with its first national monument, in the Stonewall Inn.
Here is an updated bibliography of some new and classic books for tweens and teens that we have in our library collection. Adults may enjoy them, too!
LGBT BOOKS for Tweens & Teens
Bausum, Ann -- Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights
Bray, Libba -- Beauty Queens
Cameron, Peter -- Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You
Cameron, Janet E. -- Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World
Chbosky, Stephen -- The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
Danforth, Emily M. -- The Miseducation Of Cameron Post
Dole, Mayra -- Down to the Bone
Farizan, Sara -- Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel
Federle, Tim -- Better Nate than Ever (Tween); The Great American Whatever
Franklin, Emily and Brendan Halpin - Tessa Masterson Will Go To Prom
Garden, Nancy -- Annie On My Mind
Gephart, Donna -- Lily and Dunkin (Tween)
Green, John and David Levithan -- Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Gregorio, I.W. -- None of the Above
Hill, Katie Rain with Ariel Schrag -- Rethinking Normal: a Memoir in Transition
Horner, Emily -- A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend
Howe, James -- Totally Joe (Tween)
Katcher, Brian -- Almost Perfect
Kuklin, Susan -- Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out
LaCour. Nina -- Everything Leads To You
Levithan, David -- Two Boys Kissing; Another Day
Lo, Malinda -- Adaptation
Moskowitz, Hannah -- Not Otherwise Specified
Myracle, Lauren -- Shine
Nelson, Jandy -- I’ll Give You the Sun
Peters, Julie Anne -- Luna
Polonsky, Ami -- Gracefully Grayson
Prince, Liz -- Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir
Self, Jeffrey -- Drag Teen
Setterington, Ken -- Branded by the Pink Triangle
Woodson, Jacqueline -- The House You Pass On the Way