Category: Closet Club

Angela is just your everyday, average teenager. She enjoys hanging out with her BFF Eve, taking care of her aunt Gail’s newborn baby, and shooting videos for the school’s closed circuit cable network. Except Angela’s known forever that the body she was born with isn’t the body she was meant to have. And the time has come to let everyone know that she’s not a lesbian, but a trans-gendered person, a boy named Grady who just happens to be wearing a girl’s body. Angela’s sudden transformation into Grady turns out to be difficult for everyone except Grady. He just can’t understand why his mother is so upset, why his friend Eve can barely stand to say his new name, why all the kids at school, except for the odd but funny Sebastian, make fun of him. Why should they care if he wants his outside to match his inside? What does it have to do with them? It’s only after Grady falls for Kita, one of the coolest girls at school that he understands just how difficult it is for a parrot to change its feathers. Or rather, a parrotfish. Named after the fish that can switch genders, Parrotfish is the kind of novel I have been waiting for since Luna (which, in all honesty, was not my favorite, although I know a lot of my teenage peeps loved it). Ellen Wittlinger, author of the now classic Hard Love has penned a revolutionary novel about what it really means to be a transgendered teen, and folks, I have to tell you, it ROCKS! Especially the hilarious subplot concerning Grady’s dad, an old school kind of guy who just can’t let go of his out of control Christmas decorations.

My main worry when I started hearing the buzz about this book was that the rosy picture it paints of a incredibly tolerant small town where the star football quarterback is also a drag queen named Infinite Darlene would offend those gay teens who’ve had hard time admitting their homosexuality or coming out of the closet to family and friends. But what I’m hearing from teen readers, gay and straight, is that they love the fact that Levithan wrote a sweet love story between two young men in a high school where no one thinks twice about your sexuality, and that “being gay” is NOT the point of the book. While Levithan’s town is a tad unrealistic, his fantasy vision is balanced by the town next door, where narrator Paul’s best friend Tony has to live and deal with his intolerant, strictly religious parents. At turns sweet, wacky and serious, BMB reminds me most of the writing of my fav FLB (Francesca Lia Block).

Lissa and Kate have always been best friends. And since that night last summer when they both got a little drunk in the gazebo, Kate has tried to act like everything’s the same. But that night changed everything for Lissa. That was the night she kissed Kate, and Kate kissed her back. But that’s not how Kate remembers it, and now Lissa has a difficult choice to make: Can she still be friends with Kate if Kate can’t admit what they both know is true? Meanwhile, Lissa is trying to decide what her own truth is—is she straight or gay or something in between? Does kissing Kate mean that she likes girls, or that she just loves Kate? Lissa’s determined to figure it all out—but maybe not in time to save her relationship with Kate. A first novelist, Lauren Myracle gets that feeling of teenage questioning and frustration just right. A quiet but incredibly solid and well-written story about love, lucid dreaming (you’ll figure out where that comes in after you read it!) and difficult choices.

Nic Lancaster thinks she knows exactly what she wants–to spend her life happily digging in the dirt as an archeologist. So to help her decide if she’s really meant to be a tomb raider, she’s goes to this advanced summer college program for high school students. There, she gets her own dorm room, a new pack of kooky-cool friends and an archeology professor who seems to really know her stuff–the whole college experience. Nic is only bothered by one thing–why isn’t she falling for Issac, a smart political-science guy who seems to be crushing on her? Instead, she’s finding herself uncomfortably and intensely attracted to Battle Davies, a North Carolina blonde who’s honeyed voice hides a cool intellect. For Nic, the summer will be one of realizing that while you may be able to categorize objects found on an archeological dig, you can’t always categorize your feelings or your sexuality the same way. Impressive first novel by Sara Ryan (who also happens to be a cool-kid YA librarian!!) Check out her web page at www.sararyan.com

Louie and Willa are like a lesbian Romeo and Juliet. Louie comes from a posh background, money, brilliant family, the whole works. Willa lives over the bar that her mum runs, practices fencing, and wants nothing more than be a chef with her own restaurant. When they meet and fall in love, they are forced to overcome Louie’s restrictive mother, hateful gossip, and a nearly fatal car crash. But unlike Romeo and Juliet, Dare Truth or Promise has a happier ending. Watch out for the language changes–New Zealand author Boock added a handy dandy glossary for those of you who aren’t sure what“ fair dinkum” means or what“ ranch sliders” are. A very literary, angsty lesbian love story, where the points of view sometimes confused me (wasn’t sure who was speaking, Louie or Willa) but the mature and descriptive writing always charmed me.

Everyone can remember the first time his or her best friend chose a girlfriend or boyfriend over him or her. It sucks. All of sudden, it’s like you don’t even exist. The only thing your best friend wants to talk about is how cute he is or what a great kisser she is. Emi-Lou is starting to feel that way, too, except that her best friend Yvonne hasn’t got a new guy, but has instead fallen in love with a girl on her softball team, the ironically nick-named Babes. Now, people in her school are starting to question and make fun of Emi-Lou’s sexuality as well. Add that to the already emotional backpack of having an absentee mom, an unknown dad and a massive weight problem, and Emi-Lou is not a happy camper. But through a series of painful experiences, she sheds most of that baggage and learns to think for and love herself. What’s so great about this book is watching Emi-Lou realize that it doesn’t matter if Yvonne is a lesbian or not, she (Emi-Lou) can be straight and still love Yvonne just as much. For all of you out there who are still a little bit uncomfortable with your friend’s sexuality, this one’s for you.

Suppose you had just met the girl of your dreams–she’s smart, funny, cute as hell, and a really good ‘zine writer. She seems perfect for you except for one little thing: she’s gay and you’re NOT a girl. John has totally lost it for Marisol, a cool, cute, completely out teenage lesbian. Even though he knows she only digs girls, he can’t help but wish that Marisol was different. But when he goes about trying to change things, John comes to the painful realization that the only person he can really change is himself. A real whizz-banger of a book–one of my favorites of 1999.

Charlie and Trent are own their own — they have no parents and older brother Trent is raising younger brother Charlie. Anyhoo, Charlie is pretty much a loner until he meets rich boy Brandon in detention. Brandon seems cool, so Charlie decides to take a chance and let Brandon be his bud. But when Charlie confides to Brandon that Trent is gay, Brandon backs off fast, leaving Charlie angry, confused and super cynical. Can Charlie learn to trust again? Should he forgive or just forget Brandon? A pretty original first novel about dealing with other people’s homophobia.

Folks, this is a SERIOUS problem novel, in every sense of the word. Not only is our main man Andy Logan gay, but he has an alcoholic father, an ineffective mother and hopeless crush on his sarcastic professor. In a series of flashbacks, college freshman Andy tells the reader how he dealt with the raging homophobia in his hometown (including the requisite gay-bashing, narrow-minded preacher) by confronting Daddy Dearest and having a fling with a cute football player. A bit on the angst-y side, but highly readable.

This creative collection contains short stories by some of the most heavy-hitting young adult authors around, including Francesca Lia Block, M.E. Kerr, Bruce Coville, and William Sleator. The title story (by Coville) asks the unusual question — what if everyone who was gay was identifiable, for example, by the color blue? Would you be surprised by how many “blue” people you may know and interact with on a daily basis? These stories look at teen homosexuality from every angle and destroy every gay stereotype you may have heard or read. This is a ground-breaking book, one of the first books published to address homosexual fiction for teens in a mainstream-kinda-way. An added bonus: Because so many great writers contributed to this book, you get a chance to check out the writing style of some of the best authors for teens in one shot!