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.
Month: May 2007
My Father’s Scar by Michael Cart
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.
Am I Blue?: Coming Out from the Silence edited by Marion Dane Bauer
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!
From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson
Thirteen year old Melanin Sun was looking forward to spending the summer hanging out with his Brooklyn boys, Raphael and Sean, writing in his notebook and thinking about calling his crush, Angie. The last thing he’s prepared for is the load that his mom drops on him when she tells him that her new “date” isn’t a dude, but her close friend, a white woman named Kristin. Melanin is seriously confused — he likes Angie, but if his mom is gay, does that mean he is, too? And how is he going to explain this to his two best friends? And does he even WANT to explain it? Melanin may have to lose some friends and gain some understanding before he comes to painful terms with his mother’s lifestyle.
Baby Be-Bop by Francesca Lia Block
Dirk McDonald thinks that he may be in deep doo-doo. Since he was a little boy, he’s felt different from other kids. And now that he’s a teenager, he realizes that the difference has to do with who he’s attracted to — and it sure ain’t girls. When Dirk meets Pup Lambert, his secret attraction is pulled to the surface. As the boys get closer and closer, Dirk tries to decide if he can afford to reveal his secret — will it bind them closer together or will he lose Pup forever? Once he tells, he can never take that decision back. Follow Dirk on his journey of self-discovery as he goes on a mission in his mind to his family’s distant past and learns about the people who made him who and what he is. A magically-real book, like all the novels by Block. If you end up digging Dirk as much as I do, read more about him and his friends in Dangerous Angels, the collected Weetzie Bat books
“Hello,” I Lied by M.E. Kerr
Lang Penner, unlike a lot of teenage guys, knows exactly who and what he is — gay and in love with his boyfriend, Alex. Or so he thought. Suddenly, Lang is as mixed up as any other seventeen-year old adolescent when he meets Huguette. Huguette(pronounced “Eu-gette”, “If you say my name Yougette, you get nothing!”) is a French student who is staying with the famous rock star, Ben Nevada, who Lang’s mom is keeping house for during the summer in the Hamptons. Sound complicated? It gets worse — away from Alex all summer, Lang finds himself falling for the gorgeous Huguette, but he’s told Brittany, a friend who had a crush on him, that he’s gay — could he be wrong? This book will take you all around the mulberry bush as you and Lang try to figure out the true nature of attraction, and the differences between love and sex.
Tomorrow Wendy by Shelley Stoehr
Cary’s life is going from complicated to absolutely incomprehensible. She’s dating Danny, a cool boy that most of the girls in her school would kill to go out with. But she’s completely miserable, because whether she wants to admit it to herself or not, she’s really in love with Danny’s glamorous twin, Wendy. Cary wants to be known for her retro-Audrey Hepburn look and her hot stoner boyfriend, not her possible attraction to girls. But the “Lesbian Collective”, a group of girls at school who are already comfortable with their sexuality are determined to “out” Cary. What’s a confused girl to do? Cary’s inner thoughts take the shape of Rad, an imaginary grunge god who consuls Cary by talking only in song lyrics(it’s pretty fun figuring out what song lines he’s using — I recognized quite a few by Tori Amos). But even he can’t get her out of the tough decisions that she has to make. Sounds tripped out, I know, but Shelley Stoehr is one of my all-time fav authors and this newest novel does not disappoint. If you like Wendy, you may also want to scan other S.S. novels like Wannabe and Weird on the Outside.
Whistle Me Home by Barbara Wersba
Noli looks like a guy. For sure, a cute thin guy, but a guy, nevertheless. Her mom is always on her back to act more girly. That’s why she’s so surprised when T.J., this super-fine transfer student picks her to be his new best bud. They do everything together, even dress alike, and pretty soon, Noli is in love. T.J. claims to dig her just as passionately as she does him, yet he’s pretty uninterested in taking their relationship to the next level, which for Noli means physical. When T.J. finally admits to Noli that he’s gay, the results are devastating. Don’t necessarily expect a happily-ever-after ending with this so-completely-true to life novel.
Watership Down by Richard Adams
This is my hands-down favorite book of all time. I think I’ve read it about 15 times since I was a kid. It’s about this community of rabbits (yes, you read that right, rabbits) who are forced to leave their warren when it is bulldozed over to make a construction site. So starts their adventurous search for a new home. On their journey, they meet a suicidal warren of poetry-spouting rabbits, discover asphalt roads, and are forced to join a military warren run by the Hitler of the animal kingdom, General Woundwart. Adams manages to make these rabbits the most human animals you ever met, without them losing a bit a their rabb-ability. They love, fight, and tell stories about their own folk heroes, but they never speak English, stand on their hind feet, or in short, act like anything but rabbits. It’s just the most amazing book, and I recommend it to everybody. Don’t be put off by the length–you’ll be completely absorbed until the last page.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Before all the Oprah hoopla and the big movie whoop-de-doo, I read this book for a creative writing class in college, and we were supposed to study Morrison’s intricate pattern of structure and characterization. Forget that! I was so wow-ed by the power and lyricism of the story that I finished the book long before anyone else and walked around in a stupor for days afterward. Beloved is the story of a female ex-slave, Sethe, who mourns the fact that she murdered her child in order to save the baby from a life of slavery. In fact, she mourns so much that her grief becomes manifest into a body of a young woman named Beloved–a ghost the same age that Sethe’s dead baby would have been had she lived. With powerful storytelling skills and flashbacks that are woven better than in Pulp Fiction, Morrison brings home the meaning of love, hope and pain all gift-wrapped in this little book.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
What’s not to love? A dashing, brooding older man, a plain but intellectual young woman, a spooky old house and a crazy lady in the attic! All the elements you need to make this classic story of love and loss completely unforgettable. I only regret that I waited until college to read it–don’t make the same mistake–check out this book and others by the Bronte sisters today!
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
No matter how many times I read this book, even though I KNOW how its’ going to end, I still end up bawling for this tale of puppy love between a hill boy and his two coon hounds. I mean the kid saves money for like TWO years in a coffee can to buy these puppies! It’s enough to break your heart–and it does, on a regular basis(I read it at least once a year). It’s got a lot of old-fashioned sweetness and determination, with some murder, a wild cougar, and a thrilling car chase, I mean coon race, thrown in. This novel does away with the syrupy morality of both Black Beauty and Shiloh and gives you a real feel for sincere connection that can happen between people and animals.
Caucasia by Danzy Senna
Birdie is torn between her two parents–one black, one white, as she grows up in the racial war-zone of 1970’s Boston. Her pain deepens when she realizes that her parents, who can no longer get along, intend to separate her from her beloved sister. Her black father is taking her sister to live with him in Brazil while Birdie and her white mother, who is on the run for some of the political crimes she has committed, are leaving Boston to travel around the county, hiding from the authorities. While I have not personally had the experience of being biracial, Senna really made me feel the confusion, ambiguity and even guilt Birdie felt in denying one side of her heritage and “passing” as white with her mother. Senna herself is a biracial child, and her novel has a very autobiographical feel to it. Read it along with James McBride’s autobiography, The Color of Water
The Facts Speak for Themselves by Brock Cole
This book is the definition of the word “raw”. It’s so unflinching and plainspoken that the facts of the story are all that’s need to speak volumes, and at times, scream. Linda is a thirteen year old that has been taken out of her incompetent mother’s care after one of the men her mother has been involved with kills another–over Linda. But that’s just the beginning of the facts that Linda has to tell. Linda’s been dragging around the consequences of her mother’s actions for years, including taking care of her two younger brothers and one of her mother’s many lovers, an old senile man that her mom just ups and leaves with her for weeks, alone. Linda accepts these facts with the resigned air of a person who has been an adult for a long, long time. After reading this book once, I knew I would never forget it. Sweet Valley High may come and go, but The Facts will always remain the same–powerful.
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
I love this book on many levels–first of all, it’s hilarious. The main guy in this story, Rob, is a total slacker who owns and obsesses over a record store in England. His day-to-day dealings with customers and his dorky employees will have you laughing so loud, your stomach will hurt. Secondly, it’s a love story–Rob is stressing about commitment, so he dumps his long-time girlfriend, and in typical guy-fashion, immediately gets jealous when she starts dating someone else. And lastly, it’s just a great slice of Gen-X slacker-ism. Rob is obsessed with music, bands and making mix tapes, forget paying bills and acting like a grown-up (I love Rob so much because he TOTALLY reminds me of how my best friend Rick used to act in college). After I read it the first time I went right out and recommended it to as many friends as possible. Read it. You’ll love it. I promise. And don’t miss the movie version, starring John Cusak and the pitch perfect Jack Black.