‘Mermaid in Chelsea Creek’ by Michelle Tea
Posted on May 7, 2013 by Sara Rauch in Reviews, Young Adult
Every time I read a Michelle Tea book, I fall through some portal into a strange new world. No matter if it is fiction or nonfiction, Tea has a way of making whatever she writes about jump off the page with an all-encompassing verve. (more…)
‘Beautiful Music for Ugly Children’ by Kirstin Cronn-Mills
Posted on April 24, 2013 by Antonio Gonzalez Cerna in Reviews, Young Adult
A trans teen’s local southern Minnesota radio show inspires an unlikely cult following in Kirstin Cronn-Mills‘ quiet coming-of-age novel Beautiful Music for Ugly Children (Flux). (more…)
‘Sagebrush & Lace’ by Sugar Lee Ryder and J.D. Cutler
Posted on February 26, 2013 by Anna Furtado in Romance, Young Adult
In Sagebrush & Lace (Banty Hen Publishing), the writing team of Ryder and Cutler introduces us to Samantha Williams and Charlotte Hart, two women who conspire to flee their lives of comfort in Chicago during the late 1870s and escape the prospect of an arranged marriage for Samantha. That the women have no idea what they’re getting into when they strike out alone is an understatement. Their learning curve is fast and their fugitive status is established even faster. Adventure abounds as the two are tracked by Pinkerton detectives, attacked by renegades, and helped by madams, journalists and lawmen as they make their way across the plains toward the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the freedom of a bohemian life in San Francisco. (more…)
‘Ask the Passengers’ by A.S. King
Posted on January 1, 2013 by Lydia Harris in Reviews, Young Adult
When you send your “love” and thoughts out to the riders of an airplane flying above your head, can the passengers feel it? Does it make a difference to them? Does unconditional love exist? Can you love a girl and not be a lesbian? If she loves you back, are you then a lesbian? So far, all seventeen-year-old Astrid Jones knows is sending her “love” to the airplanes feels like freedom. “It’s love without strings. It’s ideal.” Loving someone like Dee doesn’t feel like that.
‘Speechless’ by Hannah Harrington
Posted on November 23, 2012 by Lydia Harris in Reviews, Young Adult
“Keeping secrets isn’t my specialty,” declares 16-year-old Chelsea Knot. Talking about everyone and everything is her specialty—the key to her social status. After all, gossip is how she became best friends with Kristen, one of the most popular girls in school who is about to attend the best New Year’s Eve party ever. When Chelsea arrives at the party with the latest piece of gossip (complete with pictures), she suspects—if all goes according to plan—that she and Brendon, her ultimate crush, will be a couple by midnight. (more…)
‘One in Every Crowd’ by Ivan E. Coyote
Posted on October 22, 2012 by Sam Schooler in Reviews, Young Adult
Ivan E. Coyote knows the hearts of teenagers. One in Every Crowd (Arsenal Pulp Press) is an homage to the outsider: to the young boy who steals his mother’s lipstick, to the girl who slip-slides in and out of gender identifications, to the ones who can’t put themselves in boxes. To the ones who cannot abide by the binary. It is a love-touched and memory-soaked ballad to queer youth.
‘Down to the Bone’ by Mayra Lazara Dole
Posted on October 10, 2012 by Lydia Harris in Reviews, Young Adult
High school student Shai (pronounced Shy) doesn’t mind that the love of her life, Marlena, is closeted. They have shared a love neither of them can imagine being without, despite the intrusion of Rick, whom Marlena’s Puerto Rican family thinks is her perfect match. On Shai and Marlena’s second anniversary—which falls on the last day of school—Shai can’t resist reading Marlena’s explicit text messages while in class, thrilled and excited by them as she hides her cell phone behind a textbook. Until the teacher (Fart Face) catches Shai and reads the messages in their entirety to the class.
‘Silhouette of a Sparrow’ by Molly Beth Griffin
Posted on October 2, 2012 by Lydia Harris in Reviews, Young Adult
Only after reading this first novel by Griffin does the elegant and beautiful cover art become meaningful, summarizing an entire story in one picture. Within the pages of this intricately constructed story of a pivotal summer in one sixteen year-old girl’s life in the late 1920s, the reader will be encouraged to mull over conflicts, contradictions, and life issues which seem to still exist in the twenty-first century.
‘Being Emily’ by Rachel Gold
Posted on September 9, 2012 by Lydia Harris in Reviews, Young Adult
Christopher Hesse appears to be a typical 16-year-old: restoring classic cars, a member of the swim team, a good sibling to his brother(or is it sister) a perfect child to his mother, and has a “sort of” girlfriend, Claire, who dresses like a Goth and makes flippant references to being a bisexual or lesbian to shock her mother. No one hears the scripted codes Chris uses to automate daily conversations, to maintain a certain facade of being and protect Chris’s true self. For Chris, being labeled a boy has never made sense. Chris learns how to hide this knowledge, wondering if anyone will understand she is female, despite being born a biological male. Chris Hesse is really Emily Christina. (more…)
‘Way to Go’ by Tom Ryan
Posted on September 2, 2012 by Isaiah Vianese in Fiction, Young Adult
Tom Ryan’s first novel, Way to Go (Orca Book Publishers), is not the sex comedy its publicity materials would have you to believe. Instead, the book presents a classic bildungsroman—that is, a conventional coming-of-age story. While the protagonist attempts to negotiate his romantic feelings for men throughout the narrative, his closeted homosexuality serves as a less significant part of the story than his attempts to sort out his post-high school plans. Because of these mixed conflicts, the novel suffers from plot and characterization problems, and yet has an earnest emotional pull that makes some chapters surprisingly rewarding. (more…)
