I'm working on a project for a Gay & Lesbian Drama class and I'd like your help!
I'm researching Young Adult Literature with gay-positive themes and story lines. What great books have you read that feature queer characters and same-sex desire in a positive light? I'd love to hear your thoughts & opinions about the individual books, authors you love, and stories that changed your lives. How did these books help you or contribute to your developing understanding of yourselves and the world around you?
All genres are welcome as long as they are generally geared towards younger readers (teens or pre-teens, nothing too adult).
Thank you, all you awesome Feministing folks!
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I just read Hero by Perry Moore, which is about a gay teenager who becomes a superhero. I didn't think it was perfect, but I've read many reviews written by gay men who say that they mourn the fact it wasn't written when they were teens.
"The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. I should note however that I read this multiple times beginning in grade school through high school and didn't pick up on the gay themes until I reread it much later as an adult.
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky.
That's not really about homosexuality, save one or two bits in which Charlie kisses a boy because he doesn't want to hurt the kids feelings. Right? It's been a while since I read the book, and I'm not entirely sure.
As I recall one of the main character's friends is gay (or two of them? or is it that gay friend and by extension the guy he likes?) and there's a lot of talk about how damaging it is for him to have to hide his sexuality. I think he hooks up with a football player or something who wont' admit they're hooking up and depression ensues. I don't really remember the details though.
The only thing I remember reading with gay themes when I was a teen is the comic series Charm School, about a good witch, her butch vampire girlfriend, and the fairy who comes between them. It's a bit suggestive, but probably appropriate for teens.
I read Annie on my Mind for a YA lit. course in college. I found it preachy in a gay is OK way, but I don't know if I would have noticed if I'd been younger.
I would really recommend the graphic novel Skim. It's about a high school girl with a crush on her teacher, and also about how students at her school react to the suicide of a popular girl's boyfriend. It's beautiful, but a bit dark for pre-teens.
I read Annie on my Mind when I was 13 or so, and loved it. So much that I read it multiple times. I'd probably find it preachy if I read it now, but the gay is OK message was something I really needed to hear as a kid.
Having said that, though, I can't remember reading any other queer / queer positive YA literature as a kid. I did grow up in a fairly conservative place though, so it was hard to come by. Thank goodness for the internet.
Anything by David Levithan. And if you're looking to adapt stuff for play scripts, he's particularly good because he writes a lot of short stories.
Anything by David Levithan. And if you're looking to adapt stuff for play scripts, he's particularly good because he writes a lot of short stories.
What a great idea! To begin with, I'd like to put together a sort of readers' guide. But adaptations for the stage could be really cool.
There's a great book i can't remember the name of, i think it's either the outsiders or the misfits, i'm pretty sure its the misfits, and the sequel, which is supposed to be a school project by one of the characters in the first book.
I think the book you're referring to is "The Misfits", by James Howe. The sequel is "Totally Joe."
Some other good ones are "Parrotfish," (Ellen Wittlinger), which is the first YA novel featuring a FTM transgender main character, Brent Hartinger's "Geography Club", and "Freakshow by James St. James. I also have to second (third? forth?) the recommendations for David Levithan, Alex Sanchez, and Julie Anne Peters.
I'm a teen librarian with a fairly large GLBTQ fiction collection, and I'd be happy to contribute more titles if you'd like - just let me know.
Francesca Lia Block's "Dangerous Angels" series. In fact, they still rock my socks.
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden is FANTASTIC.
Keeping You a Secret and Far From Xanadu by Julie Ann Peters are good. So is Pretty Things by Sarra Manning. And there are a few gay-themed stories in the anthology Sixteen (edited by Megan McCafferty).
Oh goodness, this could become a long comment. LGBT YA lit is one of my favorite topics.
"Empress of the World" by Sara Ryan is the book that literally changed my life - I read it half a dozen times in a week and it gave me the courage to start identifying myself as not-straight. It gets bonus points for being primarily a romance, not a big drama about coming out. It also has a sequel "Rules for Hearts"
"Debbie Harry Sings in French" is a great new book that is actually about a teen who cross-dresses, but considering everyone thinks he's gay because of it, I think it still belongs in the genre.
"Last Exit to Normal" is about a kid who has a gay father. The father and son have a very complicated relationship - the kid isn't homophobic, yet he's pretty pissed off at his dad because of his sexuality (the kid feels like the only reason he exists is because his dad lied to himself and his family for years).
"Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence" edited by Marion Dane Bauer is probably the first piece of queer lit I read - it's a short story collection from a variety of YA authors. They're of varying quality, but there's a great variety of types of stories, from the hilarious opening story (kid asks his fairy godfather to turn all the gay people in the world blue) to sobering dramas (I'm still haunted by the story of the girl who came out to her family, and her father promptly stopped the tradition of buying her a rose on her birthday...)
Empress of the World by Sarah Ryan I read when I was younger and remember it being good and interesting.
I'm going to second a bunch of them - 'Empress of the World' and the 'Dangerous Angels' series (especially 'Baby Be-bop') in particular - and add 'Luna,' by Julie Anne Peters.
All of Alex Sanchez's books are pretty good. Well, to be fair I haven't read "The God Box" yet, so I can't judge it. I have read his "Rainbow Boys" series and "So Hard To Say."
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeannette Winterson... is that too old?
I haven't actually read it yet, but I've heard a lot of good things about Gravity by Leanne Lieberman.
Born Confused by Tanusa Desai Hidier
The main character is Indian and the greater story is her internal struggle between her culture and her wanting to be more "normal" but there are two great storylines within the book. The first deals with her cousin who is a lesbian and her tumultuous relationship (the main character's family is crazy supportive) and the second is a truly beautiful storyline around a drag queen that becomes central to the end of the novel.
I highly recommend it.
I didn't actually read it until I was in college, but Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" YA fantasy trilogy features a gay couple (they're angels, I think). They don't appear until the second or third book. I liked that Pullman presented their relationship as completely normal; there's no "gay is okay" stuff, they're just two badass characters who happen to both be male and in a relationship with each other.
They say that a person's daemon is almost always the opposite sex. In the first book there is a mention of a man (I think he was a chef at Jordon College) who had a male daemon. I took that to imply homosexuality, but maybe I'm reading too much into it.
Marc Acito's "How I Paid for College" features a bisexual (male) main character, a gay teacher and two bisexual females engaged in a same-sex relationship. It's extremely funny and contains some very sensitive portrayals of coming out as a teenager. He wrote a sequel which I haven't read yet, called "Attack of the Theater People".
The graphic novel series "Runaways" also features a lesbian main character, although it takes a few volumes for her sexuality to show up. Handled very well - no one treats it like a big deal. There's also an interesting exploration of sexuality because she's involved with a shape-shifting alien, who can appear as either male or female as desired. Bonus points for a superhero series which is mostly about female heroes.
Favorites include:
Hero by Perry Moore
The Year They Burned the Books by Nancy Garden
Parrotfish, Ellen Wittlinger
Hard Love, Ellen Wittlinger
The first two "Rainbow Boys" books, by Alex Sanchez
Getting It, Alex Sanchez
Luna and Keeping You a Secret, Julie Ann Peters
The Rules for Hearts, Sara Ryan
Wide Awake, David Levithan
Oh, "Geography Club" is also great as it features gays, lesbians, and bisexuals.
The first YA GLBT book I read was "The Truth About Alex." It's kind of old but it's good.
This is great! Keep the suggestions coming! :D
Why do girls have to be portrayed as airheads who fawn over cutesy puppies, kittens and now, mini burgers from Burger King. As I have researched, apparently this isn't the first sexist incindent with Burger King commercials. See "I am Man" commerical on You Tube. I just don't get it. Things really need to change in this world, and to me, this is not helping and is not innocent entertainment. Russ Klein who is the VP of Marketing at Burger King really needs to take into consideration that we no longer live in the dark ages. You would think that for the million plus bedroom furniture he got paid this past year, he would have a clue about not being sexist.
Try Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce. This is the last in a series of books. One of the female characters has a relationship with another woman. It's not the main story line but it's definitely there. Several other stories by Tamora Pierce have characters that are gay and all are shown to be very natural relationships.