A Book Review Starring "Rethinking Normal" by Katie Rain Hill

The short version:
Oklahoman Hill recounts her childhood and struggle to articulate who she was from an early age, through her adolescence when she discovered transgenderism through online searching and was finally able to articulate what wasn't right, her subsequent bullying as a trans teen and into her early adulthood living as a transgender young adult while attending college at the University of Tulsa and embracing her role as a public advocate within the LGBT community.

The long version:
I always feel the need to preface a review of a work of memoir with my definition of what memoir is. Which is to say that I see memoir as a highly subjective version of historical events, not exactly fiction but certainly with made up, recollected aspects, particularly when it comes to using dialogue within quotation marks and recall of specific events.

That being said, I found this memoir to be pretty fabulous. An engrossing, easy page-turner of a read from a voice that sounded very much like a very recent teenager (which she was with affections for the Jonas Brothers, video games and Bruno Mars, among other things) which served to make her highly relatable to young adults regardless of their gender identity. But it was also written in a mature, thoughtful voice that articulated experiences well (perhaps with the help of her ghostwriter Ariel Schrag. We could all do tons worse than to have accomplished writer Schrag as our ghostwriter or writing partner).

True, the story seemed to end awkwardly and abruptly, as if they didn't know how to draw a conclusion so tried to invent one that seemed forced. And the last fifty pages are spent recollecting Hill's first romantic relationships, which are illustrative of so many teen relationships which makes it universal in way and yet is still shown through the prism of a transgender girl with her own baggage, but it's definitely not the strongest part of the book.

The book is at its best throughout the first two hundred pages as Katie starts her freshman year of college and then returns to her childhood and takes the reader deliberately through her history with a fabulous attention to detail and place and people. So much so that you're smiling and your heart breaks at points throughout, a testament to the writers' abilities to develop Hill's story and the people who populate it.

On a side note, the book paints a vivid picture of Oklahoma which I really appreciated, having never spent time in the real south. Not only in terms of growing up as a misfit teenager in suburban Tulsa, but she also paints a portrait of Oklahoma teens, suburbia in the Bible Belt, and the great LGBT community there that supported her and her family.

She also provides a "how to talk to transgender people" addendum which was really great and felt new and fresh and of course pertinent today, compared to all those books that just provide 'additional resources" (which she does that too.

A Book Review Starring "The Geography of You and Me" by Jennifer E. Smith

The short version:
Lucy and Owen first meet when their NYC building elevator stops in the middle of a city-wide blackout (a la the 2003 NYC blackout). After spending the next day together, their friendship develops via correspondence as they both navigate their personal journeys on the road: he travels with his father across county in search of a home as they recover from his mother's death and she moves with her parents first to Scotland, then London. All the while their friendship blossoms in its various ways.

The long version:
Jennifer E. Smith might be my new favorite "girl book" author. Which I don't think is a disparaging label in the slightest. This is my second Smith read (she only has three young adult books). She has a lovely ability to draw two-person, character-heavy stories with nuance, pathos and intelligence. The boys in her novels, like Owen, may be on the right side of YA boy fantasy, but not too much that it might drag the story into a place I'd find saccharine. Like "The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight" she does an excellent job of establishing place, and in this story she has so many places she's chosen to illustrate.

It's no surprise that two of her three novels are already in theatrical development. Let's just hope the character based plots survive with the subtlety and fleshed-out tone she's manage to put into her books.

Is it Dessenesque? Sure. But she's her own voice and what an entertaining and engaging one it is.

A Book Review Starring "Everything Leads to You" by Nina Lacour

The short version:
Aspiring LA production designer Emi unearths a letter in one of her estate sale finds that leads her to Ava, the illegitimate granddaughter of a recently deceased movie icon. At the same time, she's got her first big break designing sets for a charming indie film and learns about herself as a designer in the process.

The long version:
Part mystery-romance, part endearing melodrama. Lacour does a confident job of weaving the two plots together. You could kick the tires of the story if you wanted, but if I were a lesbian teenager, I'd be so happy to read a story about cute girls, a main character that is already out and a credible Hollywood-centric plot that comes across fun and convincing enough.

Main character Emi is cute and stylish, mystery girl Ava is hot yet sensitive and interesting. The two characters are given a nice subtly, as both could have easily devolved into over-the-top land. True the secondary characters don't do much other than serve the main characters, though it would have been nice if the best friend had an independent life and wasn't just there to serve. But the writing is sure handed and the minutia of production design is fun to read (especially if one doesn't dwell too much on the many accomplishments of an eighteen year old).

Cute, easy reading page turner.

Please, Dear Authors

Dear Young Adult Authors,

If you find yourself typing the dialogue:

"You just don't get it" or

"You just don't get it, do you?"

Please hit delete.

Recognize this phrase for the crutch that it is.

Please know that his is a universal crutch, used by authors of adult and young adult fiction, screenwriters. Know that you are not alone in your impulse to employ it.

But you are responsible for employing it nonetheless. Type it at your own peril.

Cordially,
H

A Book Review Starring "One Man Guy" by Michael Barakiva

The short version:
14 year old New Jersey Armenian teen Alek is forced to go to summer school if he's going to remain on the honor track. During Algebra class he meets junior Ethan and discovers he's attracted to boys.

The long version:
This is one of those books that's structurally fine but substantively average. I found all the characters pretty one dimensional and unconvincing. The plot thin and full of highly convenient plot points. The main character inexplicably discovers he likes boys out of nowhere, without much convincing build-up.The story was also peppered with lessons in Armenian culture in forced moments injected into the plot. I found the pop culture references indicative of an author substituting his own cultural references (My Fair Lady, The Object of My Affection) for his current day teenage characters'. I wish the author had read his characters' dialogue out loud, as much of it didn't sound verbally true. Long spoken sentences, phrases that don't sound natural to teenagers, people speaking in paragraphs. .

In all it was a decent first effort, but thin and lacking credibility. One of those books where I find myself asking where was the editor.

Please, Dear Authors.....

Dear Young Adult Authors,

Please use pop culture reference points that are a reflection of what teenagers today actually watch and enjoy. You grew up in the eighties therefore your reference points are John Hughes movies. Mean Girls is Heathers, for kids today. YouTubers are their VeeJays.

It's not cute or a reflection on your characters affinity for things retro when they like things you liked when you were a teenager. It's actually a subtle alarm pulsing from the book in their hands that's letting them know that this book was written by an adult when really they don't want to sense that. They don't want to know about you and all the cute or cool or quirky things you liked, it just makes your book seem unrealistic. So please don't do it.

Instead, do your homework in he form of research. Discover what they listen to and watch and read and find those examples that are pertinent to your story. Just because you loved Audrey Hepburn movies doesn't mean the kids your writing for do. Unless, of course, you really are writing for adults.

In that case

please don't pretend you're writing a young adult novel.

Cordially,
H

A Book Review Starring "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan

The short version:
Two suburban Chicago area teens, both named Will Grayson, one gay, one straight, meet by chance encounter at a porn store in Chicago and find their lives changed as a result.

The long version:
Oh John and David, two of the finest YA authors of the uber-witty-in-a-not-real-teenage-life sort of way but because they both do it so well, we forgive them for both the fact that their characters don't sound like real teenagers and that all their characters have an extremely similar uberwit sort of voice. It's ok, because they make us smile and still manage to tell stories that are a bit more complex than the standard YA fare.

And this was certainly one of those. Two boys struggling with self-acceptance.  And with a cast of supporting characters, parents and peers alike, that make us smile, written with depth and fabulous empathy in spite of their similar sounding uberwit.

Why do we forgive Mr. Green and Mr. Levithan for their uberwit? Because their brand of uberwit is more entertaining and more witty than others. So be it.

A Book Review Starring "Belzhar" by Meg Wolitzer

The short version:
New Jersey teen Jam is sent to a Vermont boarding school for kids dealing with emotional problems after a mysterious end to her first relationship. Once there, she's assigned to a special English class that requires her and the other four handpicked students to write about themselves in a leather bound journal which transports them into an alternate reality that brings each of them closer to their reasons for being there.

The long version:
Having never read any Wolitzer before this, but knowing her as an adult writer of (possibly) melodrama, this felt like that but with teens and an added fantasy element that came across as stiff and awkwardly inserted into the narrative, from someone who didn't seem to have much experience (or possibly really even affinity for) fantasy-infused drama.

She really didn't seem to have much of an ear for teens either, in terms of their voices or impulses. Her boy characters are of the fantasy ilk written by adult women, they don't sound like authentic teenage boys. The set up of this school never feels plausible (all these kids have emotional problems of some kind but there's a big lack of adult supervision and a total lack of medical oversight, no one there goes to see a therapist despite being sent there for their problems. What exactly were these fictional parents paying for?) It all just felt slight, not well thought out, like the author didn't really enjoy writing it.

She does a decent job of keeping you hanging on for the big reveal, which is the only real page turning element. It's all technically and structurally ok, but its also never enough. Never enough depth of characters, depth of drama, depth of fantasy.

A Book Review Starring "Frenemy of the People" by Nora Olsen

The short version:
Equestrian preppie-type Clarissa decides she's bisexual and wants to start a Gay-Straight Alliance, to the ire of loner out lesbian Lexie. The two come together when Clarissa's sister Desi, who has Down's Syndrome, wants to run for Homecoming Queen and also when Clarissa's house is being foreclosed on and Lexie offers her knowledge of shady bank practices to help Clarissa save their house.

The long version:
I don't even remember the end, and I usually suffer through when I've made it past the halfway point. Not the case here.

So poorly written, with underdeveloped, cliché characters and a flimsy plot (or plots, considering there are a few thin ones going on at once).

I wanted to think of this as a Hi-Lo book, but I thought that didn't give the Hi-Lo genre credit as writing for a specific audience. I can't see recommending this to even a reluctant reader.

The Definition of Dessenesque

Dessenesque (verb)

Coined from the prolific and talented young adult novelist Sarah Dessen, who happens to be super good at writing her brand of what she writes. A novel, usually of the young adult variety, with certain yet general defining characteristics that may include:

a. a cute, attractive, smart but not nerdy, sensitive, sometimes overlooked, middle class teenage girl who serves as our main character

b. a cute, attractive, possibly charming, likely insightful, perhaps brooding teenage boy who is sure to teach our main character something she didn't know before

c. our main character must overcome one heavy issue and in the process of doing so undergoes a thoughtful, contemplative, introspective personal journey with the assistance of the teenage boy

d. our main character falls for the teenage boy

e. the novel must contain healthy doses of flirting, romance and contemplation

f. while certainly dealing with a heavy issue or two, the novel will never resort to explicit language or graphic situations

Examples of a Dessenesque novel:
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Jennifer E. Smith
The Promise of Amazing, Robin Constantine
Roomies, Sara Zarr
If I Stay, Gayle Forman

A Book Review Starring "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by Emily Danforth

The Short Version:
Set in the late 1980s and early 1990s in rural Montana, Cameron Post grows up with the weight of thinking her attraction to her best friend made her responsible for her parents' death. When beautiful Coley Taylor joins her church group and school, Cameron finds herself falling in love with her new friend and must deal with the consequences of being outed as a result.

The Long Version:
Given the evocative sense of detail, the specificity of time and place (and that it was set in a period that looks to align with when the author would have been that age) you may get the sense this is a thinly disguised narrative that may resemble autobiography. Not that it's a bad thing. The highly evocative feel actually gives the story and characters a depth and richness that involves you in the story.

Danforth does a great job of providing complexity and detail to her characters, even the secondary characters who might otherwise have come off as one dimensional or just plain awful, are given a nice sense of humanity. But it's her main character Cameron Post who carries the story, particularly through the dense, wordy parts that can make the read a bit slow.

And there are a lot of words in those 470 pages. While it's great that Danforth has a wealth of knowledge and detail from which to draw, I'm not sure it needed to be this long and, at times, this dense. It's one of those books that you sometimes ask yourself where was the editor.

The book can be split into two parts, the romance and it's aftermath. If I were a teenage lesbian, or recommending the book to a teenage lesbian, I'd want her to stop right before the first part ends, when the book is chock full of emotional and sexual tension that I'd crave at that age and find in satisfying doses here. The second half of the book, the aftermath lets call it, is a harder read. It may ring true (particularly for certain populations or areas of the country), it may even be semi-autobiographical, but it's not as much fun or as interesting as the first half.

A Book Review Starring "The Difference Between You and Me" by Madeleine George

The Short Version:
Sophomore activist Jesse is in love with preppy junior Emily, who she meets on Tuesdays for secret make out sessions because Emily is closeted and has a boyfriend. But their secret world collides with their public ones when they find themselves on opposite sides when a Walmart-esque corporation sponsors school activities to curry favor in the town they want to build their next superstore in.

The Long Version:
Kind of a messy story: it wanted to be three or so stories at once and never seemed to fulfill on any of them. For some inexplicable reason the main character's chapters were in the third person while the other two supporting characters chapters were in the first person. The story meandered a lot and what I gathered was the main plot didn't get started until halfway into it.

Kind of messy characters: they were cute and potentially endearing, but you could tell they were supposed to be over the top in an entertaining way, lots of old hippie protester types, the gay best friend who's into Ayn Rand, the prissy Tracy Flick overachiever, but they weren't over the top enough or developed enough. The main character was slightly more endearing, but also lacking in the development department.

Kind of a messy tone: Because the girls were on the younger side of high school, and given how the story started I expected a lighter tone, something that would be great for a younger lesbian or curious reader, which would have been great considering how few Lesbian YA books there are out there for the younger side of readers. But then there came the flip joke about roofies early on and a few other things that seemed out of place tonally with the tonal direction this story was taking me.

I'd still recommend this book for a younger high school reader, given the dearth of books that approach lesbian topics without being explicit, but I'm not sure how jazzed my booktalk would be.

The Case For Labeling Young Adult Books with an L, G, B, T or Q

I just recently took on the task of creating the Young Adult LGBTQ book lists for my library system.

All of a sudden I'm reading with a mission. Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual, (Is there any Queer YA?), Fiction or Non-Fiction. I'm reading and annotating with a mission like I've never had before. Reading all this LGBTQ Young Adult prompted me to compile lists, naturally I turned to the wealth of booklists on the web, specifically public library websites.

What most all of the booklists I found have in common is a tendency to group together books with all kinds of themes: gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, as opposed to creating separate lists for each of them.

New York Public Library:

http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/06/25/pride-book-suggestions-teens
 

Skokie, Illinois Public Library:

http://www.skokielibrary.info/s_teens/tn_books/tn_booklists/glbtq.asp

Patchogie-Medford (NY) Public Library:

http://www.pmlib.org/teenglbt

 

The Librarian in me might first think it's irrelevant to distinguish. LGBTQ in some order has been a constant, collective acronym since the days of LGB, before the T and the Q. Or the Librarian in me would say as readers and advocates or readers we ought to strive to encourage reading about everyone's experiences.

But the thing is, when you're a thirteen year old girl just beginning to question her sexual identity, you want to find characters and stories that you identify with personally. Unlike readers in general who often read in order to identify with a main character who isn't like themselves. That's less so the case with those younger readers who seek out LGBTQ literature that might provide them with a framework for an identity or an example of coming out or a potential future lifestyle.

Which is why I love, love, love San Francisco's Young Adult Library's GLBTQ page:

http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000679501

It looks cool, they use book covers but most importantly, they break up their teen booklist according to sexual, gender or political identity. I do wish they'd annotated their book list, as we're fortunately today to have a wide spectrum between books of the I'm-Coming-Out variety and the Now-That-I'm-Out variety and I'd imagine most readers would appreciate a little elaboration. Plus, if there are any younger readers reluctant to ask a librarian for book recommendations and rely on a book list or the internet for direction, these would be them.

And yes, to answer my own question, according to the San Francisco Public Library's GLBTQ Experience page there's quite a few Young Adult books with queer themes.

Thank you San Francisco, for affirming my thoughts on this subject.

A Book Review Starring "If You Could Be Mine" by Sara Farizan

The Short Version:
Set in Tehran, Iran, seventeen year old Sahar is in love with her best friend Nasrin. When she learns that Nasrin is going to be married, she discovers the answer to her problem in an obscure Iranian law in which the government will pay for gender reassignment surgery if someone is truly declared transgender, not born into the body of the gender they identify with.

The Long Version:
The long, convoluted version being that Sahar magically decides to get gender reassignment surgery so she can be with Nasrin. Even though it's plain as day that Nasrin, nor her middle class, aspiring family would ever go along with such a deal. And she comes upon this magical solve to her problem because she just happens to meet a friend of her shady cousin's who is transgender at the perfect moment when all this is coming to fruition. And this person, whose name I forget, just happens to take Sahar under her wing and along to her support group where she discovers this great law that she thinks she's magically going use to her advantage. Oh, and the wedding is in a few weeks.

You get the sense the author learned about this (albeit fascinating) law in Iran, which sounds totally antithetical to an oppressive Islamic regime, and then decided to build a story about it. Even though the story never made sense. It's a fascinating law, and someone could make a fascinating story based on it. But this wasn't it.

I had a hard time believing much about this story, from the characters' choices to the convenient plot developments. Sahar was likeable and sympathetic enough, but she never felt real.

What I found equally problematic, having nothing directly to do with the novel, was that this book is on plenty of Transgender YA booklists and Sahar is not a transgender person. She only wants gender reassignment surgery so that she can marry her best friend, she never identifies as a man either before or during the story. Nor did I find any of the transgender-related elements that are in the story very authentic, from the supporting transgender woman who takes Sahar under her wing to the other transgender person in the support group. I'd file this under Lesbian YA.

And I will.

A Book Review Starring "The Bermudez Triangle" by Maureen Johnson

The Short Version:
Avery, Nina and Mel have always been best friends. But everything changes when Avery and Mel start dating the summer before senior year while Nina is away at Stanford for a pre-college program.

The Long Version:
File Under "Dessenesque." As in Sarah and that subgenre of YA Girl Fiction composed of cute middle class girls who delve into issues of adulthood in pleasant prose, that reveal contemplative characters and relatively subtle relationships.

The writing was nice and breezy, making it easy to turn a page and get going. The characters all had some flaws, though they could have benefited with more. There were a number of YA-Boys-Written-By-Adult-Women, very sensitive types that don't necessarily sound like real boys, which comes with the territory of a lot of YA Girl Fiction.

Despite all three girls having their own major sub-plots, what really sells the book is how this surprising romance between two best friends changes them both in different ways. The third subplot involving Nina and her long-distance boyfriend was the least involving, though it served adequately as a counterpoint to her friends' relationship, and how one of them treats the other.

In all, a pleasant, satisfying Coming-Out story of the Dessenesque variety, which isn't a bad thing at all to be.

A Book Review Starring "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" by Benjamin Alire Saenz

The Short Version:
Two El Paso, Texas teens, sensitive boy types who don't feel like they fit among the Male Mexican Man types they see around them, form a special friendship over the course of one year.

The Long Version:
Beautifully written story about what it means to be a young man. In the sea of girl YA books, I so love to stumble on a novel that portrays boys with substance and depth and honors the substance of their experience. Aristotle and Dante are so alike but also so different, which makes for a subtle ebb and flow of their relationship. The supporting characters, mostly their parents, are so interesting and realistic, you can see how these boys became who they are, in part, by who their parents are. Saenz's writing was gorgeous, both in its spare moments as well as the lyrical and funny ones.

If You Loved:
Will Grayson, Will Grayson, David Levithan and John Green
The Short, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
Where Things Come Back, John Corey Whaley
It's Kind of a Funny Story, Ned Vizzini
Eleanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell