Book of the Day

This work of short stories purports to celebrate the beautiful in the ordinary lives of the LGBT inviduals that are at the center of each story. The idea that their lives can be ordinary, rather than being held up as freakish or unnatural, is a beautiful things.

Like all short story collections, some of the selections are stronger than others, some push different button than others do. There are stories that do, indeed, celebrate the ordinary moments of growing up and discovering first loves, while others verge on the more common story of strife and rejection when friends and family “find out”. The stories represent many aspects of the LGBT community: lesbians, gay boys, transgendered individuals.

While the first story in the collection is perhaps the most in tune with the book’s themes, I’m not sure that it is the best choice to lead off the collection. It’s tone is a little too serious, and seems to be speaking to adults as much as to teens. This is a tone that I think many of the stories share. Some are clearly written with teens in mind, but others take a more adult perspective, being told by adults in a narrative to the (presumably) young listener/reader. Even with this more mature and adult-like tone, however, most of the stories will be endorsed by the many young adults searching for their own sense of identity. This will be a welcome addition to the growing canon of young adult LGBT literature.

.Ever felt like an outcast because you’re smarter, peppier, more passionate/obsessed than those around you? Well then, this book is for you. A host of young adult authors have contributed stories about being nerds. The short stories range from over-the-top comedy to more serious introspection, though most maintain a faintly amused tone. Humorous cartoons about being a nerd are included before each chapter.

Although all ages of the typical young adult spectrum are represented, from freshman to college students, the average age skews a bit older. This makes a certain amount of sense, as many of the more hardcore geek activities, such as attending cons, meeting online friends, or larping require a driver’s license.

As with all short story collections, some contributions are more compelling than others. But I also find that any two people reading, reading the same collection, will disagree over which of those selections are the compelling ones. Overall, this is a fairly strong collection of stories which will appeal to nerds both grown and growing.

Jessie just wants everything to stay the same. But as she enters her sophomore year of high school, everything seems to be changing. Her punk-band brother is getting ready to leave for college (bad enough!) and has suddenly starting dating the high school prom queen. Her two best friends have transformed themselves almost overnight into punk rock wannabes. Even worse, her friends seem to have betrayed and abandoned her, leaving Jessie in the unenviable position of finding new friends. Although she’s very smart and loves sewing funky skirts, Jessie has never considered herself a nerd. She’s somewhat taken aback, then, when it seems like her best bet for fitting in and having fun is with the school’s nerdiest crowd of roleplayers. But is Jessie ready to leave her punk-rock cred and become a LARPer?

This was a sweet story. There wasn’t anything new or surprising about the book, but sometimes a good book can simply be comfort food for the reading soul. It surprises me a little that Jessie has never been called a nerd before this, based on her behavior and interests, but I suppose having the “coolest” brother in the school and two close friends who are indie alpha girls may have given her enough buffer zone.

Although nothing happens on-scene, and Jessie’s romance is very tame, there is repeated reference to Jessie’s friend who ends up with an STI after oral sex, tilting the reading age up a few notches. I was sort of disappointed in the old-fashioned handling of the best-friend-who-engages-in-sexual-activity-and-then-immediately-suffers cliche.

After spending his entire life bopping around the globe with his secret agent father, Cody has been sent to Connecticut to live with an aunt he hardly knows. Adjusting to life as a “normal” eighth grader is difficult for Cody. He’s never watched television or gone to school or even spent much time around other kids his age. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder does not help him fit in, although he finds a kindred soul in a one-armed Iraqui vet who lives next door. But Cody’s life of suspense and danger may have followed him back to the States. Who is the masked man sneaking around in the woods, and why has the house been bugged? If Cody doesn’t find out fast, all of their lives may be in danger.

This was another book that was a lot of fun to read, and quite enjoyable, as long as you don’t think about it too hard. I could pick apart the plot flaws – no one trying to blend in would dress his teen son exclusively in suits, the CIA would not allow a child on dangerous missions, the “hunting accident” in the last few chapters is introduced and then almost immediately resolved, etc. But to do so would take away from the fun of the story.

Although books where previously homeschooled students flounder in their first social interactions usually annoy me a great deal, it made sense in the context of this story, as Cody has lived a very strange life, has to keep a lot of secrets, and spent almost all of his time with a driven, complex father. His awkwardness with kids his own age rings true, since middle school is an awkward time for almost everyone. His reactions to his teaches did not seem as in line with his always-blend-in character, but the hostility certainly makes for a more entertaining read.

Zoe has been going to the Hubbard school all of her life. She knows its an exceptional school – even if she didn’t call teachers by first names and has never taken a real test, she couldn’t help noticing the many, many ways in which all of the staff let the students know that Hubbard is a “very special place.” But Zoe is not sure if she fits in there. She’s not extra specially good at anything, the way it seems that every other kid in the school is. Then she meets Lucas, who is the strangest kid in a school filled with students trying to stand out from the crowd. He’s convinced that Zoe is a code-reading genius, but Zoe isn’t so sure herself. She doesn’t have time to read codes: her best friend is abandoning her, and she’s been threatened with expulsion. What could possibly solve these sorts of problems?

This was a very engaging book, and made me want to turn the pages. I kept being surprised that the book was in third person, since I got a very first person vibe from the tone and language of the writing. This is one of those books that I loved while I was reading it, but have started to question now that I’ve had more time to reflect. If one of Zoe’s issues is that she’s worried, at least a little bit, that she doesn’t have anything special about her, the way her siblings do, then why wouldn’t she have jumped at the chance to be a “genius” when it comes to codes? I also felt like the threat of expulsion was overdone as well. If Zoe’s classwork was really that bad, then there would have been parent/teacher conferences before a step of suspending her for two weeks. (The argument that she was suspended over the notes rather than her schoolwork is not a strong one, since a) those were rumors b) the other kids were just as, if not more, vicious in their retaliation and c) when it became obvious who the culprit was, Zoe was not invited back to school.)

I really liked the portrayal of the relationship between Zoe and Dara. It had the feeling of a friendship that is ready to move on, but the participants are not sure how they feel about that. Middle school is a tough time for a lot of previous friendships. More time could have been spent exploring this aspect of the book, but it was still a strong presence.

Overall, this was a highly enjoyable book, and a quick read. Upper elementary and middle school girls will be sure to enjoy it.

People call fifteen-year-old Shiraz Baily Wood is a chav. (Think “trailer trash”, but British and urban.) She denies the label, but will admit to wearing hoodies, listening to hip-hop and adoring huge, chunky gold hoop earrings. Her family is in shambles when her older sister, Cava-Sue, convinced that there is more to life than watching television and eating Pringles, defies her parents by choosing to continue her education. Shiraz doesn’t understand her sister’s desire to “get out” but she doesn’t want her sister to leave. Meanwhile, her best friend is obsessed with a boy, leaving Shiraz in the dust. And a new teacher is inexplicably interested in trying to get Shiraz to apply herself.

Shiraz was a loveable character. Her voice is very strong, and also very British. I read a lot of British books and spent some time there as an exchange student, so I didn’t have a problem understanding any of the text, but for those who are not familiar with British slang or the British schooling system of tests, it would have been helpful for the handy glossary to have been located at the front of the book. As it was, I didn’t stumble across it until I’d already finished the book, at which point anyone who was confused would no long need it.

The relationships Shriraz has with her family and friends felt very real. Her family interactions in particular had a ring of truth to them. I loved the scene where the family attends Cava-Sue’s production of Waiting for Godot and not only completely embarrass all of the avant-garde theater goers by their mere presence, but also are utterly unable to appreciate the play and leave during intermission, to everyone’s relief. It just seemed like something that would really happen: a family trying desperately to support a misfit daughter, but failing completely across a wide cultural gap. It was both wickedly funny and very sad at the same time.

The scene towards the end where the family ends up on the British equivalent of Jerry Springer seemed a bit far-fetched for me, but I was willing to play along, and it helped Shiraz to both gain self-confidence and to realize the shallowness of these types of programs.

The entire book has a note of hilarity to it, and Shiraz’s comments and conversation are hilarious. But there is a serious aspect to the book as well. Shiraz has to contend with the fact that as she becomes more aware that she might want more out of her life than a minimum wage job (illustrated hysterically with an ill-fated work-placement at a less than hygienic pakora factory), her family is not going to support her in this decision. There is the very real worry that her friends will also not understand why she would want to complete homework assignments or pay attention in class. Behind the humor, Shiraz’s cultural catch-22 is almost frighteningly sad.

Daniel “Sprout” Bradford has a secret, but everyone knows what it is. He also has a dead mother, alcoholic father, increasingly absent best friend and a wicked way with words. When a high school English teacher taps him to be the representative for the state-wide essay contest, he begins writing about his own life, which the teacher encourages right up until the point that Sprout announces he wants to write about being gay. In Kansas. Meanwhile, Sprout is confused by a complicated new friend who is, if anything, even more broken that Sprout himself.

All of the reviews I’ve seen – and even the book jacket copy – claim that the secret Sprout announces he has on the first sentence is not that he’s gay. “He’ll tell you he’s gay!” proclaims the copy, and so echoes most of the reviews. But that’s not really the case. Sprout is willing to tell the reader that he’s gay. But other people? The real people that he interacts with on a daily basis? Not so much with that. I’ve even seen reviews that claim the book is not about being gay or coming out. And it’s not entirely that, in the same way that any well-written teen LGBT book published in the last five years or so has not revolved completely around coming out. Well-done literature will never obsess completely on one aspect of a character’s life or personality. But that is not to say that a large part of the book is not subtly wrapped around the fact that Sprout is gay, that there are two other boys in the school who might possibly be gay, and the tangles and complications arising from the fact that none of the three of them want to say the truth aloud to one another.

I was a little wary when I first started reading the book. Sprout’s voice is one that is very aware that he is writing. He never tries to hide the fact that what he has to say has been filtered through pen, and it makes for a very self-conscious writing style, one that acknowledges the presence of the reader and plays with words freely. Done well, this technique can be fantastic, but done badly, or even just mundanely, it tends to fall flat for me. Luckily, in this case the author manages to pull it off brilliantly. Sprout’s voice, though sometimes a little mature for his age, is fantastic. His use of language is amazing, creating images and characterizations that resonate with the reader.

The book was not completely perfect. I had a hard time believing the teachers’ reactions to Ty’s living situation. And while both boys were the same age, Sprout’s first sexual experience seemed to border on molestation, a point that he never acknowledges, since he was a (mostly) willing participant. There were a few plot points involving other characters that seemed to come out of nowhere or moved very fast, but I can overlook that since Sprout himself acknowledges that he’s skipping a lot of other stuff that’s going on his life in order to concentrate on a single relationship, since at that point in his life he was himself pretty much ignoring everything and everyone else.