3 - Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver is a werewolf story.  I'm not giving anything away by saying that, because it's obvious almost immediately (if you didn't guess by the gorgeous wolf peeking through the branches on the cover of my copy).  It's also a story of love and loss and betrayal and hope.

The story is told in chapters that alternate between the voices of Sam and Grace.  Each chapter is marked with the temperature, which eventually plays into the story.  Much like Two Boys Kissing, as the story climbs toward the climax, the author uses shorter chapters, choppy line breaks, and unusual punctuation and capitalization to pull the reader into the intensity of the moment.

The reimagining of werewolves for this story is intriguing.  In the world Stiefvater has created, up in Minnesota near Canada, the werewolves are all bitten humans, infected with a disease that makes them more and more wolf-like, until finally the human is gone and wolf remains.  It's a hopeless progression, hated by some and embraced by others, until Sam and Grace meet and fall in love.  Then there is a race against time and the peculiarities of the disease.

Pages: 390
Find it on Amazon!

2 - Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

This is another one from my enormous stack of unread books.  I've been meaning to get to it for some time.  I love David Levithan's works (click on the tag at the end of the post for other books I've posted about).  He's heartfelt, charming, funny, and authentic.

This book follows three couples and two other young men over the course of a couple of days.  One couple, Harry and Craig, are exes and friends who are attempting to break the world record for longest kiss (32+ hours!).  Another couple, Avery and Ryan, meet at a gay prom and gradually reveal their secrets to each other.  A third couple, Neil and Peter, have been dating for about a year, but they are still learning about love and being together.  One of the young men, Cooper, struggles with being suddenly and accidentally outed to his family.  Another, Tariq, struggles to recover from a vicious attack that left him with more than just physical injuries.

The book is narrated by a Greek chorus consisting of gay men who died of AIDS.  They provide a unique perspective on the trials of coming out and loving as gay teens in the 21st century.  Their commentary is both heartbreaking and hopeful.

As the book moves toward its climax, the pace picks up, pushed relentlessly higher by shorter glimspes at each character, increase space on the page, and snappier transitions.  As usual, Levithan not only creates compelling characters and tells an honest story, he also uses every part of the writer's craft, right down to line breaks and spacing, to tell his story.  It's amazing and wonderful.

This book also features a short afterword, in which Levithan reflects on the confluence of events and experiences that helped him create this book.  In a time when LGBT youth still struggle with acceptance, bullying, and increased risks of homelessness, drug use, and suicide, this is an important book.

Word count: 200
Find it on Amazon!

3 - Totally Joe by James Howe

This is another book I picked up last Friday from the library. It didn't take me too long to read it, although I think I might've read Another Kind of Cowboy a bit faster.

It's organized as an alphabiography, a school assignment in which Joe has to write a chapter of his autobiography for each letter. In the story, Joe is gay and very comfortable with who he is (although his coming-out scene is kind of cute). However, he is learning to let other people be who they are instead of expecting the same level of self-awareness and comfort from them! It's a very touching story and a good example of how kids can do great things given the opportunity. I also like that Joe seems to like boys, but isn't interested in kissing or being very sexual, since he is only in the seventh grade. I think that's very realistic and healthy.

I was very excited to learn that James Howe, one of my favorite childhood authors, is gay. It's good that kids have such outstanding role models to look up to.

1 - Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green

Oh, my goodness. What can I even say about this amazing, incredible book?

I started this book back in October. I plodded through the first half slowly. I was bored. will grayson annoyed me with his constant kvetching. Will Grayson wasn't gay, which confused me. Wasn't this book supposed to be about two gay Will Graysons?

Then, I came to the fateful night where Will Grayson met will grayson and everything was thrown into chaos. I was immediately hooked, and read ~150 pages today because I had to know what happened to the Wills and Tiny and Jane.

This book is full of wisdom about what it means to be kind, to be friends, and to be in love. It's full of awkward moments and transcendent moments. I loved it.

A few days ago, I blogged about LGBT literature. I mentioned that we needed more books like Levithan's Boy Meets Boy in which being gay is just a part of who the characters are, and they go on about their lives and tell their stories.
None of the gay characters in this story seem to face any real prejudice, beyond the innocent and strikingly benign ignorance of a Little League team or the math nerds at the lunch table. In some ways, the Chicago-suburb setting of this book is like the tiny town in Boy Meets Boy, a fantasyland where being gay is totally mainstream and accepted. Oh, how I long for this day to come.

I think my favorite part of the book comes almost at the very end. I won't give away what has happened or who the speaker is, but here's a quote for you:

"I want you to come over to my house in twenty years with your dude and your adopted kids and I want our kids to hang out and I want to like, drink wine and talk about the Middle East or whatever we're gonna want to do when we're old. We've been friends too long to pick, but if we could pick, I'd pick you."

(On a side note, I edited the above for language. There is a lot of language in this book. Too much for a school library, and too much for my students, even if they could handle the thematic elements. Honestly, it didn't really bother me.)

24 - Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

I have lots to say about this book! First, the saga of getting my hands on it! I visited a certain friend who lives in a certain small town in our state, and we spent the weekend discussing books (which is awesome) and the rights denied to people we love because of who they love. At some point during the weekend, we made the usual trek to the big-box bookstore. After perusing the shelves for some time and discovering that not only was this title missing, this AUTHOR was missing entirely, we asked for help. I approached the desk and had the following conversation:

Me: (bright smile) Hi, I'm looking for a book by David Levithan. The title is Boy Meets Boy.
Clerk: Um...hang on. Yeah, we're showing lots of copys available, but...we don't stock that here. Sorry...
*At this, I glance at my friend."
Clerk: We can order it for you in a few days!
Me: No, thanks, I'm from out of town.

So...I went to my local Barnes and Noble at home and plucked it off the shelf! Unfortunately, I didn't see anything else by Levithan, who is definitely an author I want to read more of. $7.71 later, Boy Meets Boy was mine and all I had to do was explain it to my mom. :)

This book has won numerous awards, including An ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults and A Lambda Literary Award. According to Levithan's website, it's "a dippy, happy gay romance". And so it is.

One review of this book claimed that the prophecy of a world where there was no discrimination against gay or lesbian couples was exactly what the genre needed. I guess because this world is so different from the one we currently live in, it felt contrived and unbelievable. The first half of the book bothered me in more ways than one. However, the ending of the book was so sweet, so heartfelt, and so true that I couldn't help but love it. Now I see why it won so many awards.

My favorite part of the book came when Paul, the openly gay narrator, spent seven days trying to repair his relationship with Noah. The sweet things he did are the types of things any person in love would long for, no matter their sexual preference. It was all so beautiful.

I also really enjoyed the way the group banded together to rescue Tony. I love the relationship between Paul and Tony, two gay boys who knew early on they were not supposed to fall in love. One of the things I've talked at length with a dear friend about is that most literature about/for/by the gay or lesbian community is either angst-ridden or overly sexualized. This book was neither. Even though the society was simply wishful thinking, and it is unlikely that that many unusual characters could ever coexist peacefully in one school or be surrounded by that many supportive and understanding adults, the main characters were real and beautiful, even in their faults. It's nice to see gay and lesbian youth in relationships that aren't romantic in nature. It's nice to see them searching for the one special person they want to be with, just like straight kids do for the most part. I appreciate such a caring, respectful, realistic perspective on these kids.

This has made me wildly curious about other books by this author. He wrote the book Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, which was recently made into a movie. He also wrote Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which I have and am excited about reading. :)

Book recommendation

March:Amazon:Books

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Another book to read

I want to read The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose. It looks quite interesting. It's the chronicle of a 19-year old Brown University sophomore's "undercover" semester at Liberty University. While there are many things that bother me, and a few that even frighten me, about Liberty University, it is very refreshing to see a product of the most liberal of upbringings attempt to understand the Christian perspective rather than simply condemning it. It is even better that he discovered things worth incorporating into his own life and sharing with the world, such as the power of prayer.

4 - Mr. Darcy's Diary, Amanda Grange

This was so much fun to read! I'm always fascinated by stories retold from more than one point of view (e.g. Mists of Avalon and Midnight Sun). This time it's Mr. Darcy telling the tale of his love for Elizabeth Bennett. I loved the little insights into the characters which Amanda Grange added to the story! I devoured this one...I think I finished it in just 3 days!

On a side note, I know why I have only just discovered the new Star Wars books: the first in the series, Outcast was published just this week. I know the third is due in October, so I can only assume that the second will be out this summer. I am very excited! I really like the cover art, too.