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Am I Blue?: Coming Out from the Silence
Each of these stories is original, each is by a noted author for young adults, and each honestly portrays its subject and theme--growing up gay or lesbian, or with gay or lesbian parents or friends. Includes:
"Michael's Little Sister" / C. S. Adler
"Dancing Backwards" / Marion Dane Bauer
"Winnie and Tommy" / Francesca Lia Block
"Am I Blue" / Bruce Coville
"Parents Night" / Nancy Garden
"Three Mondays in July" / James Cross Giblin
"Running" / Ellen Howard
"We Might as Well Be Strangers" / M. E. Kerr
"Hands" / Jonathan London
"Holding" / Lois Lowry
"The Honorary Shepherds" / Gregory Maguire
"Supper" / Lesléa Newman
"50% Chance of Lightning" / Cristina Salat
"In the Tunnels" / William Sleator
"Slipping Away" / Jacqueline Woodson
"Blood Sister" / Jane Yolen
"Michael's Little Sister" / C. S. Adler
"Dancing Backwards" / Marion Dane Bauer
"Winnie and Tommy" / Francesca Lia Block
"Am I Blue" / Bruce Coville
"Parents Night" / Nancy Garden
"Three Mondays in July" / James Cross Giblin
"Running" / Ellen Howard
"We Might as Well Be Strangers" / M. E. Kerr
"Hands" / Jonathan London
"Holding" / Lois Lowry
"The Honorary Shepherds" / Gregory Maguire
"Supper" / Lesléa Newman
"50% Chance of Lightning" / Cristina Salat
"In the Tunnels" / William Sleator
"Slipping Away" / Jacqueline Woodson
"Blood Sister" / Jane Yolen
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 1995
52 people are currently reading
6019 people want to read
About the author
Marion Dane Bauer
170 books189 followersMarion Dane Bauer is the author of more than one hundred books for young people, ranging from novelty and picture books through early readers, both fiction and nonfiction, books on writing, and middle-grade and young-adult novels. She has won numerous awards, including several Minnesota Book Awards, a Jane Addams Peace Association Award for RAIN OF FIRE, an American Library Association Newbery Honor Award for ON MY HONOR, a number of state children's choice awards and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota for the body of her work.
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
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INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
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Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
-------------------------------------
INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
-------------------------------------
Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 206 reviews
December 24, 2013
This past week, while a lot of people carried on the social media debate about that Duck Dynasty patriarch's newest homophobic remarks, I found myself finishing Am I Blue?: Coming Out from the Silence. Yes, the two events are related.
Printed in the mid-1990s (but unfortunately unknown to me until just recently), the book is a collection of stories for, and about, gay, lesbian, and questioning teenagers. The editor, Marion Dane Bauer, points out in her introduction that "One out of ten teenagers attempts suicide," and "One out of three of those does so because of concern about being homosexual." Her hope, indeed the hope of every author included in the anthology, is that through the power of stories these potential suicide risks will realize that they are not flawed, that they are not alone.
Represented in the book are many of the 1990s' most prominent YA writers, including Lois Lowry (Number the Stars, The Giver), Bruce Coville (My Teacher Is an Alien), and Nancy Garden (Annie on My Mind). Like every anthology, this one includes some pieces that are stronger than others -- my favorite, strangely enough, was the one by Gregory Maguire (Wicked), whose Oz books I dislike -- but its stories also face another challenge, that is, how to preach tolerance without coming across as, well, preachy. Of course, some contributors do better here than others, but really, the worst I can say about any of the stories is that they try rather too hard to drill into their young readers admirable lessons about valuing one's self and the differences of others.
It is also worth noting that several authors -- Maguire, Jacqueline Woodson, and William Sleater, for example -- deliberately write about queer young people who are not white, or who are not even from the United States. In a lot of ways, these particular stories are well ahead of a lot of lily white U.S.-centric queer research being conducted in universities at the same point in time.
Ultimately, the question is, is a book like Am I Blue? still needed twenty years later, even after several states in the union have legalized gay marriages and queer characters proliferate YA fiction more than ever before? The answer, I guess, emerged in this week's Duck Dynasty hullabaloo. As long as white, wealthy, heterosexual people with privileged access to the media continue to make statements that lead kids to believe their differences make them defective, and as long as similarly privileged people like Sarah Palin and an unfortunate number of people I am "friends" with on Facebook continue to defend their right to do so, then yes, there is still an emphatic need for this book, and many, many more like it.
Printed in the mid-1990s (but unfortunately unknown to me until just recently), the book is a collection of stories for, and about, gay, lesbian, and questioning teenagers. The editor, Marion Dane Bauer, points out in her introduction that "One out of ten teenagers attempts suicide," and "One out of three of those does so because of concern about being homosexual." Her hope, indeed the hope of every author included in the anthology, is that through the power of stories these potential suicide risks will realize that they are not flawed, that they are not alone.
Represented in the book are many of the 1990s' most prominent YA writers, including Lois Lowry (Number the Stars, The Giver), Bruce Coville (My Teacher Is an Alien), and Nancy Garden (Annie on My Mind). Like every anthology, this one includes some pieces that are stronger than others -- my favorite, strangely enough, was the one by Gregory Maguire (Wicked), whose Oz books I dislike -- but its stories also face another challenge, that is, how to preach tolerance without coming across as, well, preachy. Of course, some contributors do better here than others, but really, the worst I can say about any of the stories is that they try rather too hard to drill into their young readers admirable lessons about valuing one's self and the differences of others.
It is also worth noting that several authors -- Maguire, Jacqueline Woodson, and William Sleater, for example -- deliberately write about queer young people who are not white, or who are not even from the United States. In a lot of ways, these particular stories are well ahead of a lot of lily white U.S.-centric queer research being conducted in universities at the same point in time.
Ultimately, the question is, is a book like Am I Blue? still needed twenty years later, even after several states in the union have legalized gay marriages and queer characters proliferate YA fiction more than ever before? The answer, I guess, emerged in this week's Duck Dynasty hullabaloo. As long as white, wealthy, heterosexual people with privileged access to the media continue to make statements that lead kids to believe their differences make them defective, and as long as similarly privileged people like Sarah Palin and an unfortunate number of people I am "friends" with on Facebook continue to defend their right to do so, then yes, there is still an emphatic need for this book, and many, many more like it.
September 30, 2016
This book of short stories has been on the ALA banned and challenged book list since its publication in 1994. Twenty years later, the stories are still relevant, but perhaps not as inclusive or direct as they might be now. I found them quite mild (when considering the challenged status), often focusing on a curious or questioning youth coming into contact with someone who told them that whoever they are is okay, whether that is gay or not. Main message - you are not alone. Why would we ban a book that tells a young person they are not alone? We need more than this, we need more details and a wider span, but this would be a fine addition to any library with teens and pre-teens in my opinion. I'm glad I got the chance to read it. I know many of the authors submitting stories to this collection have gone on to continue writing lgbt friendly books.
January 9, 2015
This book probably saved my sanity when, as a teenager, I realized I might be gay*. It has sixteen short stories about different aspects of being gay or knowing gay people - some sad, some happy, some in-between - and being a teenager. In addition to being a good book in itself, it is also a fabulous resource for finding authors who have written other books about gay teenagers, or at least who are sensitive to the issues. The book is also appropriate for adults, although the issues are going to be different. We read several stories from this book out loud during gay-straight alliance meetings in college, and they were a great way to start conversations, especially about people's own experiences.
The book could possibly use an update sometime in the next several years, as the collective experiences of teenagers today (at least in the bigger cities or more progressive areas) is changing for the better. Gay teenagers who have had fewer incidences of hate may feel less connected to this book than those who felt they were silenced more powerfully just ten or fifteen years ago.
*I use "gay" interchangeably for GLBTQQIII, with no offense meant to any of the other subgroups who might also find this book helpful.
The book could possibly use an update sometime in the next several years, as the collective experiences of teenagers today (at least in the bigger cities or more progressive areas) is changing for the better. Gay teenagers who have had fewer incidences of hate may feel less connected to this book than those who felt they were silenced more powerfully just ten or fifteen years ago.
*I use "gay" interchangeably for GLBTQQIII, with no offense meant to any of the other subgroups who might also find this book helpful.
November 30, 2022
Die Originalausgabe von "Am I Blue?" stammt aus dem Jahr 1994, die ins Deutsche übersetzte Ausgabe von 1996 - und dass das schon eine Weile her ist, ist bereits am deutschen Untertitel "14 Stories von der anderen Liebe" zu erkennen. n einer Zeit, in der der Hashtag "OneLove" in Verbindung mit dem Regenbogen in den meisten Ländern eine Selbstverständlichkeit ist, mutet es etwas irritierend an, dass schwule oder lesbische Liebe eben etwas "anderes" sein soll als die gemischtgeschlechtliche. Aber gerade diese Tatsache macht deutlich, dass sich in den fast dreißig Jahren seit Erscheinen dieser Anthologie vieles zum Besseren verändert hat, zumindest in der so genannten westlichen Welt.
Dennoch oder gerade deshalb ist es interessant, die Coming-of-Age- und Coming-out-Geschichten in diesem Buch heutzutage zu lesen. Die Probleme, die die Charaktere in diesen Storys haben, sind auch heute noch auch in einer offeneren Gesellschaft nachzuvollziehen. Erwachsenwerden ist nicht einfach - und wenn man oder frau sich dann noch in einem wichtigen Punkt der eigenen Persönlichkeit vom Hauptteil der Gesellschaft unterscheidet, ist es sicherlich auch in der heutigen Zeit noch hilfreich zu erkennen, dass es trotz allem viele andere gibt, die ähnlich fühlen wie mensch selbst.
Und diejenigen, die in derselben Zeit erwachsen wurden wie die Protagonist*innen im Buch, werden die einfühlsam geschriebenen Kurzgeschichten zweifellos mit einem nostalgischen Gefühl lesen.
"Am I Blue?" ist anrührend, manchmal witzig, manchmal melancholisch und immer mit großer Empathie und Sympathie für seine jugendlichen Heldinnen und Helden verfasst. 5 Sterne!
Dennoch oder gerade deshalb ist es interessant, die Coming-of-Age- und Coming-out-Geschichten in diesem Buch heutzutage zu lesen. Die Probleme, die die Charaktere in diesen Storys haben, sind auch heute noch auch in einer offeneren Gesellschaft nachzuvollziehen. Erwachsenwerden ist nicht einfach - und wenn man oder frau sich dann noch in einem wichtigen Punkt der eigenen Persönlichkeit vom Hauptteil der Gesellschaft unterscheidet, ist es sicherlich auch in der heutigen Zeit noch hilfreich zu erkennen, dass es trotz allem viele andere gibt, die ähnlich fühlen wie mensch selbst.
Und diejenigen, die in derselben Zeit erwachsen wurden wie die Protagonist*innen im Buch, werden die einfühlsam geschriebenen Kurzgeschichten zweifellos mit einem nostalgischen Gefühl lesen.
"Am I Blue?" ist anrührend, manchmal witzig, manchmal melancholisch und immer mit großer Empathie und Sympathie für seine jugendlichen Heldinnen und Helden verfasst. 5 Sterne!
February 8, 2017
STORY 1: Am I Blue? By Bruce Coville. I like Coville. In this story, a boy who thinks he might or might not be gay meets his fairy godfather, who will grant him three wishes. Quote: “But I said I didn't want to be anyone's guardian angel, I wanted to be a fairy godfather...people had been calling me a fairy all my life, and now that I was dead, that was what I wanted to be. Then I told them that if they didn't let me be a fairy godfather, I was going to bring charges of sexism against them.” A funny story.
STORY 2: We Might as Well All Be Strangers by M.E. Kerr. This story is about a lesbian girl who comes out to her grandmother and her mother, with VERY different results. Her grandmother is Jewish and visited Nazi Germany for a short time and never forgot the prejudice she faced there. This makes her more sympathetic to her granddaughter.
STORY 3: Winnie and Tommy by Francesca Lia Block. Winnie has the misfortune of falling in love with Tommy, a gay man.
STORY 4: Slipping Away by Jacqueline Woodson. A teenaged girl discovers that her friend hates lesbians.
STORY 5: The Honorary Shepherds by Gregory Maguire. This is a story told in third-person about two senior boys in high school who fall in love. The author also talks to the reader, and often assumes the reader is bored or has a short attention span. The author is very comfortable with homosexuality, but seems uncomfortable and/or critical of fat people. I did not enjoy this story very much. But here is a good quote from it: “ 'Can't be Catholic and gay,” says Pete...'Pope says so'...(the other boy answers) 'Why should I allow myself to be kicked out?...Besides, you can't be kicked out of a FAITH. Faith starts inside your heart and ends up in eternity. All you can be kicked out of is a building, which is the bus stop of faith...”
STORY 6: Running by Ellen Howard. A teenage girl discovers that she is lesbian when her stepsister brings a lesbian friend home from Europe.
STORY 7: Three Mondays in July by James Cross Giblin. It's the 1950s. A 16-year-old gay teenager starts stalking a guy who sunbathes nude in a hidden corner of the beach. I mean, he literally crouches in the bushes and watches this man without the man being aware of it. I find this very creepy. Finally, he and the man meet each other. To my relief, the thirty-eight year old man does not have sex with the sixteen-year-old who has been stalking him and admiring him from the bushes. Instead, he tells the kid that it's okay to be gay.
STORY 8: Parents' Night by Nancy Garden. This story is like an advertisement for Gay Straight Bisexual Alliances and for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. A very sweet, happy story.
STORY 9: Michael's Little Sister by C.S. Adler. A teenage boy is slowly realizing that he's gay. Unfortunately, his beloved little sister sees him kissing another boy.
STORY 10: Supper by Lesléa Newman. This story has no plot. A teenage girl is a lesbian and she thinks about that while washing dishes. Absolutely nothing happens in the story.
STORY 11: Holding by Lois Lowry. A teenage boy comforts his father when his father's husband dies.
STORY 12: Blood Sister by Jane Yolen. This is a Fantasy story about an ancient lesbian civilization. Also, every woman eventually comes of age and conjures up her 'dark sister' from a mirror.
STORY 13: Hands by Jonathan London. A gay teacher who is 'too affectionate' with students is fired and put in prison. Later, he dies of AIDS.
STORY 14: 50% Chance of Lightning by Christina Salat. This is also a story where nothing much happens. A teenage lesbian is a senior in high school. She's kind of depressed because she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. She also gets propositioned by a girl who she doesn't really care for.
STORY 15: In the Tunnels by William Sleator. Two gay men are soldiers in the Vietnam War. They are Vietnamese, not American.
STORY 16: Dancing Backwards by Marion Dane Bauer. Two girls are kicked out of St. Mary's Academy of Young Women for being lesbians.
STORY 2: We Might as Well All Be Strangers by M.E. Kerr. This story is about a lesbian girl who comes out to her grandmother and her mother, with VERY different results. Her grandmother is Jewish and visited Nazi Germany for a short time and never forgot the prejudice she faced there. This makes her more sympathetic to her granddaughter.
STORY 3: Winnie and Tommy by Francesca Lia Block. Winnie has the misfortune of falling in love with Tommy, a gay man.
STORY 4: Slipping Away by Jacqueline Woodson. A teenaged girl discovers that her friend hates lesbians.
STORY 5: The Honorary Shepherds by Gregory Maguire. This is a story told in third-person about two senior boys in high school who fall in love. The author also talks to the reader, and often assumes the reader is bored or has a short attention span. The author is very comfortable with homosexuality, but seems uncomfortable and/or critical of fat people. I did not enjoy this story very much. But here is a good quote from it: “ 'Can't be Catholic and gay,” says Pete...'Pope says so'...(the other boy answers) 'Why should I allow myself to be kicked out?...Besides, you can't be kicked out of a FAITH. Faith starts inside your heart and ends up in eternity. All you can be kicked out of is a building, which is the bus stop of faith...”
STORY 6: Running by Ellen Howard. A teenage girl discovers that she is lesbian when her stepsister brings a lesbian friend home from Europe.
STORY 7: Three Mondays in July by James Cross Giblin. It's the 1950s. A 16-year-old gay teenager starts stalking a guy who sunbathes nude in a hidden corner of the beach. I mean, he literally crouches in the bushes and watches this man without the man being aware of it. I find this very creepy. Finally, he and the man meet each other. To my relief, the thirty-eight year old man does not have sex with the sixteen-year-old who has been stalking him and admiring him from the bushes. Instead, he tells the kid that it's okay to be gay.
STORY 8: Parents' Night by Nancy Garden. This story is like an advertisement for Gay Straight Bisexual Alliances and for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. A very sweet, happy story.
STORY 9: Michael's Little Sister by C.S. Adler. A teenage boy is slowly realizing that he's gay. Unfortunately, his beloved little sister sees him kissing another boy.
STORY 10: Supper by Lesléa Newman. This story has no plot. A teenage girl is a lesbian and she thinks about that while washing dishes. Absolutely nothing happens in the story.
STORY 11: Holding by Lois Lowry. A teenage boy comforts his father when his father's husband dies.
STORY 12: Blood Sister by Jane Yolen. This is a Fantasy story about an ancient lesbian civilization. Also, every woman eventually comes of age and conjures up her 'dark sister' from a mirror.
STORY 13: Hands by Jonathan London. A gay teacher who is 'too affectionate' with students is fired and put in prison. Later, he dies of AIDS.
STORY 14: 50% Chance of Lightning by Christina Salat. This is also a story where nothing much happens. A teenage lesbian is a senior in high school. She's kind of depressed because she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. She also gets propositioned by a girl who she doesn't really care for.
STORY 15: In the Tunnels by William Sleator. Two gay men are soldiers in the Vietnam War. They are Vietnamese, not American.
STORY 16: Dancing Backwards by Marion Dane Bauer. Two girls are kicked out of St. Mary's Academy of Young Women for being lesbians.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2017
Overall Thoughts
I've rated each story individually below. My average rating for the stories in the anthology was 4 stars. Overall, this collection was both great and important. Having a collection of stories like this proved that there's no single gay existence. Many gay people have similar experiences and understand each other deeply because of these similarities, but gay people aren't all the same people. That may sound like a "duh!" statement but too often gay people are stereotyped and expected to behave and look certain ways. Some of the stories in this anthology had characters that fit in with stereotypes while other stories portrayed characters that defied stereotypes. That's true to real life. Some people are stereotypical gays and some people aren't (though people are rarely as simple to describe as that) and both are great ways to be gay.
I liked that a lot of stories touched on straight people's gaydar versus gay people's gaydar. Straight people seem to often assume people are gay based off stereotypes while people who are gay guess based on similarities to their own narratives. I've guessed people were gay because the subtle things they said and did were almost identical to my own actions as I was coming to terms with my sexuality and gender.
There was also a good bit of diversity in these stories. So often authors get chastised for having characters that are "unrealistically" diverse, which is just silly. These stories featured many gay people of color from different cultures and backgrounds.
I was a little bit uncomfortable with some of the age differences in the stories and it bothered me that that was a reoccurring theme in the gay men stories.
I do wish there had been some more bisexual acknowledgement throughout the stories. I also wished that at least one story could have been about a trans character. I guess I'll just have to look out for a trans anthology.
Individual Reviews
Am I Blue? 4 stars
I liked the acknowledgement of sexuality being a spectrum as well as Melvin reclaiming slurs (though I could've done without him saying the n-word since it wasn't mentioned if he was black). Melvin encompass a "stereotypical" gay guy but in a very realistic way. He didn't seem like a trope at all. I loved the second wish and everything that Melvin taught Vince in such a short time. It was especially important that Melvin told Vince he didn't have to decide. Sexuality is a confusing process.
Melvin's story was a sad moment in an otherwise happy story but it was a realistic portrayal of the gay narrative. Horrible things happen but we still fight like hell to be happy and proud.
The only thing I didn't like was the homophobic bullies turning out to be gay. I'm always rubbed the wrong way by that trope.
We Might As Well Be Strangers - 4 stars
This was a very short one but so realistic. I loved the fact that Alison was both gay and Jewish. I loved that her grandmother was empathetic because of what she'd experienced from being Jewish. The mother's insistence that Alison's grandmother wouldn't be okay with it was also realistic. People so often assume others won't be accepting just so they can have someone to back up their bigotry.
Winnie and Tommy - 2.5 stars
I didn't like this one much. It would've been much better if it had ended with Winnie being trans. That's what I'd hoped would happen. I just can't make myself sympathetic about stories where the straight main character has to deal with the shock of someone close to them is gay. The ending was definitely way better than it could have been but there are so many better ways to tell gay stories. I also didn't connect with the characters in this story. It was meh.
Slipping Away - 4 stars
This one wasn't about gay characters specifically. It was more about being different and standing up for people. I would've liked a longer story about these characters. Jacina seemed to have depression and I think a continuation of her story would have been a great exploration of mental illness, change, and standing up for people.
The Honorary Shepherds - 4.5 stars
This story was surprisingly beautiful. I say surprising because Gregory Maguire isn't an author I've enjoyed so far. But this short story made me want to read more of his work because it really was beautiful. I could've done without the negative commentary on short attention spans and technology, but other than that the story was lovely.
I love the diversity in this story and the theme of identity. Two boys who are mixed and falling for each other. Feeling like they don't fit anywhere but then feeling like they fit with each other. They made a place for themselves to feel safe and accepted.
I also loved that this story brushed off the stereotype that being gay is inherently sexual. It started with a comment about boys sleeping together but the story wasn't about sex between boys being filthy. It wasn't even about sex. It was about love and finding yourself and the moments of intimacy were described in such a way that they weren't dirty. But it wasn't unrealistically innocent either. It was real and touching and, have I mentioned, beautiful?
Running - 5 stars
I enjoyed the subtlety of this one. It wasn't explicitly stated that Terry was gay and not even Terry was sure yet but it was still clear that that was part of the reason she was dealing with anger and sadness. Her sister being so easily accepting of gay people while her parents were accepting as long as it didn't have anything to do with them was very realistic. Sheila being able to understand Terry and Terry learning to understand herself definitely paralleled some of my own experiences. It's always good to have a gay "mentor" in your life when you're gay.
This one did a really good job of the beginning of realizing you may be queer. Terry avoided the word gay, wouldn't allow herself to think about the possibility of being gay, and distanced herself from someone she knew to be gay. Overcoming internalized homophobia is a process and I don't think it's touched on often enough.
Three Mondays in July - 3 stars
This one made me uncomfortable. I understand that real people have experiences like David's but the story really made me uncomfortable.
Parents' Night - 5 stars
This was such an accurate portrayal of coming out and acceptance. So often parents aren't accepting right away and it always seems to take dads longer to be accepting than moms. I also loved the GSBA (though I would've liked some trans inclusion) because I think groups for gay kids and even questioning kids and allies is really important. This story also touched on the importance of having gay teachers and mentors in your life. I really appreciated the accuracy. I think I need to check out more work by Nancy Garden because apparently she has several other queer books.
Michael's Little Sister - 4 stars
I always love sibling relationships and that aspect made this story really great for me. Becky sticking up for her brother with no hesitance warmed my heart.
I didn't like how pushy Walt was. Yes it's true gay people can often tell when other people are starting to realize they're gay, but Walt was so presumptuous about the situation. It really bothered me.
Supper - 3 stars
I didn't really get much out of this one. And I never really like the "gay girl makes out with her straight friend but the straight friend doesn't know she's gay" trope.
Holding - 5 stars
I loved this one. It was so sad and heartbreaking but it's so important to portray gay parents in media, not just gay kids. I loved the part at the end of Jon and Willie interacting and Willie telling the truth about his dad. Jon and Willie's dialogue was so true to life.
Blood Sister - 3.5 stars
This was confusing at first but by the end I liked it. I liked the combination of history and fiction. This didn't feel as gay as some of the other stories but I still enjoyed it and I'm interested in reading the books that this was a prequel to.
Hands - 3.5 stars
This one was short and sweet and sad. I don't have much to say about it but I did enjoy it and I liked the solidarity between Lon and Ray.
50% Chance of Lightening - 4 stars
This one was a sweet one and one I could really relate to. When I graduated high school, I wasn't at all ready for college so Robin being unsure about her future really resonated with me. I liked that this story was about a gay teenager but wasn't a coming out story. Coming out stories are great but it's important to tell stories about people who are already out.
In the Tunnels - 4.5 stars
I really liked this one. I tend to love LGBT+ stories that aren't contemporary. There wasn't much interaction between the main character and his love interest but it was clear how much they cared about each other. My only complaint is the age difference between the main character and his love interest. If the MC had been older it wouldn't have bothered me, but he was only 17 so I was a bit uncomfortable with it.
Dancing Backwards - 5 stars
The inspiration from the author's real life made this story even better than it already was. The story acknowledged a sad truth about being gay in a religious community but it wasn't about that. It was about two girls discovering more about themselves and realizing who they were. I really enjoyed it.
I've rated each story individually below. My average rating for the stories in the anthology was 4 stars. Overall, this collection was both great and important. Having a collection of stories like this proved that there's no single gay existence. Many gay people have similar experiences and understand each other deeply because of these similarities, but gay people aren't all the same people. That may sound like a "duh!" statement but too often gay people are stereotyped and expected to behave and look certain ways. Some of the stories in this anthology had characters that fit in with stereotypes while other stories portrayed characters that defied stereotypes. That's true to real life. Some people are stereotypical gays and some people aren't (though people are rarely as simple to describe as that) and both are great ways to be gay.
I liked that a lot of stories touched on straight people's gaydar versus gay people's gaydar. Straight people seem to often assume people are gay based off stereotypes while people who are gay guess based on similarities to their own narratives. I've guessed people were gay because the subtle things they said and did were almost identical to my own actions as I was coming to terms with my sexuality and gender.
There was also a good bit of diversity in these stories. So often authors get chastised for having characters that are "unrealistically" diverse, which is just silly. These stories featured many gay people of color from different cultures and backgrounds.
I was a little bit uncomfortable with some of the age differences in the stories and it bothered me that that was a reoccurring theme in the gay men stories.
I do wish there had been some more bisexual acknowledgement throughout the stories. I also wished that at least one story could have been about a trans character. I guess I'll just have to look out for a trans anthology.
Individual Reviews
Am I Blue? 4 stars
I liked the acknowledgement of sexuality being a spectrum as well as Melvin reclaiming slurs (though I could've done without him saying the n-word since it wasn't mentioned if he was black). Melvin encompass a "stereotypical" gay guy but in a very realistic way. He didn't seem like a trope at all. I loved the second wish and everything that Melvin taught Vince in such a short time. It was especially important that Melvin told Vince he didn't have to decide. Sexuality is a confusing process.
Melvin's story was a sad moment in an otherwise happy story but it was a realistic portrayal of the gay narrative. Horrible things happen but we still fight like hell to be happy and proud.
The only thing I didn't like was the homophobic bullies turning out to be gay. I'm always rubbed the wrong way by that trope.
We Might As Well Be Strangers - 4 stars
This was a very short one but so realistic. I loved the fact that Alison was both gay and Jewish. I loved that her grandmother was empathetic because of what she'd experienced from being Jewish. The mother's insistence that Alison's grandmother wouldn't be okay with it was also realistic. People so often assume others won't be accepting just so they can have someone to back up their bigotry.
Winnie and Tommy - 2.5 stars
I didn't like this one much. It would've been much better if it had ended with Winnie being trans. That's what I'd hoped would happen. I just can't make myself sympathetic about stories where the straight main character has to deal with the shock of someone close to them is gay. The ending was definitely way better than it could have been but there are so many better ways to tell gay stories. I also didn't connect with the characters in this story. It was meh.
Slipping Away - 4 stars
This one wasn't about gay characters specifically. It was more about being different and standing up for people. I would've liked a longer story about these characters. Jacina seemed to have depression and I think a continuation of her story would have been a great exploration of mental illness, change, and standing up for people.
The Honorary Shepherds - 4.5 stars
This story was surprisingly beautiful. I say surprising because Gregory Maguire isn't an author I've enjoyed so far. But this short story made me want to read more of his work because it really was beautiful. I could've done without the negative commentary on short attention spans and technology, but other than that the story was lovely.
I love the diversity in this story and the theme of identity. Two boys who are mixed and falling for each other. Feeling like they don't fit anywhere but then feeling like they fit with each other. They made a place for themselves to feel safe and accepted.
I also loved that this story brushed off the stereotype that being gay is inherently sexual. It started with a comment about boys sleeping together but the story wasn't about sex between boys being filthy. It wasn't even about sex. It was about love and finding yourself and the moments of intimacy were described in such a way that they weren't dirty. But it wasn't unrealistically innocent either. It was real and touching and, have I mentioned, beautiful?
Running - 5 stars
I enjoyed the subtlety of this one. It wasn't explicitly stated that Terry was gay and not even Terry was sure yet but it was still clear that that was part of the reason she was dealing with anger and sadness. Her sister being so easily accepting of gay people while her parents were accepting as long as it didn't have anything to do with them was very realistic. Sheila being able to understand Terry and Terry learning to understand herself definitely paralleled some of my own experiences. It's always good to have a gay "mentor" in your life when you're gay.
This one did a really good job of the beginning of realizing you may be queer. Terry avoided the word gay, wouldn't allow herself to think about the possibility of being gay, and distanced herself from someone she knew to be gay. Overcoming internalized homophobia is a process and I don't think it's touched on often enough.
Three Mondays in July - 3 stars
This one made me uncomfortable. I understand that real people have experiences like David's but the story really made me uncomfortable.
Parents' Night - 5 stars
This was such an accurate portrayal of coming out and acceptance. So often parents aren't accepting right away and it always seems to take dads longer to be accepting than moms. I also loved the GSBA (though I would've liked some trans inclusion) because I think groups for gay kids and even questioning kids and allies is really important. This story also touched on the importance of having gay teachers and mentors in your life. I really appreciated the accuracy. I think I need to check out more work by Nancy Garden because apparently she has several other queer books.
Michael's Little Sister - 4 stars
I always love sibling relationships and that aspect made this story really great for me. Becky sticking up for her brother with no hesitance warmed my heart.
I didn't like how pushy Walt was. Yes it's true gay people can often tell when other people are starting to realize they're gay, but Walt was so presumptuous about the situation. It really bothered me.
Supper - 3 stars
I didn't really get much out of this one. And I never really like the "gay girl makes out with her straight friend but the straight friend doesn't know she's gay" trope.
Holding - 5 stars
I loved this one. It was so sad and heartbreaking but it's so important to portray gay parents in media, not just gay kids. I loved the part at the end of Jon and Willie interacting and Willie telling the truth about his dad. Jon and Willie's dialogue was so true to life.
Blood Sister - 3.5 stars
This was confusing at first but by the end I liked it. I liked the combination of history and fiction. This didn't feel as gay as some of the other stories but I still enjoyed it and I'm interested in reading the books that this was a prequel to.
Hands - 3.5 stars
This one was short and sweet and sad. I don't have much to say about it but I did enjoy it and I liked the solidarity between Lon and Ray.
50% Chance of Lightening - 4 stars
This one was a sweet one and one I could really relate to. When I graduated high school, I wasn't at all ready for college so Robin being unsure about her future really resonated with me. I liked that this story was about a gay teenager but wasn't a coming out story. Coming out stories are great but it's important to tell stories about people who are already out.
In the Tunnels - 4.5 stars
I really liked this one. I tend to love LGBT+ stories that aren't contemporary. There wasn't much interaction between the main character and his love interest but it was clear how much they cared about each other. My only complaint is the age difference between the main character and his love interest. If the MC had been older it wouldn't have bothered me, but he was only 17 so I was a bit uncomfortable with it.
Dancing Backwards - 5 stars
The inspiration from the author's real life made this story even better than it already was. The story acknowledged a sad truth about being gay in a religious community but it wasn't about that. It was about two girls discovering more about themselves and realizing who they were. I really enjoyed it.
January 17, 2012
Two things bring down my opinion of this collection, one is personal, one is more objective.
The first, through no fault of its own, is my distaste for the short story. It's not that I don't think a good story can be told in 10,000 words or thereabouts, in fact many can, but most of this collection needed more fleshing out to really make any sort of impact on me.
The second, though, is how dated it seems. What was edgy and relevant in 1994 seems rather redundant and blasé in 2012. On the plus side, that means that, in spite of what certain groups are trying to do, society is getting better, and that's downright heartening.
The primary standout in my mind is M. E. Kerr's "We Might As Well Be Strangers," the story of how a young, Jewish girl comes out to her mother and grandmother, and how hatred can be both learned from and forgotten.
The collection is worth a read, no matter what I may have said. While not all of the stories are still relevant, many are, and the ones that aren't provide a good picture of changing times and what life was like not even twenty years ago.
The first, through no fault of its own, is my distaste for the short story. It's not that I don't think a good story can be told in 10,000 words or thereabouts, in fact many can, but most of this collection needed more fleshing out to really make any sort of impact on me.
The second, though, is how dated it seems. What was edgy and relevant in 1994 seems rather redundant and blasé in 2012. On the plus side, that means that, in spite of what certain groups are trying to do, society is getting better, and that's downright heartening.
The primary standout in my mind is M. E. Kerr's "We Might As Well Be Strangers," the story of how a young, Jewish girl comes out to her mother and grandmother, and how hatred can be both learned from and forgotten.
The collection is worth a read, no matter what I may have said. While not all of the stories are still relevant, many are, and the ones that aren't provide a good picture of changing times and what life was like not even twenty years ago.
December 6, 2016
This is a solid group of short stories. My favorite story was "Michael's Little Sister" by C.S Adler. I didn't have much of an emotional response to any of the others, but most of the stories were good and I did enjoy them. The only one I actually disliked is "Blood Sister" by Jane Yolen.
I have only a few criticisms. First of all, in the first story ("Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville) there is an off hand comment by one of the characters that I thought was kind of biphobic. That was mildly irritating, but whatever. Perhaps I misinterpreted it.
Also, this anthology was published in 1994. That's 22 years ago! A lot of things have changed in those years and a few things feel out of date.
Tl;dr version- Good but not great anthology. I would recommend it, especially if you like stories with LGBT characters and themes.
I have only a few criticisms. First of all, in the first story ("Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville) there is an off hand comment by one of the characters that I thought was kind of biphobic. That was mildly irritating, but whatever. Perhaps I misinterpreted it.
Also, this anthology was published in 1994. That's 22 years ago! A lot of things have changed in those years and a few things feel out of date.
Tl;dr version- Good but not great anthology. I would recommend it, especially if you like stories with LGBT characters and themes.
August 1, 2012
it was a great read that is really inspirational to LGBTQ teens.
i almost complained to my school library for having this a senior fiction just because it had gay themes then i read "three mondays in july" and some of the others and kinda figured Senior Fiction might be a bit more apropriate.
it was an excelent read though and i would recomend it to everyone simply because it is educational for Gays as well as straight people.
i almost complained to my school library for having this a senior fiction just because it had gay themes then i read "three mondays in july" and some of the others and kinda figured Senior Fiction might be a bit more apropriate.
it was an excelent read though and i would recomend it to everyone simply because it is educational for Gays as well as straight people.
February 9, 2024
This anthology was alright, but a lot of the stories felt cut off too soon or undeveloped. I feel like most of them would be much more memorable if they could just explore what they were getting at a bit more. Nevertheless, there were a few I really enjoyed. I'd say the stand out stories for me were 1. The Honorary Shepherds by Gregory Maguire and 2. Blood Sister by Jane Yolen, which both experiment with form and medium. Both also have something to say about myth and history, and how these are molded into current day narratives. These two aside though, it was an overall okay read.
Forgot to update ratings for the last two stories so here they are as well:
In the Tunnels: 2/5 Felt a bit bored reading, even though the setting had much potential
Dancing Backwards: 2.5/5
Honourary Shepherds note: Ms. Cabbage probably isn't completely real, the book shows a larger than life world as if told in hindsight, seeing adolescence through a nostalgic lens. She's fairly complex and idealized - intellectual yet kind, vulnerable yet indomitable, unafraid to show herself. She teaches the self as built through myth, using the changes to her body as an object lesson. Pete & Lee are outside of their school's dominant cultures, while she stands living outside of myth and legend. Students wonder who we are - when we become ill, they realize that we're not some projection of mythology. How does she reconcile her own beliefs and work at a school that would fire her for having them? "Live out the old myth, pour new life into it. You belong there" - the canon does not need to be rewritten or replaced, but to be owned as we pour ourselves into it. The stories need us as much as we need them - without its diverse readers, the canon is rendered a dead thing. Everyone is capable of doing the difficult work of finding a place for themselves in the works that define our world. A myth is yours only if you choose to own it, analyse it, examine it, wonder about ourselves in it - we should be reading as if our lives depend on it because sometimes they do. The canon exists for a reason - somehow maybe all of us belong in its stories.
Forgot to update ratings for the last two stories so here they are as well:
In the Tunnels: 2/5 Felt a bit bored reading, even though the setting had much potential
Dancing Backwards: 2.5/5
Honourary Shepherds note: Ms. Cabbage probably isn't completely real, the book shows a larger than life world as if told in hindsight, seeing adolescence through a nostalgic lens. She's fairly complex and idealized - intellectual yet kind, vulnerable yet indomitable, unafraid to show herself. She teaches the self as built through myth, using the changes to her body as an object lesson. Pete & Lee are outside of their school's dominant cultures, while she stands living outside of myth and legend. Students wonder who we are - when we become ill, they realize that we're not some projection of mythology. How does she reconcile her own beliefs and work at a school that would fire her for having them? "Live out the old myth, pour new life into it. You belong there" - the canon does not need to be rewritten or replaced, but to be owned as we pour ourselves into it. The stories need us as much as we need them - without its diverse readers, the canon is rendered a dead thing. Everyone is capable of doing the difficult work of finding a place for themselves in the works that define our world. A myth is yours only if you choose to own it, analyse it, examine it, wonder about ourselves in it - we should be reading as if our lives depend on it because sometimes they do. The canon exists for a reason - somehow maybe all of us belong in its stories.
January 20, 2020
3 stars
Trigger warnings: homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, violence
Content warning: erasure of every queer orientation that isn't gay or lesbian
The problem with this book is how old it is. Because of its age, it doesn't acknowledge any sexual orientation other than straight, gay and lesbian. Which doesn't leave a whole lot of space for diversity. If you were a queer teen in the 1990s, I'm sure this book would have been great (considering the lack of queer-friendly material back then). But reading it in 2020, it feels dated and I can't say I relate to any of the stories.
A lot of the stories included in this volume are violent. Homophobia is present in most of the stories, and there are a lot of microagressions. I don't know if it still represents what the US is like for queer people, but it left me sad if it's the case.
On the bright side, the amount of racial diversity was amazing! I've rarely seen 10+ years-old books with that much diversity, and I'm sure that helped a lot of diverse queer kids in their development. On that front, I believe this was a much needed book that can still be useful today.
Don't look into this book if you want any rep for non-gay/lesbian queer kids, but do read it if you want LG ethnically diverse rep!
Trigger warnings: homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, violence
Content warning: erasure of every queer orientation that isn't gay or lesbian
The problem with this book is how old it is. Because of its age, it doesn't acknowledge any sexual orientation other than straight, gay and lesbian. Which doesn't leave a whole lot of space for diversity. If you were a queer teen in the 1990s, I'm sure this book would have been great (considering the lack of queer-friendly material back then). But reading it in 2020, it feels dated and I can't say I relate to any of the stories.
A lot of the stories included in this volume are violent. Homophobia is present in most of the stories, and there are a lot of microagressions. I don't know if it still represents what the US is like for queer people, but it left me sad if it's the case.
On the bright side, the amount of racial diversity was amazing! I've rarely seen 10+ years-old books with that much diversity, and I'm sure that helped a lot of diverse queer kids in their development. On that front, I believe this was a much needed book that can still be useful today.
Don't look into this book if you want any rep for non-gay/lesbian queer kids, but do read it if you want LG ethnically diverse rep!
August 22, 2016
A heart-warming collection of very well-selected and well-written stories about growing up gay or lesbian or with gay or lesbian friends or parents.
The story is kicked off to a great start with Bruce Coville's amusing story 'Am I Blue?' that challenges the idea of homosexuality/heterosexuality as an exclusive binary.
ME Kerr - We might as well all be strangers - I really liked this story about a Jewish girl whose family are not very happy about her revelation and warn her not to tell her grandmother yet her grandmother is most accepting because she experienced persecution for being different and wouldn't wish it on anyone
Francesca Lia Block - Winnie and Tommy - a nice story about two gender-bending misfits; Winnie is boyish and hetero and Tommy is pretty and gay; a lovely friendship and growth and understanding between them.
Jacqueline Woodson - Slipping Away - story of a quite young girl who loves her best buddy perhaps more than a buddy, her summer friend, and some of the mysteries of their summer location and her mother's orientation
Gregory Maguire - The Honorary Shepherds - a cleverly written but quite hard story of two boys in high school and the project they do with their dying female English teacher
Ellen Howard - Running - I really liked this story about a teenage girl who is frustrated and hurt by her friend getting a boyfriend and what she learns about herself by befriending a persecuted friend of her sister's.
James Cross Giblin - Three Mondays in July - I didn't really like this story set in the '50s about a young man who finds himself doing a lot of obsessing about male bodies. I guess to me it just reduced things down too much to sex and also seemed to have a bit of a cliché about liking show tunes
Nancy Garden - Parents' Night - a really nice story about a confident teenage girl who is out with her friends but not her parents. Has a special relationship with her father that is affected and they have to come to terms with each other, with the school club day (LGBT club) looming
C S Adler - Michael's Little Sister - a nice story about a boy whose mother works a lot so he spends a lot of time caring for his younger sister. She feels different just like he does. The crisis of wanting affection and fear of losing love for being what is feared to be unlovably different.
Leslea Newman - Supper - I didn't really like this story about a girl who tried kissing a boy and didn't like it but got off on making out with a female friend who appeared to be rather naively 'showing her' what boys might do. There was an interesting message about pretending with the girl telling everyone she is vegetarian but secretly eating meat.
Lois Lowry - Holding - a really nice story about a hetero teenage boy and his best mate who has kept a secret from for years: that when his parents split, his father's new partner, Chris, is a man not a woman. Now Chris has passed away and he has to be there for his dad and choose whether to tell his friend or not
Jane Yolen - Blood Sister - this was the only fantasy story of the collection and did feel a bit out of place; I didn't have the context of having read any of Yolen's other stories in this fantasy world. Some kind of matriarchal world. The story was ok, again this recurring theme of one female friend feeling more for her best buddy than the other.
Jonathan London - Hands - I didn't really like this story, either, of a teenage boy who befriends a gay teacher who was persecuted at his school for being an innocently feely-touchy man who liked to use his hands to touch people to express himself. It seemed to have borrowed its motif of the hands from another story and just repeated that message. However, personally I thought the teacher was pretty creepy and could see where the boys who complained were coming from!
Cristina Salat - 50% Chance of Lightnight - this was an interesting story of a girl who knows she is a lesbian and is out but hasn't had the chance to fall in love, and a girl who pretends to be hetero but tries to take advantage of her. A story about choices and finding the right path.
William Sleator - In the Tunnels - this was an ok story set during the Vietnam War and told from the Vietnamese perspective, two guerrilla warriors who steal moments to comfort and support each other in the tunnels
Marion Dane Bauer - Dancing Backwards - I liked this story about two girls at a Girls Academy who were innocently in love without realising it but brought to an awareness of what was possible for them by the condemnation of adults.
The story is kicked off to a great start with Bruce Coville's amusing story 'Am I Blue?' that challenges the idea of homosexuality/heterosexuality as an exclusive binary.
ME Kerr - We might as well all be strangers - I really liked this story about a Jewish girl whose family are not very happy about her revelation and warn her not to tell her grandmother yet her grandmother is most accepting because she experienced persecution for being different and wouldn't wish it on anyone
Francesca Lia Block - Winnie and Tommy - a nice story about two gender-bending misfits; Winnie is boyish and hetero and Tommy is pretty and gay; a lovely friendship and growth and understanding between them.
Jacqueline Woodson - Slipping Away - story of a quite young girl who loves her best buddy perhaps more than a buddy, her summer friend, and some of the mysteries of their summer location and her mother's orientation
Gregory Maguire - The Honorary Shepherds - a cleverly written but quite hard story of two boys in high school and the project they do with their dying female English teacher
Ellen Howard - Running - I really liked this story about a teenage girl who is frustrated and hurt by her friend getting a boyfriend and what she learns about herself by befriending a persecuted friend of her sister's.
James Cross Giblin - Three Mondays in July - I didn't really like this story set in the '50s about a young man who finds himself doing a lot of obsessing about male bodies. I guess to me it just reduced things down too much to sex and also seemed to have a bit of a cliché about liking show tunes
Nancy Garden - Parents' Night - a really nice story about a confident teenage girl who is out with her friends but not her parents. Has a special relationship with her father that is affected and they have to come to terms with each other, with the school club day (LGBT club) looming
C S Adler - Michael's Little Sister - a nice story about a boy whose mother works a lot so he spends a lot of time caring for his younger sister. She feels different just like he does. The crisis of wanting affection and fear of losing love for being what is feared to be unlovably different.
Leslea Newman - Supper - I didn't really like this story about a girl who tried kissing a boy and didn't like it but got off on making out with a female friend who appeared to be rather naively 'showing her' what boys might do. There was an interesting message about pretending with the girl telling everyone she is vegetarian but secretly eating meat.
Lois Lowry - Holding - a really nice story about a hetero teenage boy and his best mate who has kept a secret from for years: that when his parents split, his father's new partner, Chris, is a man not a woman. Now Chris has passed away and he has to be there for his dad and choose whether to tell his friend or not
Jane Yolen - Blood Sister - this was the only fantasy story of the collection and did feel a bit out of place; I didn't have the context of having read any of Yolen's other stories in this fantasy world. Some kind of matriarchal world. The story was ok, again this recurring theme of one female friend feeling more for her best buddy than the other.
Jonathan London - Hands - I didn't really like this story, either, of a teenage boy who befriends a gay teacher who was persecuted at his school for being an innocently feely-touchy man who liked to use his hands to touch people to express himself. It seemed to have borrowed its motif of the hands from another story and just repeated that message. However, personally I thought the teacher was pretty creepy and could see where the boys who complained were coming from!
Cristina Salat - 50% Chance of Lightnight - this was an interesting story of a girl who knows she is a lesbian and is out but hasn't had the chance to fall in love, and a girl who pretends to be hetero but tries to take advantage of her. A story about choices and finding the right path.
William Sleator - In the Tunnels - this was an ok story set during the Vietnam War and told from the Vietnamese perspective, two guerrilla warriors who steal moments to comfort and support each other in the tunnels
Marion Dane Bauer - Dancing Backwards - I liked this story about two girls at a Girls Academy who were innocently in love without realising it but brought to an awareness of what was possible for them by the condemnation of adults.
January 27, 2016
Thoughts:
It is hard to read a queer lit book that was written in the early 90s. Put differently: I was born in '92 and my views/opinions/understandings of what it is to be queer have changed dramatically in the course of 20 years. So a book that is as old as I am will, naturally, feel a little dated. It was hard to read in that respect, but the existence of such a book in the 90s makes up for it. It takes astounding courage - just as much courage as Ellen coming out on her show. Even if the authors themselves did not identify with the community, the 'guilt by association' argument (even today) still very much holds. So, as a queer kid who was unfortunate enough to not find this book until the closet had been blown open, I am glad that the community was fortunate enough in the early 90s (and all the years that followed) to have this resource available to them.
It was interesting to see all the different approaches that were taken in telling these stories. There was one that had some mythical/spiritual approach, there was a Vietnam war one - there were so many different angles that it kept the pages turning fairly quickly (seriously, though, it was an insanely fast read). It was also good to see the diversity - yes, there were only lesbian and gay couples and we know there are so many more identities once we step outside the binary - but the diversity in race/ethnicity was fairly prevalent and I enjoyed that particularly. (#weneeddiversebooks - can I get a hell yeah?)
Yes, this is a dated book. But the intent and impact is there. The writers of today should band together in a similarly massive force and put forth another book like this. We need it.
It is hard to read a queer lit book that was written in the early 90s. Put differently: I was born in '92 and my views/opinions/understandings of what it is to be queer have changed dramatically in the course of 20 years. So a book that is as old as I am will, naturally, feel a little dated. It was hard to read in that respect, but the existence of such a book in the 90s makes up for it. It takes astounding courage - just as much courage as Ellen coming out on her show. Even if the authors themselves did not identify with the community, the 'guilt by association' argument (even today) still very much holds. So, as a queer kid who was unfortunate enough to not find this book until the closet had been blown open, I am glad that the community was fortunate enough in the early 90s (and all the years that followed) to have this resource available to them.
It was interesting to see all the different approaches that were taken in telling these stories. There was one that had some mythical/spiritual approach, there was a Vietnam war one - there were so many different angles that it kept the pages turning fairly quickly (seriously, though, it was an insanely fast read). It was also good to see the diversity - yes, there were only lesbian and gay couples and we know there are so many more identities once we step outside the binary - but the diversity in race/ethnicity was fairly prevalent and I enjoyed that particularly. (#weneeddiversebooks - can I get a hell yeah?)
Yes, this is a dated book. But the intent and impact is there. The writers of today should band together in a similarly massive force and put forth another book like this. We need it.
April 28, 2010
A collection of short stories by a variety of different authors), all focusing on teenagers coming to terms with either their own homosexuality or that of a friend or relative. A lot of the stories involve the teenager getting guidance from an older (or more experienced) person who guides them through the experience of coming out. Sometimes this is sweet, like in the story where a girl is counseled by her older sister's gay friend; and sometimes it's hella creepy, like the story involving a teenage boy spying on a nude male sunbather at the beach.
My favorite story didn't actually focus on a teenager coming out of the closet (unlike most of the stories in this collection) - instead, it was about a teenage boy going to New York to visit his father after the death of his father's longtime (male) lover. It's sweet and touching and not too in-your-face about the whole being-gay-is-okay message.
Other than that, most of the stories didn't strike me as particularly amazing. Mostly my reaction was just meh. Also, since this collection was published in 1994, everything has a very dated feel to it that can be distracting.
Read for: Social Justice in Young Adult Literature
My favorite story didn't actually focus on a teenager coming out of the closet (unlike most of the stories in this collection) - instead, it was about a teenage boy going to New York to visit his father after the death of his father's longtime (male) lover. It's sweet and touching and not too in-your-face about the whole being-gay-is-okay message.
Other than that, most of the stories didn't strike me as particularly amazing. Mostly my reaction was just meh. Also, since this collection was published in 1994, everything has a very dated feel to it that can be distracting.
Read for: Social Justice in Young Adult Literature
March 10, 2011
This collection of short stories about homosexuality has something for everyone. This is not to say that one person can't enjoy all of it, though. As with most young adult fiction, these stories featured a teen or tween protagonist. But these are not all 'coming out' stories. Some characters are out and comfortable with that, some are struggling with coming out, and some are not even sure that they're going to. The collection, though variations on a theme, are quite diverse. I cannot name any story that I did not enjoy, but I do have a favorite. The title tale, "Am I Blue?" is easily the best of them all in my opinion.
One thing I found interesting was that there was an 'about the author' page at the end of each story which most authors used to flog their current books. All of them made sure to state whether they were gay as well. Most of them were not, but they were all able to write a realistic and resonant story. I recommend this collection to everyone on the planet. The perspective will do anyone good.
One thing I found interesting was that there was an 'about the author' page at the end of each story which most authors used to flog their current books. All of them made sure to state whether they were gay as well. Most of them were not, but they were all able to write a realistic and resonant story. I recommend this collection to everyone on the planet. The perspective will do anyone good.
May 9, 2011
I came across this book in library database: I was checking if Gregory Maguire's Wicked was in shelf and in the search I found this book too ('cause Maguire has written one of the stories in the book).
It's a collection of short stories with gay-theme for young adults. They were dealing with both gay teenagers and teenagers with gay parents. I liked most of the stories more or less. Only Jane Yolen's story I half-skipped. My favourite was probably Nancy Garden's "Parents' Night" which was about coming out to parents and their reaction and finally acceptance. Also the title story by Bruce Coville was pretty neat and C. S. Adler's story very cute.
The best things in short story collections are that there's something for everyone and the different views. This was a good collection of different kind of stories, little slices of life of bigger and smaller struggles and happy moments. I recommend this to everyone, let it widen everyone's view of the world.
It's a collection of short stories with gay-theme for young adults. They were dealing with both gay teenagers and teenagers with gay parents. I liked most of the stories more or less. Only Jane Yolen's story I half-skipped. My favourite was probably Nancy Garden's "Parents' Night" which was about coming out to parents and their reaction and finally acceptance. Also the title story by Bruce Coville was pretty neat and C. S. Adler's story very cute.
The best things in short story collections are that there's something for everyone and the different views. This was a good collection of different kind of stories, little slices of life of bigger and smaller struggles and happy moments. I recommend this to everyone, let it widen everyone's view of the world.
May 18, 2016
This novel is written for the mature audience. I would introduce this to students in their teen years, once they understand more about the GLBTQ community. This is a great novel because it has short stories within it that address homosexuality. Some of the stories are written by teens who have "come out" or falling in love with those of them same sex as them. Other stories are written by friends and family who have someone in their lives that depicts themselves as GLBT or Q. This novel was well written and allows the reader to understand the idea that they are not alone. I felt feelings of hope and perseverance in the writer's stories.
October 29, 2007
Finally made my way through and read some of the stories in the book by my favorite YA authors. It's a book that contains 16 separate stories dealing with coming out of the closet. Some of the stories were really sweet and some even made me cry.
June 8, 2008
I picked this up a couple of months ago. I haven't read it in over a decade. I didn't expect the stories to illicit any emotional response from me. But I was wrong. They are still so moving, so true and so diverse. My favorite is still the title story "Am I blue?".
December 19, 2017
This was a great read. Very thought provoking and the stories truly immersed you in someone elses life, hurdles and emotions. So glad my local library went the extra step to do an interlibrary loan so I could read it!
Want to read
November 14, 2008I'm re-reading this.
November 17, 2025
I enjoyed this like an artifact of history and would have loved to study this in some type of queer studies/LGBTQ+ literature class. Some of these YA short stories still really hold up and will stick with me, but there was a lot of overlap in terms of queer experiences and I'm sure if something like this were published today, there would be a greater diversity of voices and narratives. Glad I read it - it has been staring at me in the book closet for years!
November 15, 2020
Great book. Loved every story, they were really engaging and well written, and each one had a great lesson.
January 1, 2023
I would like more people to understand that there had not existed a book like this (an anthology of queer writing written specifically for queer teens) before this one.
January 4, 2014
I was first attracted to, “Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence,” when I was looking through my 9th grade English teacher’s bookshelf. I saw the title and thought, “That’s different,” and picked it up. Well I was right, it is different, but it’s a beautiful kind of different! “Am I Blue?” is written by various authors as it is a collection of stories. Each one has a common theme: adolescence and sexuality. I was expecting serious stories of tormenting teens because of their life choices and those teens overcoming their oppressors. I definitely was not expecting humorous, whimsical characters whose adventures breathe me in and make me feel like I’m living them. Of course there are tales of hardships and judgements, but overall, “Am I Blue?” is a spectacular piece of literature.
The book starts off with a story that is actually called, “Am I Blue?” and it is written by Bruce Coville. There are three main characters whose names are Vincent, Melvin, and Butch. My personal favorite is Melvin because he is just an all around amazing guy with a witty and sparkling personality! Melvin comes to help Vincent after he is attacked by Butch for being confused about his sexuality. At first Vincent is wary of him, because Melvin is a very stereotypical gay man and calls him “honey.” However as Melvin tells Vincent his story, he realizes that they aren’t that different. Melvin explains that he is his fairy godfather and that he had died while being attacked for being gay. So obviously they were in very similar situations; Vincent’s was much less intense. When Melvin is finished telling his story he asks Vincent what his 3 wishes are. Vincent has no idea what to wish for so Melvin continues on by saying that the ultimate fantasy is to turn every gay person blue. Ranging from light blues for the confused too bright blues for the definites. That way every straight person would have to live with the fact that they know and like at least one gay person even if they don’t support their decisions. Now do you get the title name? I thought it was very creative and a great way to start of this book. It’s up to you to find out what happens next. If I were you I would unquestionably pick up this book and start reading to learn of the struggles of being an adolescent and figuring yourself out.
I believe everyone can relate to this book in some way shape or form, but I can directly relate to some of the stories. These stories are those of the kids who aren’t gay but know someone who is. I knew someone who was gay, my uncle. When he realized this he struggled a lot. My grandfather, his father, was a police officer and was just very masculine all around. My uncle thought that since he was gay he wasn’t masculine and that his dad would be ashamed of him. After a while the world got to him, and he passed away. Can you imagine feeling the way he did? Can you imagine someone you love going through the same thing? I know how it feels to sit back and watch, not doing anything and just seeing him wither away on his own. But you can do something. If you know someone who is struggling with their sexuality or anything at all, tell them you support them even if you don’t agree with their lifestyle.
I love this book! It is a beautiful blend of hard times and humor. I wouldn’t change anything about it. “Am I Blue?” really opened my eyes even more to the real thoughts and actions of those figuring themselves out. Also this is the first LGBT book that I have ever read and I’ll admit at first I was scared. Scared of what people would think of me when they read the back cover and found out what it is about. Scared that people would make assumptions and judge me for something that I am not. But that’s what this book is all about, being brave, standing up for what you believe is right, and embracing the opinions of others no matter if you agree with them or not. So if you do or don’t share my opinion of supporting gays and lesbians, read this book. Step into the character’s shoes and get a new perspective on life, the difficulties of teenagehood, and love. I know I have.
The book starts off with a story that is actually called, “Am I Blue?” and it is written by Bruce Coville. There are three main characters whose names are Vincent, Melvin, and Butch. My personal favorite is Melvin because he is just an all around amazing guy with a witty and sparkling personality! Melvin comes to help Vincent after he is attacked by Butch for being confused about his sexuality. At first Vincent is wary of him, because Melvin is a very stereotypical gay man and calls him “honey.” However as Melvin tells Vincent his story, he realizes that they aren’t that different. Melvin explains that he is his fairy godfather and that he had died while being attacked for being gay. So obviously they were in very similar situations; Vincent’s was much less intense. When Melvin is finished telling his story he asks Vincent what his 3 wishes are. Vincent has no idea what to wish for so Melvin continues on by saying that the ultimate fantasy is to turn every gay person blue. Ranging from light blues for the confused too bright blues for the definites. That way every straight person would have to live with the fact that they know and like at least one gay person even if they don’t support their decisions. Now do you get the title name? I thought it was very creative and a great way to start of this book. It’s up to you to find out what happens next. If I were you I would unquestionably pick up this book and start reading to learn of the struggles of being an adolescent and figuring yourself out.
I believe everyone can relate to this book in some way shape or form, but I can directly relate to some of the stories. These stories are those of the kids who aren’t gay but know someone who is. I knew someone who was gay, my uncle. When he realized this he struggled a lot. My grandfather, his father, was a police officer and was just very masculine all around. My uncle thought that since he was gay he wasn’t masculine and that his dad would be ashamed of him. After a while the world got to him, and he passed away. Can you imagine feeling the way he did? Can you imagine someone you love going through the same thing? I know how it feels to sit back and watch, not doing anything and just seeing him wither away on his own. But you can do something. If you know someone who is struggling with their sexuality or anything at all, tell them you support them even if you don’t agree with their lifestyle.
I love this book! It is a beautiful blend of hard times and humor. I wouldn’t change anything about it. “Am I Blue?” really opened my eyes even more to the real thoughts and actions of those figuring themselves out. Also this is the first LGBT book that I have ever read and I’ll admit at first I was scared. Scared of what people would think of me when they read the back cover and found out what it is about. Scared that people would make assumptions and judge me for something that I am not. But that’s what this book is all about, being brave, standing up for what you believe is right, and embracing the opinions of others no matter if you agree with them or not. So if you do or don’t share my opinion of supporting gays and lesbians, read this book. Step into the character’s shoes and get a new perspective on life, the difficulties of teenagehood, and love. I know I have.
October 2, 2022
beautiful stories
January 23, 2019
I loved this book. I feel that this book is extremely important to read, especially among the youth. I feel that it's also an important read from friends, family, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. The stories are relatable and personable, so they make for easy reads.
June 11, 2018
Read this as part of a Young Adult lit class at college and fell in love with it. The stories are vulnerable, heartbreaking and loving.
June 10, 2018
My favorite stories were We Might As Well All Be Strangers, In the Tunnels, and Dancing Backwards.
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