Keeping You A Secret

Peters, Julie Anne.  Keeping You A Secret.  New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2003.  Print.

Awards

2003 Lambda Literary Award Finalist

2004 ALA Stonewall Honor Book

2004 ALA Amelia Bloomer Project List of Recommended Feminist Books for Youth

2006 ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults   

New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age

Alphabet Award (First recipient)

Annotation

Holland Jaeger has just realized she’s a lesbian and she’s in love with a girl from her school, Cece Goddard.  Both Cece and Holland decide to keep their relationship a secret, until the truth becomes impossible to hide.

Booktalk

These are the rules:

1.)   “They got it wrong when they called it “the closet”.  [It’s] a prison”.

2.)   “You can’t always trust your friends”.

3.)   “You don’t have to do anything to be hated for being gay”.

4.)   You think telling people your gay is “about identity.  Love…asking for acceptance”.  Others, including your friends and family, think you’re “asking for trouble”.

These are just some of the rules Holland Jaeger has to live by now that she’s admitted she’s a lesbian.  Holland works hard at school, has a job and is on the swim team.  She loves her sister Hannah and is trying to get along with her other sister, Faith.  It shouldn’t matter that she’s in love with Cece Goddard.  Cece, though, knows that’s not the case.  Having transferred from another school in the area, Cece knows how hurtful people can be when they find out you’re gay.  She begs Holland to keep the secret.  And while Holland does break up with her boyfriend, she doesn’t tell him why and she doesn’t tell her two closest friends either.

Keeping the secret seems like such a good idea at first, but will staying quiet turn out to be a mistake?  What if everyone at school finds out (it wouldn’t be too hard, Cece’s not exactly in the closet).  What if Faith tells their parents just to spite Holland?  Most importantly, what if everyone Holland loves finds out the truth from someone other than her?   

*Christine (19 years old) suggested I read this book.  She told me that she enjoyed it because "it talks about current themes, themes teenagers can relate to".  "It's emotional because Holland's friends and family have a hard time accepting her, but once Holland is at peace with herself, there's also a message of hope [and] that's important" she added.*


Image credit:  http://www.julieannepeters.com/files/ExcerptKYAS.htm

The Vast Fields of Ordinary

Burd, Nick.  The Vast Fields of Ordinary.  New York: Dial Books, 2009.  Print.

Awards

2009 New York Times Notable Book of 2009

2010 ALA Stonewall Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature

2010 ALA Rainbow Books

Annotation

Dade is spending his last summer before college doing ordinary things in his small town of Cedarville until he meets Alex, someone who is different from anyone else he knows and who will spark changes in his life that can’t be undone. 

Booktalk

“I practiced saying I was gay to inanimate objects around the house.  I told the soap dish in my bathroom, the ceiling fan above my bed, the blue drinking glass I favored above all the others simply because over the years its entire family had perished one by one during various interactions with hard surfaces around the kitchen and I’d convinced myself our solitude was linked. 

“I’m gay,” I told these things.”

Dade Hamilton has just graduated from high school and can’t wait to get out of Cedarville and go to Fairmont in the fall.  In fact, only a few days ago he was at his senior prom, drawing the initials DH + PS in a heart on the wall of the boy’s bathroom.  PS stands for Pablo Soto, his sometimes boyfriend.  Now Dade is spending his last summer at home, working at FoodWorld and going to parties hosted by Judy Lockhart, also known as Pablo’ girlfriend.  Dade loves Pablo, but Pablo isn’t ready to admit yet that he’s gay.  While trying to figure out how to deal with this, Dade meets Alex at a party and soon their friendship grows into something more. 

From this chance encounter on, Dade’s summer will start to unfold in ways he never expected from his parents’ marital troubles to the disappearance of a local autistic girl.  As Dade struggles to keep up he realizes that it’s not college he’s longing for, but the truth.  Will Dade be able to be honest with others?  Will those around him reveal their own truths?  Will the end of the summer finally bring with it some answers or just more questions?

Image credit:  http://www.worldcat.org/title/vast-fields-of-ordinary/oclc/275150000?referer=brief_results

Along for the Ride

Dessen, Sarah.  Along for the Ride.  New York: Viking, 2009.  Print.

Awards

2010 ALA Teens’ Top Ten

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Annotation

Auden decides to spend the summer before her freshman year of college at her dad’s beach house with her step mom and the new baby.  She expects to use the time to prepare for the upcoming semester, but instead starts to learn the value of having fun, having friends and having a boyfriend.

Booktalk

Auden is serious about school, she’s serious about pleasing her parents and she’s serious about using the summer to prepare for her freshman year at college.  That’s why Auden surprises everyone by agreeing to spend the summer at her father’s beach house with her step mom and their new baby.  She plans on spending most of her time studying for the upcoming semester, but once in Colby Auden finds herself getting pulled into new experiences. 

Having missed out on social events while in high school and also having been afraid to disappoint her mother who’s a professor, Auden finally starts to learn over the course of the summer how important it is to have friends…and to fail sometimes, just as long as you get back on the bike.  She also finds herself on a quest to make up for her lost childhood and begins doing all the fun things she never had time for before – bowling, having a paper route, starting food fights and, of course, riding a bike.  It’s Eli, a champion bike rider, who is teaching her all of these new skills and it’s only when spending time with him that Auden begins to understand how important it is to enjoy life and to go along for the ride.

*Elle (16 years old) inspired me to read this book; she is an avid fan of the author and thinks "Sarah Dessen's books are great".  She also loves that Auden spends the summer at the beach "having fun and learning new things...even when she's scared", including how to ride a bicycle.  "Everyone loves the beach" she adds, pointing out how almost everyone can relate to Auden's experience.*

Image credit:  http://sarahdessen.com/book/along-for-the-ride/

Out of the Pocket

Konigsberg, Bill.  Out of the Pocket.  New York: Dutton Books, 2008.  Print.

Awards

2009 Lambda Literary Award for Best YA Novel

2009 Rainbow List for Young Adult Fiction

Annotation

Bobby Framingham, the star quarterback at Durango High School, is gay, but he didn’t want anyone to know.  Now that his secret’s out and been picked up by the national media, Bobby’s starting to wonder if he’s about to lose his chance at making it in the NFL.

Booktalk

“Maybe it does matter.  I keep waiting for people to just accept that I’m gay, like gay and straight are equal.  But they aren’t equal.  Otherwise, would we be having this conversation?  Would we have voted on whether I could stay on the team?”

Bobby Framingham is gay, but hardly anybody knows except a few close friends.  He’s keeping it a secret because not only is he one of the most popular kids at school, but he’s also the star quarterback of his high school football team.  Bobby knows that in order to be picked up by an outstanding college he needs to keep his mouth shut, at least for now.  After all, professional athletes involved in team sports don’t come out until after retirement.  Before Bobby can decide when – and how – he’ll come out, though, the choice is taken from him by a friend who spots a good story and splashes it all over the front pages of the school newspaper.  Now Bobby’s secret is a national story.  How will his family react?  His teammates?  Coach?  Will Bobby be kicked off the team in the middle of his senior year?  And what will happen to his chance to play college ball and then make it as a pro in the NFL?

Bobby’s scrambling fast to make a play now that he’s been forced out of the pocket…but can he recover from this?

Image credit:  http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780525479963,00.html?Out_of_the_Pocket_Bill_Konigsberg#