PFLAG of the High Country's own Nanci and Kathy eagerly savored dozens of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ) teen novels during 2005. Nanci, a former high school English teacher, and Kathy, a avid reader, chose the following books due to modern relevance, wide appeal, and, er, rated PG-ness. Many, many more books are available. For a more complete listing, see ASU's library guide. Meanwhile, another member, Christ's Church United of Boone Pastor Cindy Long, assisted compiling the list of religious texts and general books for parents and teens. The library call number is noted, when known.
Many of these books are available at the Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes County libraries and at the Appalachian State University Library. High Country residents over 18 years can purchase an ASU Community Borrowers Card for $10 per year.
For more information or to add your suggestions, please contact
staleykl1971@yahoo.com .
Aarons, Leroy. Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1996.
Overview: A tear jerker which explores a mother's struggles after her gay son commits suicide.
Boenke, Mary, ed. Trans Forming Families: Real Stories About Transgendered Loved Ones. 2nd edition.
Overview:A series of stories by the families of transgender people, all finding their way to acceptance. Also includes biographies of some trans people, a glossary, bibliography and list of TG organizations. This is recommended as the best first book for parents and others struggling to understand. Available from maryboenke@aol.com or pflagtnet@triad.rr.com.
Fairchild, Betty and Nancy Hayward. Now that You Know: A Parents' Guide to Understanding Their Gay and Lesbian Children. Orlando: Harcourt Brace, 1998. Third Edition. (Watauga Public Parent 306.766 Fairchild)
Overview: Originally published in 1979, this is a classic text. Very good book in general that helps those who learn that a loved one is LGBT explore their feelings; however, it was originally written in 1978 and many references haven't been updated.
Griffin, Carolyn Welch, Marian J. Wirth, Arthur G. Wirth. Beyond Acceptance: Parents of Lesbians and Gays Talk about Their Experiences. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1996.
Overview: Excellent resource for those who find out that a loved one is LGBT, assists in moving from tolerance and basic acceptance to peace and compassion.
Marcus, Eric. Is It a Choice? Answers to 300 of the Most Frequently Asked Questions about Gays and Lesbians. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993.
Overview: A handy reference for those inevitable questions such as "What is a gay bar like?" and "Do gay people lose straight friends when they come out of the closet". Published in the early '90s, it's a little outdated in terms of legal issues and doesn't include any information about transexuals.
McDougall, Bryce, ed. My Child is Gay: How Parents React When They Hear the News. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 1998. (WCU HQ76.25 .M3725 1998 via ASU ABC Express)
Overview: This book includes the personal narratives of mothers and fathers at different stages of acceptance of their children's homosexuality and transexuality. Published in New Zealand.
Mom, I Need to be a Girl: Just Evelyn. http://www.justevelyn.com
Overview: A wonderful story of one family’s journey with their teenage child’s transition from male to female. Only available on-line.
FOR CHILDREN: PICTURE BOOKS (For preschoolers unless otherwise noted.)
Boenke, Mary. Carly: She's Still My Daddy. PFLAG Transgender Network.
Overview: A child’s story of the transition of her father Carl into Carly. For children grades 4 to 7.
de Haan, Linda & Stern Nijland. King & King. Berkeley: Tricycle Press, 2002. (ASU IMC E H1115ki)
Overview: A queen decides her son should marry. Collage illustrations are either delightfully busy or irratingly distracting.
Garden, Nancy. Molly's family. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, c2004. (ASU IMC 306.874 G2185mo)
Overview: When Molly draws a picture of her family for Open School Night, one of her classmates makes her feel bad because he says she cannot have a mommy and a mama.
González, Rigoberto. La tarjeta de Antonio. (Antonio's card). San Francisco, CA: Children's Book Press, 2005. [In Spanish] (ASU IMC 468.6421 G6433an)
Overview: With Mother's Day coming, Antonio finds he has to decide about what is important to him when his classmates make fun of his mother's partner, Leslie.
Newman, Lesléa. Felicia's favorite story. Ridley Park, PA: Two Lives Pub., c2002 (ASU IMC 306.874 N553fe)
Overview: At bedtime, Felicia, a Hispanic girl, asks her moms to recount where she came from. Soon after they begin, she starts telling her own version of the story. Felicia's Favorite Story is an excellent book that covers topics of adoption and mixed race families.
Richardson, Justin. And Tango Makes Three. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005. (ASU IMC E R5233an)
Overview: Based on a true story. At New York City's Central Park Zoo, two male penguins fall in love and start a family by taking turns sitting on an abandoned egg until it hatches.
Valentine, Johnny. One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dads, Blue Dads. Boston, MA: Alyson Wonderland, 1994. (WCU PZ8.3.V325 On 1994 via ASU ABC Express)
Overview: In the vein of Dr. Seuss's Red Fish, Blue Fish, this book has a character who asks why a friend's fathers are blue. Does it rub off? Do they do normal father things? Kathy's child absolutely loves this book.
Willhoite, Michael. Daddy's Wedding. Boston, MA: Alyson Wonderland, 1996. (ASU IMC 306.848 W7145da)
Overview: Nick tells about the wedding of his daddy to Frank, including the gathering of family and friends, the ceremony, the food, and the antics of Clancy the dog. The author also wrote Daddy's Roommate (1991).
FOR TEENS
Fiction
Am I Blue? Coming Out From the Silence. Ed. by Marion Dane Bauer. HarperCollins, 1994.
(ASU IMC Fic A4785) (Watauga Public YA AM)
Overview: A short story collection of some of the very best lesbian and gay young adult novelists.
Ferris, Jean. Eight Seconds. Harcourt, 2000. (ASU IMC Fic F3942ei)
Overview: Eighteen-year-old John must confront his own sexuality when he goes to rodeo school and finds himself attracted to an older boy who is smart, tough, complicated, gorgeous, and gay.
Garden, Nancy. Annie on My Mind. Farrar, Straus, 1982. (ASU IMC Fic G218an) (Watauga Public YA Gar)
Overview: A classic. Liza and Annie meet and fall in love their senior year of high school. Nancy Garden is one of the best young adult authors for teen lesbians.
---, Good Moon Rising. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1996. (ASU IMC Fic G218go) (Watauga Public YA Gar)
Overview: Jan begins her senior year of high school not expecting that she will lose the starring part in the school play, take over as director when her beloved drama teacher becomes ill, and realize that she is a lesbian.
---, Holly's Secret. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux 2000. (ASU IMC Fic G218ho)
Overview: When eleven-year-old Holly starts middle school, she decides to become sophisticated, change her name to Yvette, and hide the fact that her two moms are lesbians.
---, The Year They Burned the Books. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999. (ASU IMC Fic G218ye) (Watauga Public YA Gar)
Overview: While trying to come to terms with her own lesbian feelings, Jamie, a high-school senior and editor of the school newspaper, finds herself in the middle of a battle with a group of townspeople over the new health education curriculum.
Hartlinger, Brent. Geography Club. HarperTempest, 2003. (ASU IMC Fic H329ge) (Watauga Public YA Har)
Overview: Five closeted lesbian, gay, and bi high school teens form the Geography Club in order to regularly meet. This book is contested in Washington State.
Hartlinger, Brent. The Order of the Poison Oak. HarperTempest, 2003. (ASU IMC Fic H329ge) (Watauga Public YA Har)
Overview: Three of the main characters in Geography Club go to work at a summer camp for burn victims.
Howe, James. The Misfits. Atheneum, 2001. (ASU IMC Fic H8565mi)
Overview: Four friends, consisting of an overweight boy, a tall and smart girl, a 'hoodlum', and an effeminate boy, run for 6th grade class officers under the banner of ending bullying. Its sequel follows Joe as he slowly comes out of the closet. PFLAG of the High Country loved The Misfits so much we donated 20+ copies to the Watauga County School System.
Kerr, M. E. Deliver Us From Evie. HarperCollins, 1994. (ASU IMC Fic K413de)
Overview: Sixteen-year-old Parr Burrman narrates about the year that word spreads through their rural Missouri town that his older sister is a lesbian, and she leaves the family farm to live with the daughter of the town's banker.
---, Night Kites. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. (ASU IMC Fic K413ni)
Overview: Seventeen-year-old Erick's comfortable and well-ordered life begins to fall apart when he is forced to keep two secrets: the identity of his new girlfriend and his brother is dying from AIDS. The classic teen novel about AIDS.
Koertge, Ron. The Arizona Kid. Joy Street, 1988. (ASU IMC Fic K785ar)
Overview: Sixteen-year-old Billy spends the summer with his gay uncle in Tucson and works at a racetrack where he falls in love with an outspoken horse exerciser named Cara Mae.
LaRochelle, David. Absolutely, Positively Not. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2005. (ASU IMC Fic L328ab)
Overview: A lighthearted book about a 16 year old recognizing with his same sex attractions as homosexuality.
Levitan, David. Boy Meets Boy. Knopf, 2003. (ASU IMC Fic L6659bo)
Overview: This school, where being LGBT is completely accepted, is what every queer teen dreams of. Same sex couples openly date, the homecoming queen/quarterback is a drag queen, and the cheerleaders do their formations on Harleys.
Peters, Julie Ann. Luna. New York: Little, Brown, 2004. (ASU IMC Fic P482lu)
Overview: The ONLY novel about transgendered teens! Fifteen-year-old Regan's life, which has always revolved around keeping her older brother Liam's transsexuality a secret, changes when Liam decides to start the process of transitioning by first telling his family and friends that he is a girl who was born in a boy's body.
Sanchez, Alex. So Hard to Say. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2004. (ASU IMC Fic S211so)
Overview: Thirteen-year-old Xio, a Mexican American girl, and Frederick, who has just moved to California from Wisconsin, quickly become close friends, but when Xio starts thinking of Frederick as her boyfriend, he must confront his feelings of confusion and face the fear that he might be gay. Sanchez's other books are also great but for more mature readers.
Woodson, Jacqueline. From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun. Blue Sky, 1995. (ASU IMC Fic W895fr)
Overview: Fourteen-year-old Melanin Sun's comfortable, quiet life is shattered when his mother reveals she has fallen in love with a white woman.
Non-fiction Ford, Michael Thomas. Outspoken: Role Models From the Lesbian and Gay Community. Morrow, 1998. (ASU IMC 305.90664 F771ou) Huegel, Kelly. GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer and Questioning Teens. Free Spirit (ASU IMC 306.766 H887gl) Oliver, Marilyn. Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Struggle. Twenty-first Century Books, 2000. (ASU IMC 305.90664 O48ga) Pollack, Rachel. The Journey Out: A Guide For and About Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Teens. Viking, 1995. (ASU IMC 305.235 P771jo) Sutton, Roger. Hearing Us Out: Voices from the Gay and Lesbian Community. Little, Brown and Company, 1994. (ASU IMC 305.90664 S967he) Two Teenagers in Twenty: Writings by Gay and Lesbian Youth. Alyson, 1983, 1994. (ASU IMC 305.90664 T974) Besner, Hilda. Gay and Lesbian Students: Understanding Their Needs. Taylor and Francis (ASU Main Stack LC 192.6 B47 1995) Campos, David. Diverse Sexuality and Schools: A Reference Handbook. ABC-Clio, 2003. (ASU Main Stack LC 192.6 C26 2003) Harbeck, Karen Marie. Gay and Lesbian Educators: Personal Freedoms,
Public Constraints. Amethyst, 1997. (ASU Main Stack LC 192.6 H37 1997) It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School. New Day Films,
1996. Women's Educational Media. (ASU VC 8211) Open Lives, Safe Schools. Ed. By Donovan R. Walling. Phi Delta Kappa Foundation, (ASU IMC 370.7 P 543ope 1996) Alexander, Marilyn Bennet and James Preston. We Were Baptized Too. Westminster John Knox Press. Eichberg, Rob. Coming Out an Act of Love. New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Plume, 1991. (UNCA HQ75.2 .E53 1991 via ASU ABC Express) Glaser, Chris. Coming Out as Sacrament, Coming Out to God, The Word is Out, Come Home!, Reclaiming Gay Lesbian Spirituality.Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998. O'neill, Craig and Kathleen Ritter. Coming Out Within. Spong, Bishop John Shelby. Rescuing the Bible from Homosexuality and Living in Sin? San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991. Sundby, E.T. Welcoming the Rainbow Nation Home. 2005. Wink, Walter, Ed. Homosexuality and the Christian Faith.
Overview: Gay men and lesbians, such as Dykes to Watch Out For cartoonist Allison Bechdel, police officer Edgar Rodrigez, and a rabbi describe their personal experiences and how their sexual orientation has affected their lives. Includes lists of recommended books, magazines, movies, and other sources of information.
Overview: Describes the challenges faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered teens, offers practical advice, real-life experiences, and accessible resources and support groups. Very slick.
Overview: Traces the history of the gay and lesbian rights movement in America, with a focus on schools, military, marriage, parenthood, AIDS, and legal protections.
Overview: Suggests how gay, lesbian, and bisexual teenagers may discover their sexual orientation, find self-acceptance, come out, cope with prejudice, and deal with religious and political issues.
Overview: Personal narratives of various openly lesbian and gay Americans, such as Terrence Smith (A.K.A. Joan Jett Black, the first drag queen presidential candidate), Police officer Dorothy Knudson, father and son Fred and Dannel Mitchell, and the Reverend Dr. John Scott.
Overview: Personal narratives of over 40 lesbian and gay teens from all over the country. A little outdated in experiences but one of the few books with teens' own stories.
Overview: A historical perspective on sexuality in schools, stories of five contemporary youth, profiles of three schools, advocacy organizations, associations, and government agencies.
Overview: An exploration of what happens when experienced teachers talk to their students about lesbians and gay men. Students are asked to consider issues related to homosexuality at six elementary and middle schools. Presents footage of classroom activities and discussions with students exploring questions and issues presented to them by teachers and guest lecturers. Discusses school-wide presentations, activity-days, and how these events affect faculty, parents and teachers.
Overview: A new text which provides enlightenment on the message of God's all inclusive love.
Illustrates the struggles faced by LGBT people in mainline churches.
Overview: Good discussion of the risks and challenges involved in coming out.
Overview: All books by this author are highly recommended. He is an out Presbyterian working for LGBT rights within the church. Excellent text for persons, especially Presbyterians,
Who are struggling with issues of sexuality and spirituality
Overview: Good book, easy read with realistic information about the internal and external struggles of coming out.
Overview:
Excellent older classic text written by a heterosexual Episcopal Bishop. He provides an enlightening perspective on the passages of scripture said to condemn homosexuality.
Overview: New title, theologically sound. Good for someone coming out.
Overview: Excellent text written by a Quaker theologian, provides invaluable insights on homosexuality and the Bible.