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The First Time I Taught A Queer Text
I spent the last semester of my undergrad student teaching. I was assigned to teach two classes of juniors. For most of the semester, we worked on The Great Gatsby. It was a fairly traditional unit in which we talked about themes like the American Dream, the 1920s, and gender roles. While teaching the novel, I could not help but to think back to my own experience as a junior reading The Great Gatsby. As I discuss in another blog post, I became fixated on the idea that Nick has romantic feelings for Gatsby. I kept this in the back of my mind over the course of the unit. On what was…
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Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
Title: Two Boys Kissing Author: David Levithan Original Publication Date: 2013 Original Publisher: Ember Queer Representation: 7 gay male protagonists, 1 of whom is trans, and a chorus of gay men who died from AIDS Page Length: 200 A hauntingly beautiful tale of a community rallying behind two boys attempting to break the world record for the longest continuous kiss. Memorable Quote: “We always underestimate our own participation in magic. That is, we thought of magic as something that existed with or without us. But that’s not true. Things are not magical because they’ve been conjured for us by some outside force. They are magical because we create them, and then deem them so.” Review: After Craig…
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Another Day by David Levithan
Title: Another Day Author: David Levithan Original Publication Date: 2015 Original Publisher:Knopf Books for Young Readers Queer Representation: A (queer/genderfluild?) love interest, multiple lesbian, gay, bi, trans embodied characters, one gay friend Page Length: 336 pages The companion novel to Every Day, told from the perspective of Rhiannon. Memorable Quote: “Part of the problem is words. The fact that there are separate words for HE and SHE, HIM and HER. I’ve never thought about it before, how divisive this is. Like maybe if there was just one pronoun for all of us, we wouldn’t get so caught on that difference.” REVIEW: Rhiannon thought that she was content with her life. Sure she and her boyfriend…
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Every Day by David Levithan
Title: Every Day Author: David Levithan Original Publication Date: August 28, 2012 Original Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Queer Representation: A (queer/genderfluild?) protagonist, multiple lesbian, gay, bi, trans embodied characters Page Length: 352 pages A highly unique and experimental look and gender and sexual identity and embodiment that will leave you wanting more. Memorable Quote: “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: We all want everything to be okay. We don’t even wish so much for fantastic or marvelous or outstanding. We will happily settle for okay, because most of the time, okay is enough.” REVIEW: Every day of A’s life, A wakes up in a new body body. After 24 hours A…
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Kaleidoscope Song by Fox Benwell
Title: Kaleidoscope Song Author: Fox Benwell Original Publication Date: September 19, 2017 Original Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Queer Representation: 1 lesbian protagonist, several lesbian gay and trans minor and supporting characters Page Length: 416 Likely the first and only young adult book to address queerness and the practice of corrective rape in South Africa Memorable Quote: “But everyone has a voice, and everyone sings. Oh, we all do it differently … But everybody has a song to sing, their own personal story leaked into the world. And mine is one of love. REVIEW: Neo has loved music as long as she can remember, but living in the poor South African township…
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Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Title: Boy Meets Boy Author: David Levithan Original Publication Date: September 1, 2003 Original Publisher: Knopf Page Length: 185 Queer Representation: Gay male protagonist, multiple lesbian, bi, trans, queer + secondary characters Levithan offers readers a hopeful look into a utopian world where being queer is not only normal, but may even be better than being straight. Memorable Quote: “I find my greatest strength in wanting to be strong. I find my greatest bravery in deciding to be brave. I don’t know if I’ve ever realized it before,[…] I think we both realize it now. If there’s no feeling of fear, then there’s no need for courage.” The idea…
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I’ll Get There. It Better be Worth the Trip by John Donovan
Title: I’ll Get There. It Better be Worth the Trip Author: James Donovan Original Publication Date: June 1969 Original Publisher: Harper & Row Page Length: 199 Queer Representation: 2 possibly gay teenage boy protagonists Widely regarded as the first ever novel to explicitly address themes of queerness meant for a young adult audience, I’ll Get There, is certainly worth the read, even if some of the elements now seem outdated and problematic. Memorable Quote: “Then Father talks a lot about how hysterical people sometimes get when they discover that other people aren’t just what they are expected to be. He tells me there are Republicans who are always secretly disappointed when friends…
