From: Kathleen T. Horning <horning>
Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 11:16:27 -0500

Thanks for clarifying the definitions, Julie. I will add that Q often times stands for Questioning. There hasn't yet been a lot of literature about teens questioning their sexuality, but there was a novel just published that might qualify as such: "Debbie Harry Signs in French" by Megan Brothers (Henry Holt). The young male protagonist in the story loves dressing up as Debbie Harry, and would, in fact, like to BE Debbie Harry, but he's also attracted to girls, so he's not sure what this means. Since he's small and effeminate and wears eye make up to school, he is frequently targeted by school bullies as gay. He feels most at home with drag queens. He has to figure out who he is and where he fits in.

Does anyone know of any other questioning teens in YA literature? My sense is that there are a lot more of them in reality than there are in fiction.

KT

Kathleen T. Horning Director Cooperative Children's Book Center 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 N. Park St Madison, WI 53706

Phone: 608-263-3721 FAX: 608-262-4933

horning at education.wisc.edu http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/



bear22 at mwt.net wrote:
> GLBTQ literature is literature written for/from the pov of a gay, Lesbian,
> bi-sexual, transgendered, or Queer indvidual. Transgendered is someone
> who feels that they are not the gender they were assigned at birth or
> raised as, but the opposite gender.
>
> I've been excited to see the growth of this area of publishing as well,
> although, at the moment I can't think of any recent titles off the top of
> my head, other than, Block's Weetzie Bat books and Nancy Garden's classic
> Annie on My Mind. What I really loved about both of these books was there
> open attitude towards love, rather than exploiting the subject. Both
> books really ask the question "Who do you love?" and explorers answers
> that are not typical. I also really liked the anthology "Are you Blue?"
>
> I'm hesitant to put books like these on the shelves of my classroom
> library, most because we've had problems with books like "The Perks of
> Being a Wallflower" in the past.
>
> I hope this helps!
> Julie Kinney
>
>
>
>
>> Translate, please.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Big Grandma
>> On May 20, 2008, at 8:19 AM, Megan Schliesman wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Thank you for the posts on literature for children and teens about the
>>> Middle East. While we'd like to spend more time on this topic to
>>> encourage additional posts, but time being time, we need to turn our
>>> attention to the topic for the second part of May: GLBTQliiterature.
>>>
>>> Even more than literature about the Middle East, this area of
>>> publishing
>>> for youth has grown tremendously in recent years.* *We have been
>>> struck
>>> by the fact that since first talking about this topic on CCBC-Net, in
>>> June of 2004, publishing reflecting the experiences of lesbian, gay,
>>> bixesxual, transgendered, and questioning youth has grown
>>> exponentially,
>>> and in that growth we are seeing more new voices and greater diversity
>>> of experience. (Unfortunately, books for younger children reflecting
>>> the
>>> many families with gay or lesbian parents are still few and far
>>> between.)
>>>
>>> We invite you to share what you've observed about GLBTQ literature in
>>> recent years for the remainder of May.
>>>
>>> Megan
>>>
>>> --
>>> Megan Schliesman, Librarian
>>> Cooperative Children's Book Center
>>> School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
>>>
>>> 608/262-9503
>>> schliesman at education.wisc.edu
>>>
>>> www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
>>> Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
>>> http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
>>>
>>>
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>
>
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Received on Tue 20 May 2008 11:16:27 AM CDT