This week's contest is a copy of the new teen book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan courtesy of Bilerico Project and publisher Penguin USA. The two authors accomplished something most never get from me: I actually read the book!
Will Grayson, Will Grayson isn't the typical book I'd pick up and read for fun. It's aimed at teenagers (it says it's for ages 14 and up), but it includes quite a bit of cursing and adult themes like masturbation, fake IDs and underage drinking, and porno stores.
The book follows two different boys named Will Grayson and their unexpected meeting. One is gay; the other is straight. As their lives become intertwined around central character Tiny Cooper, both find love in that awkward teenage way. The climax - "history's most fabulous high school musical" - is both touching and funny in that way that teen stories often are.
I've blogged before that the first LGBT-positive book I read was when I was 18. (Patricia Nell Warren's award winning novel, The Front Runner.) There were no Will Grayson-like books when I was a teen. While the novel trends to much to teenage angst for my adult tastes, if I was younger this book would have been one of my favorites.
Check out after the jump for your chance to win one of three copies to give to a teenage queer (or straight ally!) in your life. You won't be sorry you did.
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My favourite childhood book was The Phantom Tollbooth.
As a child my favorite was "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". Shortly thereafter I fell in love with fantasy novels staring with Lloyd Alexander's "The Black Cauldron". Had there been more queer characters in the books I was reading as a child it might not've taken me so long to find myself. :) I'm always glad to hear about new YA lit that features queer characters.
~Kate
The first serious gay book I read was Sticks and Stones by (I think) Lynn Hall. It was probably the very first foray into writing about gay people for a teen audience, which was pretty shocking for the late 60s when it was published.
People Who Know Better have derided it as tawdry and whiney, but I re-read it recently and discovered -- after many years absence -- that it's actually not that bad. Yes, the main character is fighting tooth and nail to accept who and what he is. But given the locale in which the book is set, that's not a surprising reaction. Yes, the obvious object of what should be his affections is a little too low-key, but given that he's just been thrown out of the service, I probably would be too. And it ends on a pleasantly hopeful note for the two of them... which again is pretty surprising considering the times.
But my favourite book from childhood (and still is, actually) is David and the Phoenix, by Edward Ormondroyd. It was the first *big* book I read, and I still dearly love it. Coles Notes version of the story: a small boy makes the acquaintance of a 499-year-old phoenix, who gives him a classic education in gryphons, satyrs, witches, and wee folk. Wonderfully written, it's one of those books that I intend to illustrate before I kick off.
Wrinkle in Time
Even though LotR isn't my favorite series by any means, it was the reason I fell in love with fantasy novels.
As far as realizing a sexual identity, I found my mother's copy of Men in Love by Nancy Friday and read through all the fantasies, skipping her analysis. I still have that book on my shelf.
I have many favourite books from childhood, because my father encouraged me to read from a very young age. When I was very young (ages 5-8) my favourite book was in a set of childrens encyclopedias. The set had a book of short stories in it that I read over and over again. As I got older, my tastes began leaning to supernatural and sci-fi. At age 12 I devoured books about Edgar Cayce, and loved Dune and A Clockwork Orange. I find it only natural that as I have aged, my reading tastes have gotten younger, like Harry Potter, and The Mortal Instruments Series.
I think that my favorite book growing up was the Hobbit. I'm not a giant LotR fan anymore, but I really adored that book as a kid.
The Telltale Heart and other collected short stories by Edgar Allen Poe
The first book that had me thinking about myself was Stranger In A Strange Land, 'cause that's what being queer in the 60s felt like, I guess. Although Heinlein never, to my knowledge, broached a gay topic, it helped me sort myself in my pre- and early teens.
(Btw, if I were to win this book I would like to give it to my local County Library.)
Oh Gosh, I loved A Wrinkle in Time when I was little, but lots of other books as well, Bernstein Bears when I was really young, and a bunch of other things.
My favorite book was "The Courage of Dr. Lister". It was a biography of Dr. Joseph Lister, the father of antiseptic surgery. Dr. Lister bore the disdain of his medical colleagues and stood up for what he knew to be right. That is, in his case, if you want your patients to live and get well, you keep their surgery as clean as possible.
Message for gay people and allies? Stand up for what is right in spite of the what is considered common knowledge and you just might change the world.
I think my favorite was Watership Down. On the surface, just about rabbits. But underneath all the fluff....