LGBT Pick: This Book Is Gay

This Book Is Gay
by James Dawson
Sourcebooks Fire
2015
272 pages
ISBN: 978149617822

Available June 2015

This Book Is Gay  is aimed at the YA audience and questioning teens but it should be required reading in high school--and not just in sex education classes. Dawson addresses the obvious: the definitions of gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, straight and asexual. Perhaps because he identifies as a gay man, he spends more of his time discussing the male homosexual and much less time on the female homosexual. He briefly mentions asexual persons.

Reading more like a memoir  or a personal diary, This Book Is Gay is an enjoyable read. Using actual quotes from people he  interviewed  helps the reader identify with these persons as having a story and being human--not just being identified solely  for their sexual orientation.

I am overjoyed Dawson addresses the fact that kids always say, "Oh, that's so gay!" meaning something derogatory. As an educator I've heard all kinds of labels used in a derogatory way and used to bully others. Kids are killing themselves because they are afraid to go to school. Kids are cutting themselves or hurting themselves in other ways. The homophobia has to stop. And adults who see it must step in and address it. Dawson offers a "QUIFF" system. When you hear homophobic language, think "QUIFF." These are the terms he uses:
Q-Question it. Ask, 'What do you mean by that?"
U-Understanding-Say, "Do you know what gay actually means?"
I-Institution-Say, "This school is a tolerant place; you can't say that"
F-Feel, State how it makes you feel. "I consider that offensive and homophobic"
F-Funny, make a funny comment.

and he cautions, do not to stand up to someone when it's obvious they are on a rampage. Keep your safety in mind first.

Lively, comic illustrations by Spike Gerrell  lighten the mood and text. Many of those people interviewed said they wished they had had a book like this one when they were in their tweens/ teens. Did you know 21% of people question their sexuality or gender between the ages of 6-10, and 57% do so ages 11-15?

The book also contains a chapter for parents of a teen who has come out and a list of helpful contact sites, URLs and phone numbers--not to mention a glossary of terms used in the text. One thing U.S. teens may embrace is the fact that so many British terms are used. Anglophiles will be pleased to learn some new terms to pepper their Twitter feeds with.

Highly Recommended for grade 9-up. Mature subject matter, facts about sex, gender issues, body image. Someone really needs to write a similar book for grades 6-8.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

 

High School Pick: This Thing Called the Future

This Thing Called the Future
by J.L. Powers
Cinco Puntos Press
2011
213 pages with glossary of Zulu words

Disturbing, yet compelling, heartbreaking, yet uplifting, anguishing, yet soaring, This Thing Called the Future paints a grim picture of post-apartheid South Africa, a country so ravished by AIDS and poverty that a whole generation of children is growing up without parents--their parents victims of the disease.

Khosi is a fourteen year old girl living with her grandmother Gogo and little sister Zi. Her mother works in a neighboring town but only makes it home occasionally. Their village is small, achingly poor, and squalid--full of people sick and dying. Many do not have access to medicine and they choose to visit the local sangoma, a traditional healer who uses herbs to treat maladies. Khosi grapples with the ideas of modern medicine and education and her grandmother's world of superstition, magic, and the "ancestors."

When Mama visits, Khosi notices she is frighteningly thin and realizes that Mama is hiding her illness. A neighbor carries a grudge against Mama and her entire family claiming that Khosi's mother stole her insurance money. She swears redemption and threatens ruin for the family. Khosi seeks help for her family and her own bad dreams from the sangoma. She goes through a ceremony to purify herself and their home. The sangoma cuts her skin behind her ears, on her ankles and her feet. She and her grandmother must go through this for five days in order to purify them from the neighbor's curse.

Khosi knows her Mama would never steal from someone else. As Mama gets sicker, she makes Khosi promise to keep a secret. There is money in a bank in the city. It is meant for Khosi to leave South Africa and take her little sister Zi with her to get an education, escaping this cycle of poverty and ignorance.

When Khosi questions why this disease is killing their people, Mama says, "Don't look at the past...It's there and will always be there and there is nothing you can do to change it. Now, now you must look ahead. There is only this thing called the future."

Khosi loves South Africa and can't bring herself to think about leaving her beloved homeland. When Mama dies, Khosi is finally able to let go the past and to look ahead to this thing called the future.

Recommended grades 9-up. Mature situations, violence.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the editor of the newspaper for a column review. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.