Students are to post one response (min 350 words) to the readings linked below. Students are encouraged (but not required) to additionally respond to other student reactions.
A New Way for Gay Characters in YA by Jenn Doll: Scholastic Publisher and Editorial Director David Leviathan (the same Levithan behind Two Boys Kissing, Invisibility, and 2003's Boy Meets Boy)
told me that the environment for gay characters in Y.A. literature has
indeed changed remarkably in the past 10 years. "For so many years, so
many characters have been defined by their sexuality—they're 'gay'; we
don't have to give them any other characteristics," he says. "But gay
characters and gay kids have lots of other things going on. No one is
just this one thing." In these new books, being gay or bi or lesbian or
transgendered is wrapped up in conversations of identity that often
transcend sexuality, and ask what happens beyond acknowledgment, coming
out, and even generalized acceptance of one's choices."
A Graphic Guide to LGBTQ YA Literature (from coming out stories to sci-fi adventures). These
books aren’t necessarily right for every reader, and don’t constitute
the best, or the only, LGBTQIA+ fiction for young adults available. But
it is a good starting off point for those interested in exploring the
way these identities are portrayed in YA fiction. Click HERE to visit the page.
Malinda Lo is the author of the young adult novels Ash, Huntress, Adaptation, and Inheritance. Ash was
a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton
Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award,
and was a Kirkus Best Book for Children and Teens. She has been a
three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda’s nonfiction
has been published by The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The Huffington Post, The Toast, The Horn Book,
and AfterEllen. Malinda is co-founder with Cindy Pon of Diversity in
YA, a project that celebrates diversity in young adult books. Over the
past several years she's written a lot about YA with lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender characters or issues. Click here for the index of her LGBT posts. Read two.
62 LGBTQ+ YA Books to Read All Year Long (Epic Reads). Click to review list.
"Read with Pride! 15 YA novels with LGBTQIA characters to check out" (Entertainment Weekly). Click to review list.
"100 Must-Read LGBTQIA YA Books" Click to review list.
Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction 2024. Click to review list.
Pick
one author/book highlighted in any of the above posts/articles/etc. and
read an excerpt (excerpts can be had by Googling the book title and the
word "excerpt," or finding the book on Amazon and clicking "Look
Inside.")
2 comments:
Something I have to respect is the willingness to continue to learn after acceptance in the field. Specifically in regards to the Graphic Guide to LGBTQ YA literature, where the person who published it says they needed to update it I think as society values are changed to better understand people that applies to how we should go about writing since, we largely write with what we know. In general I just think not being open to correcting any misconception you have in that thinking is handicapping yourself as a person and a writer, since its basically denying the world around you. Plus for writers that do identify themselves as one of these groups they should be able to write from that identity, after all so many iconic works are born from writing within an identity the writers felt strongly tied to. Such as superheroes having their boom in comic books as multiple Jewish writers wrote their values and inspirations into them after the war.
I also think its just important as a reader too. Since I largely hadn't thought about representation for a long time until more recently, and even then it is something I'm less versed in since I couldn't name lgbtq protagonists or characters off the top of my head immediately in literature. But stuff like Malinda Lo's works and the A new Way for Gay characters in YA by John Doll writing, really stories with themes and aesthetics that I like starring characters of these identities more than exist, they are now heavily prevalent and I'd been missing out on a world of literature for me to read and be entertained by.
Out of the books on the must read I think I'd check out When the Moon was Ours, mainly just because I like magic in modern settings and the cover looked really pretty. It be the first thing I've read that stars a trans protagonist that isn't a comic book, and it's nice to also see racial representation be a more common thing, since I know there was a time where every fantasy protagonist was largely just a white guy.
-doinkus
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