Saturday, October 22, 2011

Jammin' Read! GLBTQ: Am I Blue


Jammin' Read!
Am I Blue? Coming Out of the Silence
Bauer, M. D. (1994). Am I blue?: coming out from the silence. New York: HarperCollins.


 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
Horn Book Fanfare
ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults
New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Book Award
Minnesota Book Award
ALA Best Book for Young Adults Am I Blue? Is an anthology of 16 stories about young people trying to find their sexual way in a world that is not trustful or accepting of those that do not follow the heterosexual pathway.


Annotation: 16 stories are all written about teens and young adults and their process of discovering their sexual identities.

Am I Blue, is about a young man name Vince that is trying to deal with discovering his own sexuality, and how the world is dealing with him. Vince after being tossed into a puddle by the handsome school jock, is comforted by Melvin, “a tall slender man. With dark hair, a neat mustache, and a sweater slung over his shoulders. He was kind of handsome- almost pretty,” and he was claiming to be Vince’s “Fairy godfather.”  Who has come to help him by showing him that he is not as alone as he thinks in trying to figure out his sexuality. 

These 16 stories are all written about teens and young adults and their process of discovering their sexual identities. Wrapped around their struggles to fit in and find themselves, rampant hormones, decisions on whether to share or not to share with family and friends, repercussions of when they do and don't, and finding friends in strange places. The stories run from humorous to despairing, but all provide insight in the struggles and real life situations that gay teens face each day.


Sunday, October 16, 2011

Jammin' Sci-fi: Marsbound

Jammin' Sci-Fi

Haldeman, Joe W.. Marsbound. New York: Ace Books, 2008. Print. 



Annotation: a young girl and her family win a lottery and get to go to Mars.

You and your family have just won the lottery. The prize? You are going to Mars!Carmen Dula is19 and a virgin, and on her way to being one of the first families to live on Mars, and wondering, if while there, she will have an opportunity to lose her virginity. After all how many young people can there be on a planet with a hostile environment and everyone lives in bubble like shelters? Where all of the adults have been chosen because they have science knowledge or other skills needed for a settlement colony? Well as it turns out, not only does Carmen not need to worry about losing her virginity on Mars, (because that happens on the way there), but she has another first that no one fore saw. She makes contact with an alien!

This is a great "Hard" science story. Joe Haldeman has won the Hugo and Nebula Awards for his ability to take you there. Here he weaves real science concepts and ideas of long distance space travel and man's ingenuity to overcome little obstacles like living in tonic environments. He portrays and describes through the characters, what everyday life would be like from what we already know about space travel and living over time in a zero gravity environment. This is a must read for those that are curious about what's out there!