Cover for the novel Heather Has Two Mommies

Heather Has Two Mommies, written by Leslea Newman, seems to have led the way for the increased publication of gay young adult novels. Heather Has Two Mommies is a childrens book by Leslea Newman and Diana Souza, first published in 1989. ... Leslea Newman Leslea Newman (born 1955, Brooklyn, New York) is a Jewish, lesbian, feminist writer. ...

Controversial book

Aimed at readers age five and up, the controversial 1990 picture book, illustrated by Diane Souza, introduced preschoolers to the concept of lesbian parenting, depicting Heather’s two mommies and Heather as just another of the many variations on the American family structure:

• Juan‘s family consists of Juan, a mommy, a daddy, and a big brother named Carlos
• Miriam’s family is made up of Miriam, a mommy, and a baby sister
• Joshua’s family consists of Joshua, a mommy, a daddy, and a step daddy

Plot

Heather's teacher Molly has her class draw pictures of their families so that they can learn that "each family is special" and that "the most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other."

Sales

According to a book description on Amazon.com, “Heather Has Two Mommies has sold over 35,000 copies, launched a minor industry in providing books for the children of gay and lesbian parents and, as attested to by a recent New Yorker cartoon, become part of the cultural lexicon.”

Early gay young adult novels

Many gay young adult novels, which, as the genre suggests, are aimed at a teenage audience, deal with such issues as coming out and the thoughts and feelings that accompany adolescents’ awareness of their sexual identities. However, according to an article in USA Today, “No longer do gay young adult novels simply ask, "Am I gay?" Now they explore how to navigate in the journey for love.”^[1]

Publishing frequency

The genre of young adult literature is usually considered to begin with Maureen Daly's Seventeenth Summer, which was published in 1942. A Library Quarterly article by Christine Jenkins, an associate professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, states that approximately 100 gay young adult novels have been published since 1969. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

Problem novel

Because gay young adult novels often center upon problems that gay teen characters encounter because of their homosexuality, these books are often classified as examples of the “problem novel” genre that first appeared in 1967, examples of which were S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders and Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War.

Lesbian novels

Cover for the novel Annie On My Mind

With Spring Fire (1951), M. E. Kerr (writing as Vin Packer) published one of the first young adult novels with a lesbian protagonist. She was told that her story could not end happily for her lesbian characters. If it did, the book, which was shipped by mail, wouldn’t pass Postal inspection. M. E. Kerr (pen name of Marijane Meaker, born May 27, 1927), is an American author, primarily of young adult fiction. ...

Happy endings disallowed

Although other young adult novels with lesbian characters and themes, such as Sandra Scoppettone’s Happy Endings Are All Alike (1971) and Nancy Garden’s Annie on My Mind (1982) fared better among publishers, critics, high school librarians, public librarians, and the public in general frowned upon such literature. Annie On My Mind is a 1982 novel by Nancy Garden, telling the story of two 17 year old New York City girls, Annie and Liza, who meet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and become friends and lovers. ...

Turning point

The 1990s represented a turning point for young adult novels that explored lesbian issues, and since 2000, a flood of such books has inundated the market, including: The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

• Rainbow Boys and other novels by Alex Sanchez
• Kissing Kate
• Keeping You a Secret
• The Gravel Queen
• Geography Club
• Empress of the World

Each year thereafter, an average of 10 to 12 young adult novels with gay or lesbian content have been published in the United States. The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network's Web site lists dozens of books recommended for teen readers, nearly all of which have been published in the last few years. Rainbow Boys is the first novel in a trilogy by Alex Sanchez, focusing on the issues gay and questioning youth face as they come of age. ... This article is about the author Alex Sanchez. ...

Cover for the novel Geography Club

Printz Award

Another indication, some say, that gay young adult novels have gained wider acceptance in recent years is the fact that, since 1999, four gay-themed books, or books with gay secondary characters, have won the Young Adult Library Services Association's Michael L. Printz Awards.

This award, named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian and sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association, is given in recognition of a work that demonstrates literary excellence in young adult literature. The American Library Association (ALA) promotes libraries and library education in the United States and internationally. ...

Ambiguous publishing record

Despite the apparent wider acceptance of these novels, publishing them can be difficult. Geography Club, about a high school gay support group, was rejected 17 times before it was published.

According to author Brent Hartinger, "Editors told my agent again and again that there was no market for a book like this, and all my agent's agent-friends told her she was wasting her time on a gay teen book."

Soon after its publication by Harper Collins in March of 2003, sales were so numerous that the book is now in its third printing, with a sequel, The Order of the Poison Oak, now in print.

Cover for the novel Keeping You A Secret

Moreover, happy endings are now allowed, and, as Julie Anne Peters, author of Keeping You A Secret points out, “Our stories have moved beyond the tragic ending of self-destruction, estrangement, or unrequited love.” Nevertheless, gay young adult novels continue to meet with ambiguous reactions by schools and libraries, and some of the authors of such fiction wonder whether the incurrent upsurge in the publication of gay young adult novels is merely a passing trend.

Audience

The audience for such books includes both teens and adults, according to Sharyn November, a senior editor at Viking Children's Books/Puffin, who observes that “young adult used to mean books aimed at readers between the ages 16 and 21,” but some of these books are now “reaching the 14 plus crowd and ideally crossing over to the adult market,” although gay young adult novels are also aimed at children as young as twelve years old.

Contemporary examples

Cover for the novel Boy Meets Boy

Contemporary gay young adult novels typically involve a teenage protagonist (often fourteen years old), teen issues (especially those related to a homosexual identity), and the first-person point of view. These novels have come to deal with a variety of gay-related issues and themes.

Baby Be-Bop

In Francesca Lia Block’s Baby Be-Bop, Dirk MacDonald. Dirk, of Weetzie Bat, struggles with his gay identity as he learns what it means to be different. Ultimately, he accepts and loves himself for who he is.

My Father's Scar

Michael Cart’s My Father’s Scar shows how college freshman Andy Logan finds his place in the bigger scheme of things.

Dance On My Grave

Dance On My Grave, by Aidan Chambers, is based on a bet between two gay teens. Whoever survives the other must dance on the former’s grave.

Common Sons

In Ronald L. Donaghe’s Common Sons, Joel is a gay teenager. He lives on a New Mexico farm. When Tom, a preacher's son, arrives, driven by guilt and self-loathing over his homosexuality, Joel‘s life changes forever.

A Better Place

Brendan is good looking. He has money. He is popular. He is athletic. Casper, who, by contrast, has nothing, is surprised when Brendan shows an interest in him that goes deeper than mere friendship. In A Better Place, by Ronald L. Donaghe and Mark A. Roeder, love transcends circumstance and each both boys find his heart’s desire in the loving arms of the other.

The Blind Season

Ronald L. Donaghe’s The Blind Season explores what it means to be--and to have--a family. Having lived as man and husband for five years in Common, New Mexico, Joel and Tom decide to start a family, despite the fact that they are both men. Afraid they will never be permitted to adopt a child, the couple seeks a surrogate mother, finding her in Sharon Minninger, a beautiful Mennonite runaway. Now, all they have to do is to survive as a family in a town full of prejudice, bigotry, and hatred.

Uncle Sean

Will Barnett, the fourteen-year-old protagonist of Ronald L. Donaghe’s Uncle Sean, falls in love with his “pretty” uncle, whose soft lips make Will want to kiss him. Then, as he discovers how troubled his uncle is, Will also learns why he has fallen in love with him.

War Boy

War Boy, by Kief Hillsbery, tells the story of fourteen-year-old Radboy, who, running away from his abusive father, undertakes a journey with Johnny Boy, an older friend. On a bus, they soon encounter Finn and Critter, boyfriends who share drugs, sex, and life, and Ula, who is traveling cross country in memory of her later fiancé. Johnny Boy disappears, leaving Radboy to fend for himself in San Francisco.

The Man Without a Face

In Isabelle Holland’s The Man Without a Face, a fatherless fourteen-year-old boy becomes friends with the man who lives near his summer home and tutors him for his upcoming boarding school’s entrance exams. The Man Without a Face is a 1993 drama starring and directed by Mel Gibson. ... Isabelle Christian Holland (born June 16, 1920 in Basel, Switzerland — died February 9, 2002) was a fictional author. ... The Man Without a Face is a 1993 drama starring and directed by Mel Gibson. ...

Empress of the World

Two girls enrolled in a summer program for gifted students fall in love in Sara Ryan’s Empress of the World.

Boy Meets Boy

David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy recounts a developing romance between two high school teens, Paul and Noah. Noah breaks off their relationship when Paul lets a former boyfriend, Kyle, kiss him. However, Paul is determined to win Noah back. Matters worsen when a relative sees the Paul embrace another boy, Tony, in the woods and Tony, grounded, is forbidden to see Paul. Boy Meets Boy has been the title of: a web comic a gay reality television program an Off-Broadway musical a novel by David Levithan This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

Rainbow Boys

Alex Sanchez's gay-themed trilogy of Rainbow Boys, Rainbow High, and Rainbow Road follows the love and friendship between three high school senior boys. Sanchez's other works include a gay-themed middle-school novel, So Hard to Say, and the humorous novel Getting It, a sort of Queer Eye for the straight teen guy. This article is about the author Alex Sanchez. ... Rainbow Boys is the first novel in a trilogy by Alex Sanchez, focusing on the issues gay and questioning youth face as they come of age. ... Rainbow High is the second novel in a trilogy by Alex Sanchez, focusing on the issues gay and questioning youth face as they come of age. ... Rainbow Road may refer to one of the following: Rainbow Road, the final course of the Special Cup (and also the whole game) in every Mario Kart game to date and F-Zero X. Rainbow Road, a song written Donnie Fritts and Dan Penn, which was recorded by Steve Goodman... Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is an hour-long American television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network on July 15, 2003, and promptly became both a surprise hit (at least by the standards of cable TV) and one of the most talked-about television programs of...

Notes

1. ^ http://www.alexsanchez.com/USA%20Today.htm "Books give honest portrayal of growing up gay," USA Today article, Deirdre Donahue, June 28, 2001

See also

• Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in fiction

This article is about pedophilia/paedophilia in literature, i. ...

External links

• http://alexsanchez.com/gay_teen_books.htm List of gay young adult novels
• http://www.lesleakids.com/heather.html Lesléa Newman - The motive of Heather Has Two Mommies
• http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1555835430/ref=ase_leslenewmawrite/002-6100480-9186413?n=283155&tagActionCode=leslenewmawrite Heather Has Two Mommies: 10th Anniversary Edition, Amazon.com
• http://www.afterellen.com/Print/yafiction.html "Lesbian-Themed Young Adult Novels On the Rise"

Sarah Warn, December 2003

• http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2003/11/11/queer_lit/index.html "Queer lit for the gay teen," Sarah Wildman, November 11, 2003