YA LGBT Books discussion

Don't know if this is the right place to post thiss but I wanted to share.

Author James Howe came to speak to a group of my students today and was so dazzling I wanted to suggest some of his books to the group. They're really intended for Junior HIgh students (6th-8th grade in the USA) but they are entirely about identity and bullying and peer politics. His reading was SPECTACULAR.

Afterwards, we fell to chatting and discovered some cool similarities in our childhoods with supportive parents. I marched right out and bought and devoured the first two books in his "Misfits series": The Misfits and Totally Joe. That second book is about an out gay seventh grader and is a must read, but both books were sweet and piercing...and much beloved by young students apparently.

Highly highly recommended!! Especially for folks who know younger kids asking hard questions about not fitting into the boxes they're given by peers and parents.

Damon wrote: "Don't know if this is the right place to post thiss but I wanted to share.

Author James Howe came to speak to a group of my students today and was so dazzling I wanted to suggest ..."

Thanks Damon--and this is a fine place for this!

Totally Joe was a great book IMO. Loved the main character.

A little late, but... Totally Joe is the book I give to my students first when they ask to read a book with gay characters. It has been a springboard for many of them. I teach seventh and eighth grade students. Recently one of my reluctant readers said she wanted to try a different sort of book and I gave her this one. She fell in love and now wants anything with gay characters in it.

Another positive to my students reading it? They stop using any language that may be offensive to gay students, and they will correct others caught using the same language. It's a win-win in my book!

Jennifer wrote: "A little late, but... Totally Joe is the book I give to my students first when they ask to read a book with gay characters. It has been a springboard for many of them. I teach seventh and eighth gr..."

That's great to hear - I'm a big believer in teaching with books.

I'm going to have to look for those books (I have an 8th grader, though she usually reads higher.) The only thing I really knew James Howe for were the Bunnicula books; didn't know he'd written anything else.

Jo wrote: "I'm going to have to look for those books (I have an 8th grader, though she usually reads higher.) The only thing I really knew James Howe for were the Bunnicula books; didn't know he'd written any..."

They might be meant for a little younger, but they're fun reads. Totally Joe is written in an interesting way that my students enjoyed. The narrator starts each chapter with a letter of the alphabet and what it means for him (A is for Addie, his best friend) and the chapter relates to it. My students used that same format for reading projects and based it on their own lives instead. It was a fun way to not only get to know the character, but my students as well.