Collects letters from such famous contributors as Brian Selznick, Michael Cunningham, and Amy Bloom to offer hope and support in the face of prejudice. - (Baker & Taylor)
"A volume inspired by the ""It Gets Better"" YouTube campaign for LGBT teens collects letters from such famous contributors as Brian Selznick, Michael Cunningham and Amy Bloom to offer hope and support in the face of prejudice. Co-edited by the creator of the Academy Award-winning short film, Trevor. 40,000 first printing." - (Baker & Taylor) Life-saving letters from a glittering wishlist of top authors.
If you received a letter from your older self, what do you think it would say? What do you wish it would say?That the boy you were crushing on in History turns out to be gay too, and that you become boyfriends in college? That the bully who is making your life miserable will one day become so insignificant that you won't remember his name until he shows up at your book signing?In this anthology, sixty-three award-winning authors such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline Woodson, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan, and Armistead Maupin make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know then about their lives as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgendered people. Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love and understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead. They will tell you things about your favorite authors that you never knew before. And they will tell you about yourself.
- (Scholastic)
James Lecesne is an actor, writer, and activist. His Academy Award-winning short film, "Trevor," inspired the founding of The Trevor Project (www.thetrevorproject.org).
Sarah Moon is a teacher and writer. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, with her wife, Jasmine, and their dog, Otis. She is the coeditor of The Letter Q, a young adult anthology. Sparrow is her first young adult novel.
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Scholastic)
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* The letter Q stands for "queer," of course, and in this lovely, often funny, and always heartfelt book, more than five-dozen celebrated writers send letters to their teenage selves. Each note, in its own way, promises the author's younger self hope that, in the future, life will get better. In a moving introduction, editor Moon offers her own personal testimony to that. The assembled authors, actors, playwrights, and illustrators are a veritable who's who of the LGBT creative world, and their audiences include both young adults and adults. The YA writers include such luminaries as Julie Anne Peters, Jacqueline Woodson, David Levithan, Brian Selznick, Brent Hartinger, Marion Dane Bauer, and Nick Burd. Not every adult author will be familiar to teens, but whether known or not, they are an amazing array of talent—Michael Cunningham, Terrence McNally, Paul Rudnick, David Leavitt, and more. Appended brief biographies of the contributors provide necessary introductions and background information. Though similar in intent to Dan Savage and Terry Miller's It Gets Better (2011), this collection offers its own uniquely personal promise to young readers. In any case, both are books that may save lives—and we can never have too many of those. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
In a thoughtful, humorous, and moving collection of letters and comics (not all seen by PW), 64 queer authors and artists tell "their younger selves what they could do to make their lives a little better, a little lighter." Though largely hopeful, these correspondences often include painful references to bullying, self-harm, feelings of isolation, and thoughts of suicide. Readers may be surprised by entries from contributors like Marion Dane Bauer and editor Arthur Levine, who remember growing up in a world that depicted gay people as perverts ("I may as well be one of those inverts you once saw pictured in an old psychology book," writes Richard McCann). But the stories are also frequently funny, as the authors tell of successful careers ("you get to be friends with some of your heroes," writes Gregory Maguire. "Like oh not to name names but like Maurice Sendak! I know!"), friendships, marriages, sex lives, and repaired relationships with parents. Read together, the letters become a powerful refrain. Jacqueline Woodson concludes hers by writing, "The world is big—and there is so much love in it. I promise you—you will find it." Ages 14–up. (May)
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School Library Journal Reviews
Gr 9 Up—This anthology features 64 LGBTQ authors and illustrators, both well-known and not, who send letters to their younger selves. Whether it's Paige Braddock's graphic-style note or Brent Hartinger's letter to his teenage self, the message is clear: it gets better; you will find love; don't give up. Read on an individual basis, these missives can range from boastful to witty to extremely touching. Unfortunately, when read as a whole, they become somewhat monotonous; thus, the letters seem most suitable for classroom use on LGBTQ issues or bullying when paired separately with a story from a good collection such as Michael Cart's How Beautiful the Ordinary (2009) or Marion Dane Bauer's Am I Blue? (both, HarperCollins).—Betty S. Evans, Missouri State Univ., Springfield, MO
[Page 131]. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.