The Letter Q - Review and Giveaway - Part 1

The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes To Their Younger Selves
edited by Sarah Moon
Arthur A Levine Books
978-0-545-39932-6
$17.99

We've all heard of the "It Gets Better" or the "Dear Bully" campaigns. Scholastic took those projects a step further and gathered over 60 authors to write letters to their younger LGBTQ selves. What a great way to reach those teens who may be struggling to hang on.

Monday - Friday, I will highlight a different young adult author, as well as Arthur Levine himself, and give you an excerpt of their story.


Jacqueline Woodson
Woodson is the author of the Newbery Honor Show Me as well as  If You Come Softly, Locomotion, Peace,Locomotion and other books for children and teens. Visit her website - Jacqueline Woodson.


Woodson writes of her best friend Maria. Maria has an aunt that Woodson is simultaneously drawn to and afraid of:

Alma scares you - she is tall and thin and dresses like a man. Your mother calls her a a bulldagger and this word alone - when said the way your mother says it - makes you afraid to get close to Alma. You think, That isn't me. You are already thinking, That isn't me. Because somewhere deep, you know that it is.

Giveaway

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The giveaway is open from
May 28, 2012 - June 1, 2012 11:59pm

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2 copies will be given away.

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If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson - Bookaday #2

If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
Penguin Young Readers
1998

This is the story of a black boy and a white girl who like each other.  They met when Elisha transferred to Percy Academy and Jeremiah ran into her in the hallway.  That chance encounter changed both their lives.  They struggled with peoples reactions to them dating. "He's black, Anne."

She didn't say anything.  I could feel the air between us getting weird.

Miah takes Ellie home to meet his mother, who turns out to be a famous novelist.  Now, Elie has to deal with her own misconceptions about Jeremiah.  "What If I had told you the truth from the beginning?  That day, in the hallway, I wanted you to see...to see me, Ellie. Miah."  I enjoyed this one but the ending was shocking and unexpected.

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