Fancy White Trash by Marjetta Geerling

Fifteen-year-old Abby may well have the most embarrassing family ever. Her mother, after having married and divorced her father twice, is now recently married to a too-young guitar-playing hunk who she inherited after he moved on from daughters Kait and then Shelby. Shelby, at twenty-one has a three year old, and is living at home with her. Kait (also living at home) is pregnant, either by the guitar player, or possibly the boy next door. The guitar player is being unfaithful at home (with Shelby) and away. Things can't get worse, can they? Then Abby's father shows up again having been kicked out by his current wife, moves into her room, and reads her journal.

They all fight, they fight loudly, and they are known to fight on the front lawn to the amusement of the neighbors. When the fighting at her house gets out of hand, she escapes next door to her best friend Cody's to spend the night, something she has done for years.

Abby is determined not to follow in her sisters' footsteps when it comes to love. She's got a list of rules: he can't be previously "used" by anyone in her family; she can love him, but needing him is not okay, preferably she won't fall in love until she and her best friend Cody manage to make their escape to New York City, and she's going to college rather than getting pregnant, etc.

Unfortunately, she really has a thing for Cody's older brother Jackson, but there was that week when he was dating Kait, and depending on whether or not you believe that Kait's daughter is a preemie, Jackson could potentially be her father. Abby is so not going there. Despite what she feels. Despite Jackson's sweet notes. She is not going there.

Cody is dreading the start of the school year due to the harassment he gets from the school bullies who have decided he's gay regardless of the fact that Cody is so not going there to the point that he explodes when anyone even discusses gay rights in his presence.

When Abby outs him to himself and another gay student, he is infuriated with her. Fortunately he can't stay angry for long, and they mend their fences. Cody comes out to his parents, and then decides to go back into the closet so he can have his car back.

The homecoming dance brings everything to a head for Cody and Abby and Jackson.

This is a laugh-out-loud funny book despite some of the serious issues and readers will be held in its grip right to the last page.

***** Highly recommended.

Viking, 2008     ISBN  0670010820

Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne

Teens Phoebe and Deirdre are not thrilled to have a cousin they've never heard of come to live with them. They refuse to share a room, and their mother prepares a corner in the musty basement blocked off with cardboard boxes. When Leonard arrives, they are even more dismayed. He swishes, he wears outrageous outfits, he's as queer-seeming as can be. Phoebe tries to warn him to change his ways, but he doesn't get it, replying that he's just being himself.

Where he does make a big diffe...more Teens Phoebe and Deirdre are not thrilled to have a cousin they've never heard of come to live with them. They refuse to share a room, and their mother prepares a corner in the musty basement blocked off with cardboard boxes. When Leonard arrives, they are even more dismayed. He swishes, he wears outrageous outfits, he's as queer-seeming as can be. Phoebe tries to warn him to change his ways, but he doesn't get it, replying that he's just being himself.

Where he does make a big difference is in their mother's hair salon: he convinces his aunt it's time for a new hairstyle, make-up, and clothing, and then he moves on to the other, mostly older clients, offering new, more modern hairstyles, and even convincing some of them to update their wardrobes.

Unfortunately, as Phoebe has predicted, he runs into trouble with other kids, particularly a couple of older bullies, Travis and Curtis.

When he disappears, suspicion falls in a wide arc, including Phoebe's father, and the high school drama coach. The discovery of the real culprit is revealed in a very suspenseful scene, but the book doesn't end there as so many mysteries do.

Instead, many moral and ethical questions are explored by Phoebe in the aftermath, and she finds she has grown up to find her world full of contradictions and ambiguities.

***** Highly Recommended


HarperTeen, 2008    ISBN  0061256277

10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert

Every night young Bailey dreams about dresses, one on each step of an endless staircase, each dress more beautiful than the last. But when she tells her mother, and father, and brother about the dresses, and asks for help in making them, they scold her, saying “Dresses aren’t for boys.” Bailey explains that she doesn’t feel like a boy, but they each respond that she is and “that’s that!” Luckily Bailey finds a friend who is also fascinated with dresses and they begin to create some together. 

This is the first book depicting the experience of a child who is transgendered, or at least gender-variant. The experiences of the child, and the initial reactions of family members are accurate and realistic, as is the importance of finding an understanding friend. The illustrations are child-friendly and colorful. The story is simple and appropriate for children as young as three or four, inviting discussion between parent and child. Such books are sorely needed, and this one is a real success.

***** Highly Recommended


Illustrated by Rex Ray. Seven Stories Press, 2008.     ISBN  1583228500