Archive – Page 26

Review: Remember Me by Melanie Batchelor

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:08-05:00January 23rd, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review, Teen Voices|Tags: Poetry, Queer Girls|

Melanie Batchelor was fourteen years old when she wrote the subject of this month’s review, Remember Me. Had I not known that, I would’ve filled this review with a thousand praises for her nuanced, accurate characterizations and deceptively simple poems that create a gripping, compelling read. Remember Me by Melanie Batchelor (Bold Strokes Books, 2014) Since I am aware of the fact that Batchelor is, in fact, deeply precocious, and possibly one of the most promising young writers of this generation, I will instead fill this review with a thousand praises for her nuanced, accurate characterizations [...]

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Gay YA: a personal retrospective

By Nathaniel|2020-03-28T13:42:18-05:00January 14th, 2015|Categories: Archive|Tags: LGBTQIA, Representation|

How They Met and Other Stories (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2008) The first gay YA I picked up, in early 2009, was David Levithan’s short story collection How They Met, and Other Stories, recommended to me by someone on tumblr. The first story in the collection, “Starbucks Boy”, radically changed the way I thought about myself. My interest in guys, to that point, had been mostly theoretical. I knew I liked them, theoretically and I knew there were some attractive ones at school with me, but only towards the end of 2008 did the idea [...]

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Review: Stranger by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:18-05:00January 13th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review, Teen Voices|Tags: Aromantic, asexual, Black, gay, Latin@, PoC, Polyamory, Queer Girls, Queer Guys, Trauma|

Stranger (Viking Juveline, 2014) Many generations ago, a mysterious cataclysm struck the world. Governments collapsed and people scattered, to rebuild where they could. A mutation, "the Change,” arose, granting some people unique powers. Though the area once called Los Angeles retains its cultural diversity, its technological marvels have faded into legend. "Las Anclas" now resembles a Wild West frontier town… where the Sheriff possesses superhuman strength, the doctor can warp time to heal his patients, and the distant ruins of an ancient city bristle with deadly crystalline trees that take their jewel-like colors from the clothes of [...]

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New Releases: January 2015

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:19-05:00January 12th, 2015|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: asexual, Bisexual, gay, lesbian, New Releases, Queer Girls, Queer Guys, Trans|

JANUARY 1ST (UK) The Art of Being Normal (David Fickling Books, 2015) The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson -- (TRANS) Goodreads Summary: "Two boys. Two secrets. David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth – David wants to be a girl. On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal – to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in year eleven is definitely not part of that plan. When [...]

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Review: Lies my Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters

By Georgie|2020-03-28T13:42:19-05:00January 11th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: lesbian, Queer Girls, Realistic|

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me (Little Brown Books, 2014) I bought this on a whim because it showed up on the ‘What other customers bought’ section of my Amazon page, which made no sense at all the book I was looking at just then was a totally unrelated YA horror. Amazon clearly has some issues with its recommendation system, then, but it’s all good: after finding this book I was very grateful that they’d plagued me on that particular day. The book opens when Alix’s parents come into her room and tell her that her girlfriend, [...]

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The New Year for GayYA!

By Vee|2016-05-24T14:50:35-05:00January 10th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|

The new year for GayYA is looking pretty amazing! Thank you to everyone who answered our end of the year survey, who helped with questions about representation, libraries, and everyone who was a part of GayYA's community in 2014. We’re taking all of your feedback into account, and hope to make GayYA a better place for you and for everyone. Some things that will be changing in the new year on the site: Search Function – right now if you’re logged into a wordpress account, you can search pretty easily, but we did not realize that other people [...]

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January Book Club: Just Girls by Rachel Gold

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00January 4th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Club, Updates and Announcements|

Happy New Year, all! We're just getting geared up for our newest book club. We'll be reading Just Girls by Rachel Gold! Just Girls by Rachel Gold (Bella Books, 2014) Jess Tucker sticks her neck out for a stranger—the buzz is someone in the dorm is a trans girl. So Tucker says it’s her, even though it’s not, to stop the finger pointing. She was an out lesbian in high school, and she figures she can stare down whatever gets thrown her way in college. It can’t be that bad. Ella Ramsey is making new friends [...]

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Sneaky Stand-Up Stands Up to Homophobia

By Karina|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 26th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Teen Voices|

I don’t care if you dislike memoirs. I don’t care if you aren’t a fan of hip hop, stand up comedy, deaf people, or Jews (Actually, I do care about those last two, a lot actually). But you should be reading Kasher In The Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16. Yeah, interested now, right? Kasher In The Rye is one of my favorite books. Ever. It’s not even just my favorite memoir, it is in my top ten favorite books. [...]

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Women In Love

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 24th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Bisexual, lesbian, Queer Girls, Representation, Romance|

Make sure to check out the Twinja Book Reviews Diversity Month, where they feature interviews and guest posts from all sorts of great bloggers and authors-- it's happening now! I’m catching up on Orange Is the New Black as we speak. As a long-time Netflix basher, I finally caved in and became a subscriber. Even though I'd bought the first season on DVD, I couldn't wait to finally watch season two, to see all these interesting stories about women unfold. Orange is the New Black (Netflix series created by Jenji Kohan) I saw relationships end and start. [...]

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Orphan Blade by M. Nicholas Almand & Jake Myler: Review

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 23rd, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: Fantasy, gay, graphic novel, Horror, New Releases, Other Media, Queer Guys, Speculative|

“Orphan Blade is pretty gruesome,” the email warned. “You don’t have to review it if you’re not a fan of blood, gore, guts and monsters.” Nonsense! I thought blithely, cheerful and ready to accept whatever queer YA literature might grace my inbox for review. It’s a graphic novel. How gross can it be? As it turns out, gross enough to make me wince, flip through pages, and shiver with the kind of deep, primal disgust that comes with Jake Myler’s illustrations. Myler explore all the textural unpleasantries of skin – boils, scales, slime, and of course, what skin flaps in jagged shards [...]

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