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Excerpt Tour: Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

By |2020-03-28T13:42:02-05:00March 26th, 2015|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: , , , , , |

Here at GAY YA we are extremely excited about the upcoming SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA by Becky Albertalli, and today we have the pleasure of featuring an excerpt from the book! Get excited because SIMON it's an amazing debut, and you do not want to miss it. No seriously, all that praise it has been getting online? Completely worth it and you need to check it ouuuut.   Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Balzer + Bray, 2015) But first, what is it about? Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the [...]

The (im)possibilities of Openly Straight

By |2020-03-28T13:42:06-05:00March 11th, 2015|Categories: Archive|Tags: , |

I first read Bill Konigsberg’s Openly Straight in April, 2014. Ten months later, reading it again, the questions it poses are as powerful as they were the first time. How do I really feel about being gay? I always thought I was okay with it. Am I though? Relative to many (most, even) members of the LGBTQ+ community, I have had something of a charmed life. I was never really in any doubt about my sexuality: like Paul from Boy Meets Boy, it just seemed obvious to me. I talk sometimes about my parents having two sets of [...]

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New Releases: March 2015.

By |2020-03-28T13:42:06-05:00March 9th, 2015|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

March 2nd (USA) Top 250 LGBTQ Books for Teens (Huron Street Press, 2015) Top 250 LGBTQ Books for Teens: Coming Out, Being Out, and the Search for Community by Michael Cart  — (LGBTQAI+) Goodreads Summary: "A summary of the 250 best books for LGBTQ teens, written by experts on the subject and addressed to teen book buyers. Identifying titles that address the sensitive and important topics of coming out, being out, and the search for community, this catalog spotlights the best gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and questioning books written for teens. The authors cover fiction of all [...]

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5 Reasons to Love Benjamin Alire Saenz’s Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

By |2020-03-28T13:42:06-05:00March 5th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: , , , |

by Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez   Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2012) opens in the summer of 1987 in El Paso, Texas and follows Aristotle Mendoza’s journey toward self-discovery. Fifteen year old Ari is smart and witty but quite isolated from other boys his own age. However, after meeting Dante Quintana at the pool he begins to feel a renowned interest in life and an unfamiliar feeling for Dante. Benjamin Alire Saenz[1] creates a beautiful flourishing relationship between the two young boys that forces both of them to look inward. Ari and Dante find solace, [...]

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Author Interview: Steven Dos Santos

By |2020-03-28T13:42:07-05:00February 19th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Interview|Tags: , , |

The Culling (Flux, 2013) Vee: Hello there Steven! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. It's a pleasure to have you on the blog. To start off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Steven: Thanks for having me, Vee!  I was born in the Big Apple to Portuguese & Dominican parents, but grew up in sunny South Florida, which I still currently call home (when I’m not calling it some not-so-nice words in the height of our steamy summers). I have a Journalism/Communications degree and also studied Motion Picture [...]

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Review of I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN

By |2020-03-28T13:42:07-05:00February 13th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: , , , , , |

I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN by Jandy Nelson I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN is a complex story about FAMILY, secrets, GRIEF, love, growing up, FINDING AND BECOMING YOURSELF, self-esteem, and art. It’s perfectly described in one of the epigraphs with the following e. e. cummings quote, “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are” (spoiler alert: It takes a whole lot of courage. And it’s incredibly difficult). The novel reflects on the journey to becoming that person. FROM GOODREADS: Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly [...]

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Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian: Exclusive Cover Reveal and Interview

By |2020-03-28T13:42:07-05:00February 6th, 2015|Categories: Archive|Tags: , |

We are absolutely thrilled to be hosting Carrie Mesrobian's cover reveal for her new book Cut Both Ways out in September 2015. Carrie was one of mine and Kathleen's middle school writing teachers, and we've been in other classes with her over the following years. She's a great instructor, a fabulous writer, and has been incredibly supportive of us as we re-launched GayYA. We've been hearing little snippets about this unnamed book that had a bisexual guy as the protagonist for months, so when she approached us with the chance to host the cover reveal I was like uuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmm YES. [...]

New Releases: February 2015.

By |2020-03-28T13:42:07-05:00February 4th, 2015|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: , , , , , |

February 5th (USA) Unspeakable (Atom, 2015) Unspeakable by Abbie Rushton -- (LESBIAN) Goodreads Summary: "Megan doesn't speak. She hasn't spoken in months. Pushing away the people she cares about is just a small price to pay. Because there are things locked inside Megan's head - things that are screaming to be heard - that she cannot, must not, let out. Then Jasmine starts at school: bubbly, beautiful, talkative Jasmine. And for reasons Megan can't quite understand, life starts to look a bit brighter. Megan would love to speak again, and it seems like Jasmine might be the answer. [...]

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Stonewall Book Award – 2015 Winners

By |2020-03-28T13:42:07-05:00February 3rd, 2015|Categories: Archive|Tags: , , , |

Each year the American Library Association (ALA) announces the Youth Media Awards given to outstanding children and young adult books (including audiobooks, videos and graphic novels). This year the awards were presented on Monday Feb 1st, in a ceremony in Chicago, USA. One of the awards presented was the Stonewall Book Award, which is granted to "English language books that have exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" (via ALA's website). This year the books recognized were: Stonewall Book Award -Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award WINNER This Day in June (Magination Press, 2014) “This [...]

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Author Guest Post: Love, War, and Fairy Tale Endings

By |2020-03-28T13:42:08-05:00January 27th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, New Releases|Tags: , , , |

by Danny M. Cohen Early on in my debut novel, Train, teenagers Alexander and Marko make their way through the midnight shadows of Berlin to The Fountain of Fairy Tales in Friedrichshain Park. Statues of Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel, Gretel, and other familiar storybook characters surround the fountain and watch the teenage boys share a kiss. But this is no fairy tale. This is 1943 Germany and the Nazi machinery of deportation and mass-murder is ongoing. In writing Train, I wanted to tell the hidden stories of Hitler’s often forgotten victims—the Roma, the disabled, homosexuals, political [...]

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