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In a similar vein, Julie Ann Peters's Luna (Little, Brown, 2004) explores the transition that one teen makes, in this case from a boy named Liam to a girl named Luna. Told from the perspective of Liam's little sister, Regan, this novel illustrates the heartache that can occur within a family when a teen comes out, but it also shows the love and unconditional Audemars Piguet Replica support that all LGBTQ teens need and deserve. Peters has written a number of other exceptional books with such themes, such as Far from Xanadu (Little, Brown, 2005), Between Mom and Jo (Little, Brown, 2006), and her recent short-story collection, grl2grl (Little, Brown, 2007). The voices of her characters are sharp and insightful, and I hope that Peters continues to grace us with her novels for a long time.

No column on LGBTQ themes in YA literature can be written without mention of David Levi-than. His Boy Meets Boy (Knopf, 2003), while a relatively older title among these others, remains one of the most uplifting stories I have ever read. Levithan ...
... sets his tale in a place and time where young people can come out to their families and be warmly accepted and supported. Gay and straight youth mingle freely, and the high school's star quarterback is also a drag queen who goes by the name Infinite Darlene. It is a marvelous, wonderful world, one I hope we can live in someday.

Our LGBTQ students need and deserve to read good books as much as anyone else. According to a 2004 poll commissioned by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, approximately 5% of all American high school students identify themselves as lesbian or gay. It's important to realize that those are the students who self-identify, and this does not include students who are still questioning or who simply do not want to identify themselves. As teachers, we all likely have at least one LGBTQ student who might gain a great deal from reading some of these titles. At the least, we surely have some students who could learn from the lessons of tolerance and acceptance illustrated by these authors.

I could continue to espouse the importance of teens reading these books, and others like them, but I think the example of Lawrence King speaks more powerfully Levithan sets his tale in a place and time where young people can come out to their families and be warmly accepted and supported than anything else possibly could. King was a 15-year-old Replica IWC eighth-grade student in Oxnard, California, who came out as gay earlier in the 2007-08 school years. In February, after King told another student that he had a crush on him, that student brought a gun to school and fatally shot King in the head. While it is impossible to say definitively that the students' exposure to LGBTQ titles may have averted this tragedy, I would suggest that reading such books can show all teens that LGBTQ teens are just like every other teen: preoccupied with dreams, questions, and anxieties. Keeping these books in our rooms and minds can be a strong first step toward acceptance and kindness in our schools.