Wood Angel

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

At first glance this story is bleak. The Heroine, Plain Kate, is orphaned young, left only with talent for carving and her father's tools. She struggles to survive in a world where food is scarce and magic is feared. But through this, with one seemingly disastrous event after another, it turns into a story about love, friendship, family and, maybe most importantly, living with grief.

This is Ms. Bow's first novel. Poetry was her medium before this and I think it shows. Elegant imagery and an understanding of emotion that wrenches your heart are prominent throughout. This is not a light-hearted YA read.

With all that in mind, however, I think Plain Kate is a promising debut for a YA author and, if you're willing to get your heart broken a little bit, a great read.

--Morgaine

(aside note: The title in the UK is 'Wood Angel' which I think is a much better and more descriptive title.)

While you wait for it to to get better, how about something to read?

That's a picture of the Kids Desk's display of young adult books with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning characters. We've all been paying close attention to the It Gets Better Project, and as book people, thought we'd offer teens some good reading as our contribution. The titles are listed below, but is that an exhaustive list of what's on our shelves (or on your local library's shelves)? Nope. There's tons more. Looking for something good? Stop by and ask. The amount of young adult fiction (and picture books, and anthologies, etc.) with queer characters is so much greater than it was a generation ago.

Also, we wanted to say a big thank you to Mr. Savage for starting the ball rolling (read his books!), and to all the folks who've made videos. Including our own beloved Brad, whose video can be found on his wonderful blog here. We love you, Brad.

The books on that table...
New this year (and great): Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Jumpstart the World. Classic and unforgettable: Geography Club and Boy Meets Boy. Award-winning: Ash and Hard Love. Nonfiction: GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer and Questioning Teens and Let's Get This Straight: The Ultimate Handbook for Youth with LGBTQ Parents. Already blogged the heck out of it: The Bermudez Triangle. Other titles on there: Rainbow Road, Totally Joe, Hero, From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, Baby Bebop (that's a used copy), The House You Pass on the Way, Keeping You a Secret, The Mariposa Club. And, a picture book: Just Kidding, which is about bullying.


-Kids Desk

Past & Present

It can be quite discouraging, reading and recommending GLBT fiction.  The gay audience for fiction seems to be aging, and the younger generation seems not to find short stories and novels as vital to their understanding of themselves and our common gay culture as we did and do.  Perhaps as a symptom of the wider culture's abandonment of print in favor of electronic media, or perhaps as the direct result of publishing's growing reluctance to support gay literary fiction as the primary focus of gay writing as an art form, but for whatever reason, gay fiction seems to have devolved largely into an increasingly genre-driven ghetto of YA, fantasy and porn stories.

A very interesting discussion on the subject has started online at Afterelton.com., featuring two of the more successful gay authors of today, Michael Jensen and Brent Hartinger.  The interviewer and the writers all seem to assume that the great days of gay literary fiction are past.  They may be right.  (I'd prefer to think that they're wrong, and I suspect they would too.)

Meanwhile though, our own Nick DiMartino continues his effort to preserve and promote the best of GLBT fiction in the ongoing Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club -- meeting weekly at Dunshee House, every Wednesday at 6PM.  

Our first book, Breakfast With Scot, is proving to be the subject for a fairly wide ranging discussion of issues of gender, class and gay humor, as well as a grand excuse for homemade eatables, chat and good, multi generational gay company.  Author Michael Downing has agreed to answer our questions and has already provided us with a good deal to think about from our very first exchange with him.  (Keep an eye on this blog for more from the author soon.)

Please come by and check it out.

A (Forthcoming) Story for Younger Readers

In, I think, the second grade, already the consummate ham, I organized a "play" to commemorate Lincoln's Birthday at a PTA meeting. Aided by my pals Jeff (as Lincoln) and Joel (as Booth,) we re-enacted the tragedy of Lincoln's assassination. When Booth jumped from the scene of the crime to the stage, he nearly took the bunting and the Presidential Box -- made of cardboard -- with him. Luckily the dying Lincoln thoughtfully grabbed our falling set and held it throughout the rest of the action. Now why we chose the assassination as our tribute on the man's birthday, I do not now recall. I do remember that I was the narrator and Jeff was cast as Lincoln because, unlike me, he must have already been well over three feet tall.

I am not a big fan of assassination histories. Most tend to be written by conspiracy theorists and like minded paranoids. So when a great book does come along dealing with Lincoln's untimely end, it takes me awhile to warm to it.

Well, there is such a book on Lincoln's assassins, and I'm recommending here, a bit late. James L. Swanson has written the definitive history of the flight of John Wilkes Booth, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. Published in 2006, it is in paperback now. Terribly exciting, and full of information previously unknown to me, Swanson's book managed to tell a familiar story in a remarkably fresh way; taking the flight of Booth as an opportunity to detail both the hunt, and the immediate consequences of the assassination.

Come February, Swanson has a new book coming out, for younger readers: Chasing Lincoln's Killer. The author has recast the whole story in language appropriate for this new audience without losing the excitement and serious scholarship of the adult version. The new book is handsomely designed, includes a number of large illustrations, and will sell in hardcover for only $16.95. A perfect gift for a younger history buff. Much better, no doubt, if less hilarious, than my production from the 2nd grade.