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This terrific and long-overdue resource chronicles the development of GLBTQ-themed young adult literature over time and intersperses critical commentary with annotated bibliographies of related fiction. Cart and Jenkins use a three-part framework to describe the historical changes in content and the depiction of gays and lesbians in terms of what they call "homosexual visibility," "gay assimilation," and "queer consciousness/community." The authors take a historical approach and examine GLBTQ-themed young adult literature decade by decade, discussing pivotal works in detail, and conclude each chapter with an annotated bibliography and a list of notes or works cited. Well organized and easy to read, Heart is a valuable, semi-scholarly reference for both collection development and research.-Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Both a comprehensive overview and a lively, detailed discussion of individual landmark books, this highly readable title in the Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature series discusses 35 years of YA books with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (GLBTQ) content. Booklist columnist Cart, a groundbreaking YALSA leader, and Jenkins, a well-known academic, have long played crucial roles in raising standards and gaining recognition for YA literature, and they speak with authority and personal experience about the history of the field, candid about the stereotypes and enthusiastic about what is accurate, thoughtful, and artful. They note the long invisibility of GLBTQ themes in YA fiction and then chart the great breakthrough titles as well as the range from simplistic problem scenarios to gays as complex protagonists and part of the gay community--though the cliches are still with us, including the gay as sad-eyed loner. With fully annotated bibliographies, including a chronological list, this is a valuable YA and adult resource, sure to be in great demand for personal reference and group discussion. For more on this book, see Books by Booklist Authors on p.128. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2006 Booklist
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
This Scarecrow series continues to impress with this collaborative critical study, which documents and evaluates 35 years of young adult (YA) books with gay/lesbian/bi/transgender/queer (GLBTQ) content. In the introduction and first appendix, Cart (UCLA) and Jenkins (library and information science, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) aptly explain the theoretical model behind their analyses of the evolution of this literature, which they categorize in the following manner: Homosexual Visibility/Gay Assimilation/Queer Consciousness and Community. Jenkins constructed this framework from Sims Bishop's critical model for African American inclusion in children's fiction. The first chapter gives context, discussing the climate in which GLBTQ emerged, and introduces the "first" YA book to fit the category. The following four chapters offer more context and chronicle decade by decade the growth of GLBTQ literature. Including statistics and comprehensive annotated bibliographies, this well-written book leaves the reader with an educated, critical understanding of the high points, low points, and gaps in this literature--a literature Cart and Jenkins believe is finally coming of age to reveal how gay/lesbian people are seen by others and by themselves. ^BSumming Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. D. J. Brothers Lincoln Land Community College