I was kinda dissapointed by this book. Some of the stories were good but some weren't... ( )

i chose to read 3 stories from this collection. the book features stories (fiction) from twelve popular authors on being glbtq. i read stories by: david levithan, francesca lia block, and julie anne peters. i've read more than one book by each before. although i love david's writing normally, i just couldn't get into his story. i'm still confused as to what it's about. block's story is told through blog entries and emails, and tells the story of a girl who has always identified as straight falling in love with a girl who is in the process of becoming a boy. not her best work but i liked it all the same. the best story for me was peters' story about two lesbians' "first time" with each other and in general. the best way i can describe the writing style was: there were two columns and each was assigned to one of the girls. the story was sensual, truthful, and sexy. loved it! ( )

The story from which the title of this collection comes is by David Levithan. It took me apart. Entirely. I think Levithan writes from the same place L'Engle wrote from- that calm and sure center where love lives, that place of hope untainted by delusion. He's rapidly becoming one of my favorites. I suspect this particular piece resonated so strongly with me because I can remember so clearly the time when all the beautiful boys were dying and we were powerless and afraid and fairly certain we were all in the path of that particular tornado. The sense of having dodged that bullet never leaves me, nor the sense of loss- and to hear those voices again, or Levithan's imagining of what those voices would say, was- oh, hell, I'm crying again just typing this. So, yeah. Best story of the collection, by a mile.

There were some other stand-out stories from some of the usual suspects as well as some unusual suspects (like Gregory Maguire, who turned in a very strong piece about what we leave behind). Margo Lanagan, whose [b:Tender Morsels|2662169|Tender Morsels|Margo Lanagan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1235445952s/2662169.jpg|2687395] was exquisite, gives us a haunting re-imagining of the old poem The Highwayman. Julie Ann Peters takes us inside the heads of two young women having their first sexual experience- told in dual columns with just a little overlap, it was a very effective format.

Four stars because Levithan's story is so strong. Without that, I think it would be a solid three stars for me. ( )

I loved the varied writing styles and story formats. These stories on sexuality and coming of age and discovering oneself are for the new generation, some are funny, most are touching, some made me ponder, all wonderfully beautiful.

Editor Michael Cart has collected twelve stories about LGBT youth identity in the form of short stories, graphic fiction, and verse, by well-known young-adult, and adult authors including Francesca Lia Block, Gregory Maguire, Jacqueline Woodson, Ariel Schrag, Emma Donoghue, and others.
There is something for everyone in this collection: stories of ghosts and girls trapped in walls serving as metaphors for transgendered teens trapped in the wrong body; handsome highway men and soldiers for a stable boy to lust after; stories of first love; and of first making love. One graphic short story is about two teens who make conflicting wishes when they meet a genie, leaving all three of them tortured; the other is about the San Francisco Dyke March.
While there is some sex, most of it is left to the imagination, good as in Julie Anne Peter's "First Time," and unsettling, as in William Sleator's "Fingernail," a disturbing story about the sex trade between older western men, and young boys in Thailand. In this particular story, the Thai "boy" is already a young man of twenty and thus technically legal, unlike much of the sex trade that actually takes place there between men and underage boys. But the abusive relationship that he finds himself in is almost equally disturbing.
Some of the stories may actually be of more interest to older readers than to teens: in particular, David Levithan's "A Word from the Nearly Distant Past," in which Levithan recounts the experiences of generations past as they dealt with being in the closet, dealing with the AIDS crisis, etc., and exhorts the younger generation to make sure that they live for future generations, as much as for themselves. Emma Donoghue's "Dear Lang," is a letter from a lesbian mother who has been denied access to her now sixteen-year-old son by his biological mother, in which she tells the story of how she came to be barred from his life, and how she is just now taking the chance of having another child with a new partner.
One of the best stories is Jacqueline Woodson's insightful "Trev," about a transgendered child, and the struggles he has with his family and at school to be who he really is. Trev's mother both reassures him that he isn't the reason his father left, and yet whispers her wish to him every night at bedtime, that Trev will wake up "my sugar and spice, and everything nice."
Recommended for all teens. ( )