A Prereading Reflection of Annie on My Mind

For my first official read for #CBR6, I'm revisiting a book I read fifteen years ago (holy crap!), Annie on My Mind (1982) by Nancy Garden. Then, I had been working at a library and came across it on the shelves. From the title and the cover, I knew that it would deal with a taboo topic (by certain standards), homosexuality / lesbianism, but because I thought it would be a coming-of-age romance, I plowed forward with reading it...though the world not being what it is now (in a way), I did not publicize that I was reading it.

In late November 2013, I attended my first professional conference but didn't know that authors autographing books was part of the deal (or that conferences were book publishers' money making machines), so it was quite by chance that I stumbled upon the giveaway and autograph session for Annie. I was on my way out the sales area onto the conference rooms for a workshop when one of her publisher's sales people asked if I was interested in getting a signed copy of the book's newest printing. New to the world of children's and YA books, she was the only author whose work I was familiar enough with to be excited about getting this freebie. Meeting Garden and getting a personalized copy of a book that I actually wanted to own was the highlight of my brief one day experience at the conference (I have a habit of being late).

So here I am getting started to re-read the book. I don't really remember much of the specifics of the story, so there are at least two benefits to revisiting it. 1) I'm starting off with what I think will be a quick read to get me in the groove of this challenge, and 2) I will be able to have specific knowledge for a book I'm thinking to add to my classroom library for students' independent reading selections. LGBTQIA texts are not well represented in the collection, and since I'm not really familiar with current children's/YA LGBTQIA texts that exist, I figure Annie might be a good place to start.

If you have any recommendations for current children's/YA books about or with LGBTQIA characters, let me know!