Garden, N. (1982). Annie on my mind. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Annie and Liza are both high school seniors. Liza attends a private school and Annie attends a "rougher" public school in New York city. They meet one day at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art and begin a friendship that soon turns in to a blossoming love. Annie helps Liza deal with her problems at school by showing her the reality of her world in public school and explaining that her problems are small in the grand scheme of things. Their love affair accidentally goes public when a classmate and the secretary at Liza's school finds them together at the home of two lesbian teachers and threatens expulsion for both Liza and the teachers. After the dust settles, and both girls are at separate colleges, they reconnect with the hope of a continued relationship because they both truly love each other.
Annie On My Mind was a ground breaking book in the early 80s and has paved way for the publication of many more young adult novels about sexual orientation. It remains a classic for its timeless themes of young love and coming to terms and identifying sexuality as one discovers it. This book has strength in the fact that the story is simple and real. It could be a great book in discussing banned books and how society views this book now and differently then when it was first published 30 years ago. Lessons can also be connected from society's views within the story and characters within the book.
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