Not The Only One

Capturing the fears and joys of teenagers confronting gay and lesbian issues, a collection includes stories of about young man coming out to his best friend, Sara, and a young woman learning her father is gay. Original. IP.

Gr. 10^-12. The quality of writing here can't match what's found in Bauer's Am I Blue? . None of these stories takes your breath away like James Giblin's "Three Mondays in July" or makes you laugh and think at the same time like Bruce Coville's campy "Am I Blue?" Still, there's something to be said for the ordinariness of the 21 pieces Grima has gathered in this roundup: most have the feel of real life, with few loud and message-laden declarations to get in the way. A couple of the stories stand out--Lesle{‚}a Newman's "Less Ugly," for one. It's an energetic tale about a girl's summertime crush. Laurel Winter's "Somebody's Boyfriend" and Emily Ormand's "Seeing Ellie" are sweet, almost complementary romances--boy finds boy; girl finds girl. There are also some darker tales, a few with rough language and a few that are sexually explicit: in Raymond Luczak's "Ugly," a disabled boy has conflicting feelings about a classmate who uses power and insult to try to initiate sex; in Gysbert Menninga's "Visitation," a boy who is ostracized and humiliated becomes depressed and suicidal. Some stories show teens quietly adjusting to their sexual orientation; others show their inner struggle over whether to keep their homosexuality a secret. A mixed bag, to be sure, but that's certainly a large part of this book's merit. Stephanie Zvirin