The Rainbow Room

Burch, Christian. The Manny Files: A Novel. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers: 2006. 296 p. Ages 8 and up.

A manny, if you didn't know, is a male nanny. After going through a slew of female nannies, third grader Keats jumps for joy when the manny is hired to look after him and his three sisters in the delightful novel The Manny Files by Christian Burch.

In a brilliant, affluent Manhattan family, surrounded by three sisters with many talents and eccentricities, Keats feels uninteresting, and often overlooked. He is the shortest kid in his class, invisible behind a classmate's red poofy hair, and eclipsed by his oldest sister's previous accomplishments. When the mischievous, playful manny arrives, Keats goes from invisible to interesting.

The manny nurtures Keats' interests in design, fashion, and writing. He also helps Keats gain a great deal of self-confidence and teaches him how to make friends and understand bullies. It is extremely difficult not to love the manny, but bratty oldest sister Lulu holds grudges against him, and notes all of her dislikes in a binder called "The Manny Files", which she wants to present to the parents in order to get him fired.

The story is told in Keats' voice. He is an introspective, eloquent little boy, and though he is quite well read, Burch does not make him omniscient. Many facts of life and pop culture references are over the boy's head. Here is a cute example:

"The manny told Lulu to wear lots of feathers and sequins like Liberace. India [one of Keats' sisters] told me that Liberace is a fancy French cheese that is served with red wine. I guess you wear feathers and sequins when you eat it. I'm going to order it the next time I'm at a fancy restaurant."

An older, more sopshisticated reader might pick up on the fact that the manny is a gay man from the moment he walks in the door, and also might suspect that Keats might turn out gay, but the words to describe gay people, whether positive or negative, are never uttered in this book. The manny is accepted as he is, without comment or question. He is a creative, responsible, wise caretaker of children, and nothing bad happens under his watch. In fact, Keats' classmates envy him for his manny and the manny's ability to make Keats' family a happy one that always seems to have fun. Lulu, a junior high school student on the verge of sexual radar, does not even note it in "The Manny Files", and the childrens' parents never hint or question. In fact, there seems to be a sound barrier between Keats and the adult world when it comes to potentially disturbing topics, whether it is the health of a beloved grandmother, or the manny going out alone with the childrens' Uncle Max. Keats' older sister India, though not always accurate in her descriptions, is the one "allowed" to hear adult discussions. It is Lulu, surprisingly enough, who breaks this barrier as she becomes a young woman and begins to date boys. Keats begins to see his oldest sister in a new way, begins to get a tiny grasp on attraction, and observes a touching moment when the manny and Lulu are actually able to have a mature conversation about boys. Lulu sheepishly admits that the manny has given her better boy advice than Amanda, her favorite high school babysitter hired to watch them while the manny was on vacation, and this leads to her giving up the Manny Files.

Keats compares the manny to Mary Poppins, but the manny is even better. He doesn't need to fly or transport the kids to fantasyland to provide a neverending source of magic. The book is filled with vivid descriptions of all the activities and treats that the manny invents for the family, from dinners under dining room tents to opera performances with Keats' ailing grandmother. The manny is a welcome addition to the pantheon of gentle, positive characters who inspire and teach without preaching.

Reisz, Kristopher. Tripping to Somewhere. New York: Simon Pulse: 2006. 368 p.; recommended for ages 16+.

Kristopher Reisz has dubbed himself an "Urban Fantasy Writer". Tripping to Somewhere is his first novel, a dark debut featuring a lesbian main character and the girl who might just love her. Previously, Reisz had a short piece published in "Cthulu Sex Magazine", which reveals his fascination for the strange and frightening. Lesbianism may be frightening and otherworldly to teens, and those in the midst of the "coming out" process can tell you it's often a hell of a trip. Although Reisz is not gay, he was born and raised in a small Alabama town, where it is very difficult to be a gay or lesbian teen. Even many straight kids stuck in the religious, conservative atmosphere yearn to get out and go far, far, away. Reisz escaped through reading and writing, unlike the characters of his first novel.

In Tripping to Somewhere, two girls, Gilly and Sam, attempt to escape from their mundane lives in Birmingham, Alabama and join "The Witches Carnival", a mysterious band of flamboyant, Goth-like characters. Gilly and Sam travel from Alabama to England with over $50,000 (skimmed from drug arrests by Gilly's policeman father), fake passports, and some pretty foul but accurate teen language.

This is the first YA book I have read where the teen characters have cell phones and ATM accounts. I doubt that it actually is the first YA book to involve such things, but it made the characters grounded in a 21st century reality, as opposed to a timeless reality. McDonalds was everywhere, as was the teen clothing store "Hot Topic" and other brand names.

What grabbed me most about this story wasn't the characters. Gilly Stahl is a young lesbian, still not out to her parents, who has been shunned and teased by most of her classmates. Samantha Grace, who identifies as straight, stood up for Gilly when the religious kids started bugging her. This led to the girls' "friendship with benefits", as Sam calls it. It is a painful friendship for Gilly, as she really loves Sam in all ways, and does not want to share her with the next "boyfriend". At the Witches Carnival, Gilly falls in love with Maggie, an immortal temptress. Gilly follows the carnival in the hope that Maggie will notice her, while Sam follows Gilly, and seeks escape from a stepdad with a fondness for teen porn. The journey is studded with drinking, drugs, sex, described with no guilt or introspection, as if this is just part of teen life, or desired teen life. Both girls have to make a major decision in this story--join the Witches Carnival forever, or return to mundane life and face the consequences of prison and separation.

What grabbed me most about the book was the adventure itself, and how the girls got from place to place. What I will remember forever is the detailed description of how to forge a modern passport and fool the airlines with it. I wonder how many teens would actually attempt that.

Honestly, I was shocked by Tripping to Somewhere. The same crowd who reads Francesca Lia Block will probably enjoy Reisz's book, although it is much grittier than Block's work. Sam and Gilly lost their innocence a long time ago, and are believable as troubled girls. On the other hand, I seriously doubt that a "C" student from Birmingham, Alabama public schools would know who Christopher Marlowe was, or that they would be literate enough to understand his work. Public schools these days barely brush over Shakespeare...would they even have time or inclination for Dr. Faustus? Even worse was the author's interpretation of the Faustus tale, as expressed by the two girls. Faust was not looking for an escape from boredom...he was looking for the meaning of life, and the source of all knowledge. It was an extremely clumsy attempt on Reisz's part to link this story to a literary classic, although it might inspire teens to actually look for a copy of Dr. Faustus and attempt to read it.

So, as I try to think like a teen as I read this book, and not like an English teacher or an old fogy, the YA crowd engrossed in fantasy, horror, and crime novels just might ride with Tripping to Somewhere.

Did you know that October 11th is National Coming Out Day, and it has been since 1987?

Did your school or local library do anything to recognize or celebrate National Coming Out Day?

The Human Rights Commission provides an excellent history of National Coming Out Day.

In celebration of the holiday, check out some of these bibliographies of fiction and non-fiction for and about LGBTQ children and teens. Many coming out resources are listed here!

ALA's Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Roundtable Bibliography for Gay Teens (used in the "Gay Teens in the 21st Century: Access to the Future" Preconference)

Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission Sexual Orientation (section of "Celebrating Human Rights with Children and Teens: An Annotated Bibliography")

Evanston Public Library Bibliography (Illinois)

Fresno Public Library Bibliography

Seattle Public Schools' GLBTQ Advisory Committee's Reading List for Children, Teens, and Professionals

Many public libraries have booklists of LGBTQ YA literature. Visit the young adult pages of their websites, or contact their reference librarians for a copy. If that fails, your local LGBTQ community center or LGBTQ support group will be happy to help.

On National Coming Out Day, libraries remain wide open, and schools are in session. Get the facts, or make a connection. We are not alone, nor shall we be silenced or shamed.

Curtis Sittenfeld's novel Prep does little justice to "coming of age" stories or the genre of bildungsroman. The focus of the the tale rests on narrator Lee Fiora, an "unlovable, self-conscious" girl from South Bend, Indiana who learns what it takes to be popular at a posh New England prep school. Although Lee does not paint a sympathetic figure, she brings us back to our adolescence, and the blunders we all had made on the path to define ourselves and our values.

Unbeknownst to herself, Lee reveals a great deal about how her mind works through dialogue and interactions with her room-mates, fellow students, her love interests, and her parents. Rarely do we encounter Lee behaving true to herself. Only twice does Lee respond honestly and naturally to her feelings.

As a freshman, in the beginning of the novel, Lee is fascinated by the beautiful, charismatic Gates Medkowski, the school's first female senior prefect. Not only does Lee reach out to Gates to get to know her and give her tokens of admiration, but Lee also explores her affection for Gates and wonders if she is a lesbian. Later on in the story, Lee shows sincere concern for her troubled room-mate Sin-Jun who had attempted suicide, and keeps her company in the hospital.

Unlike Gates Medkowski, Sin-Jun Kim is not one of the popular girls. A quiet girl from Korea, Sin-Jun is noticed by Lee and room-mates for what surrounds her--boxes of Korean groceries and stinky dried squid, a bicycle (which Lee often borrows), and money in her drawer--rather than for who she is. Lee does not make much of an attempt to get to know Sin-Jun; she does not speak much, and reveals nothing about herself to her room-mates. Unbeknownst to Lee, however, Sin-Jun has a life outside their room. She befriends a girl named Clara O'Hallahan and they live together in their sophomore year. We hear very little about Sin-Jun during Lee's sophomore year until the very end, with a shocking suicide attempt.

Lee never finds out why Sin-Jun attempted suicide, and the reason does not appear anywhere in the novel. We only learn through Lee's narration that Sin-Jun does not want Clara to see her in the hospital, which makes Clara hysterical. Lee chalks it up to Clara's dramatic nature and does her best to ignore it...until she returns to the hospital one morning to bring Sin-Jun some things, and finds Clara and Sin-Jun engaged in loud, bed-rocking...well, let's just say it wasn't just a shock to Lee. Innocent, quiet, studious Sin-Jun!

Sin-Jun's father arrives from Korea to bring her home, at least for a while. During her absence, Sin-Jun writes to Lee that she will no longer have a "love relationship" with Clara anymore. In spite of this, Sin-Jun is allowed to return to the United States, and chooses to stay, as a confident lesbian. Lee and Sin-Jun maintain friendly contact with each other, past graduation and into their adult lives. Although she never says it directly, Lee respects Sin-Jun's courage, and wishes that she had some of it for herself.

How wonderful it would be to see a novel about Sin-Jun's experience, and to read her point of view on prep school, popularity, love, and authenticity. What would she say about her repressed, duplicitous classmates, born and raised in a land rumored to encourage individuality and freedom of spirit? Perhaps a future writer will give Sin-Jun--or a character just like her--a place in literature.

A Sesame Street definition of marriage.