ANNIE ON MY MIND
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Novel Rationale: Annie on My Mind by Nancy Gardener (Published by Aerial Fiction, 1982)
Summary: Told mainly in first person, Annie on My Mind is the story of Liza Winthrop and her attachment to Annie, a girl she befriends in the Metro Art Museum. As their relationship grows from being friends to lovers, the girls begin to piece together their own separate identities as young women in both their social and private lives. Over Spring Break, they housesit for two of Liza’s teachers who they later realize are also lesbians, but their time together is interrupted by the principal’s assistant. Liza is brought before the largely homophobic school board and threatened with expulsion for her actions. She bravely stands up for herself with the help of her confused but loving parents and is eventually cleared. However, her two teachers are fired. Her relationship with Annie is strained and they spend a summer apart. The story ends with Liza realizing, after recounting the past events that lead to their estrangement, that she truly does love Annie and they make plans to see each other.
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Themes:
Romance
Lesbian
Relationships
Friendship
Family
Adults
Identity
Connection to the Curriculum: Annie on My Mind is one of the most well-known YA GLBTQ novels as well as the first to positively portray a healthy gay relationship with a hopeful ending to the story. Its connections to other texts both inside and outside the curriculum make it a valuable tool for discussion of intertextuality. It will also contribute well to discussions about the lack of balance in gay and lesbian representation in YA literature, the former being much more widely written and studied. As a love story as well as one that prominently features gay adults and educators, it is useful to study for purposes of talking about genre as well as adult-teen relationships.
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A Note on the Text: (The best way to evaluate and understand a novel is to personally read the book in its entirety.)
While this novel does portray sexual situations between teens, it shows the characters engaging in sexual acts as part of a committed, healthy relationship.
