Many students will feel seen; others will find their eyes opened.
Journalist Miller follows three first-generation college students through the 2019-2020 academic year and beyond.
All are politically liberal from low-income backgrounds and conservative areas. Briani, the daughter of a Dominican mother and undocumented Mexican father, left Lawrenceville, Georgia, for the Ivy League: New York’s Columbia University. Conner and Jacklynn, a White couple, navigate a rocky long-distance relationship; Conner attends Columbia, while Jacklynn attends community college back home in Ozark, Missouri. The evergreen challenges of making friends, dealing with homesickness, and managing heavy workloads are compounded by additional stressors, including impostor syndrome, pressure to make parents’ sacrifices count, and the gulfs between their backgrounds and those of their more privileged—and occasionally oblivious—classmates. Conner and Jacklynn discuss growing up with family members who experience mental illness and addiction. The Trump administration’s harsh rhetoric and policies around immigration figure frankly in Briani’s poignant discussions of racism and her parents’ political conservatism. Family members’ supportive and occasionally opposing viewpoints illustrate the complex ways that being a first-generation student affects the whole family. Interspersed news headlines detail the arrival of Covid-19, which further highlights economic inequalities and upends the trio’s educations, and the protests surrounding George Floyd’s murder, which highlight racial inequality. Though the frequent perspective and topic shifts occasionally feel disjointed, they also reflect a chaotic year rife with tough issues. The book ends on a hopeful note, emphasizing the students’ resilience.
Many students will feel seen; others will find their eyes opened. (author’s note) (Nonfiction. 13-18)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-374-31357-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future.
An adaptation for teens of the adult title A Queer History of the United States (2011).
Divided into thematic sections, the text filters LGBTQIA+ history through key figures in each era from the 1500s to the present. Alongside watershed moments like the 1969 Stonewall uprising and the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, the text brings to light less well-known people, places, and events: the 1625 free love colony of Merrymount, transgender Civil War hero Albert D.J. Cashier, and the 1951 founding of the Mattachine Society, to name a few. Throughout, the author and adapter take care to use accurate pronouns and avoid imposing contemporary terminology onto historical figures. In some cases, they quote primary sources to speculate about same-sex relationships while also reminding readers of past cultural differences in expressing strong affection between friends. Black-and-white illustrations or photos augment each chapter. Though it lacks the teen appeal and personable, conversational style of Sarah Prager’s Queer, There, and Everywhere (2017), this textbook-level survey contains a surprising amount of depth. However, the mention of transgender movements and activism—in particular, contemporary issues—runs on the slim side. Whereas chapters are devoted to over 30 ethnically diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer figures, some trans pioneers such as Christine Jorgensen and Holly Woodlawn are reduced to short sidebars.
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future. (glossary, photo credits, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8070-5612-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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