Annie on My Mind

I recently had the pleasure of reading an incredible love story, but it was not your typical love story.  Annie on My Mind is the story of a chance meeting between two young girls, Liza and Annie, at a museum.  Liza knows that there is something different about Annie, something that she cannot put into words.  However, the reader knows exactly what is happening.  Liza has a crush on Annie.

Everyone around them believes that Liza and Annie are developing a powerful friendship, which they are, but a friendship that is so much more.  They spend all of their time together, and, eventually, Liza reveals to Annie that she loves her.  Liza and Annie explore what this love means both emotionally and physically.  They are both scared and confused, but they are also hopeful.  They envision spending the rest of their lives together and growing into old ladies with one another.

The two girls are discovered in quite a compromising situation, and they are outed before they have had the chance to truly accept who they are.  What surprises Liza is the support she receives from her family and other adults when she is faced with one of the most difficult trials of her young life.

Annie on My Mind is the most powerful young adult LGBTQ fiction that I have ever read.  Although it was originally published in 1982, its two courageous female protagonists show that love knows no bounds, including sexuality.  The author, Nancy Garden, creates a dichotomous reaction to the girls with adults taking both sides on the issue. 

Additionally, Garden fires back at the Bible verses often used to vilify homosexuality with a story from Greek mythology that is older than the Bible.  Liza reflects on a Greek legend she heard in school.  It was the speech given by Aristophanes in Plato's Symposium.  This story states that, in the beginning, every person had four arms and legs and two heads.  We were essentially two human beings in one.  We were constructed as forms of man/man, woman/woman, and man/woman.  These original humans angered Zeus, but, instead of destroying them, he became greedy and realized that if he cut them in half, he would have double the sacrifices.  Thus, everyone was cut in half and spent the rest of their life looking for their other half.  To me, this is a powerful statement of reassurance to anyone who may be curious about their sexuality.  Moreover, it is a powerful statement about love and the concept of "soul mates", in general.

What Garden has done is not only written a young adult LGBTQ novel, but a powerful love story that all can enjoy.  This book should be in every classroom library.