The Heart Has Its Reasons ─ Young Adult Literature with Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2004

Cart (young adult literature, UCLA, and Assembly on Adolescent Literature of the National Council of Teachers of English) and Jenkins (library and information science, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) trace the development of young adult literature with gay, lesbian, and queer content, beginning in 1969 with the first novel incorporating that theme, by John Donovan. They evaluate character portrayal and themes--also illustrated in a chart at the end--using three categories: homosexual visibility, gay assimilation, and queer consciousness/community. In addition to the chronological bibliography, the chapters, organized by decade, included annotated references to books published during those periods, up to 2004. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michael Cart is a past president of the Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association and the current President of the Assembly on Adolescent Literature of the National Council of Teachers of English. He teaches young adult literature at UCLA, he is the former head of the Beverly Hills Public Library, and the author of several books on children's and young adult literature, as well as a young adult novel, My Father's Scar, a gay coming-of-age story selected as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

Christine A. Jenkins is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.