iffer's review against another edition
4.0
Am I Blue? was my first encounter with stories portraying adolescents struggling with their homo- or bi-sexuality. I read it when I was a freshmen in high school, and I immediately began recommending it to my friends, especially those who were GLBTQ, in, or out of the closet. It was a joy to feel their relief at finally reading stories that portrayed them and their struggles.
azazed's review against another edition
5.0
I clung to this book as a teen, got it out from the library, hid it from my parents. It made me feel real.
grecialopez's review against another edition
3.0
This book was pretty good. I think it had a good variety of stories. It is a bit old though, I liked it enough.
razishiri's review against another edition
2.0
I read the title story, "Am I Blue?", for English last year and loved it. Unfortunantly as much as I like the topic, none of the other stories really lived up to their predessesor. Still worth a read if only for the first story and the notes by each author.
mlangman's review against another edition
3.0
I read this when I taught in Philadelphia, as the first short story in the anthology, "Am I Blue?" is required reading for 9th graders in Philly. I read it again (in its entirety this time) for my YA/Adolescent Lit Course. It's hard to give a number of stars to an anthology like this because some stories I liked much better than others and I felt that some really hit the mark, while others were okay. On the whole though, I enjoyed the stories. I also think that the messages they send about being gay (or friends with someone who is gay, related to someone who is gay, exploring your sexuality, etc.) are very important and need to be made available to more teens and pre-teens.
brogan7's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
What strikes me about this collection is how wholesome it is...was the world so different in 1994 (publication date) because there was no internet? The kids in these stories are exploring identity and sexuality, but they don't seem as traumatized or as wild as the average teenager in 2022. Who would have thought the nineties could look that innocent?!
mixxie67's review against another edition
3.0
A mixed bag of short story offerings by popular YA authors. I haven't read this in awhile but a quick glance at an Amazon description reminded me that I particularly liked Francesca Lia Block's story of a boy coming out to his girl friend. It's an important addition to any school library.
choirqueer's review against another edition
3.0
I really thought I had read this before, and I remembered a few of the stories but others were definitely brand-new to me. This book was clearly written before the #OwnVoices movement and it was frustrating how many of the stories not only seemed to be written by cis/straight people but also centered cis/straight characters and their feelings and the lack of trans representation. Nonetheless, some good stuff in here, and worth reading even just for the sake of comparison to more contemporary anthologies.
who_is_using_all_30_characters's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
reading this felt like looking through a window to another time, where queerness was less visible and normalized. now there is absolutely no bias against queer people. none whatsoever. i particularly liked The Honorary Shepherds by Gregory Macguire
reading this felt like looking through a window to another time, where queerness was less visible and normalized. now there is absolutely no bias against queer people. none whatsoever. i particularly liked The Honorary Shepherds by Gregory Macguire