A review by librariann
Luv YA Bunches (a Flower Power Book #1) by Lauren Myracle
3.0
Ages 9+
So anyway, after hearing all of the SCHOLASTIC DOESN'T WANT BOOK-FAIR GOING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLERS TO BE EXPOSED TO A SAME SEX COUPLE hubbub, and being appropriately outraged in various social medias (fb, greader, yalsa-bk, etc) I figured the responsible thing to do would be to read the book.
Truth: I didn't think I'd be interested in the book initially, because when I had flipped through the ARC back in July, I was like, ag, chat transcripts, blech. (Sorry Lauren Myracle, but I had to say L8r G8r to your ttyl series) The good news is that the chat transcripts, being broken up by prose text as they are, don't bother me.
Luv Ya Bunches is a fairly textbook fifth grade friendship drama, with mean girls and new girls and popular girls and geeks, but it's well done. It's funny and happens to include a cross section of kids you might come across today in any fifth grade classroom: Muslim techie girl, geeky filmmaker girl, dark-skinned new girl whose mom is receiving inpatient treatment for bipolarism, and - it just so happens - popular girl who has two moms. I love that her having two moms doesn't mean she's teased or picked on. She's popular! And just happens to have two moms!
(Two moms who, BTW do NOT engage in graphic lesbian sex ANYWHERE in the 335 page book. I know you are SHOCKED.)
The funny thing is, the same-sex relationship isn't even what I would pick to be the most Angry Mom baiting topic in the book. (An honor that I award to a headgear sporting girl who gives a straight-from-Wikipedia oral presentation about the Greek satyrs and their talent of balancing wine cups on their erect "penitheth.") Runner-up: the definition of "dingleberry." HEY! I didn't know what that was until HIGH SCHOOL!
All in all, a read that will appeal to many 4-5 grade girls - and probably a few in third grade too - that is one of the VERY few mainstream titles that takes a refreshing "shrug - it's just the way it is" approach to same-sex parents. Here here, Lauren Myracle. And if I were placing bets, I'd say that most girls today won't even realize there's a hubbub to be had.
In conclusion, here's what I said to yalsa-bkers regarding the Scholastic Scandal: "For me, the issue is not so much inclusion in the book fairs (although that is problematic, to be sure), it’s that Scholastic’s editorial process requested the REMOVAL of a character’s same sex parents from the novel. That, to me, reeks of an outdated and biased attitude.
Props to Lauren Myracle for standing up for her book as it was written. I would much rather deal with the problem of whether a book with GLBT content should be excluded from a Book Fair (IMHO, it shouldn’t, but that’s another fight) than be unable to find/purchase for my library middle-grade books that reflect a same-sex parent household."
So anyway, after hearing all of the SCHOLASTIC DOESN'T WANT BOOK-FAIR GOING ELEMENTARY SCHOOLERS TO BE EXPOSED TO A SAME SEX COUPLE hubbub, and being appropriately outraged in various social medias (fb, greader, yalsa-bk, etc) I figured the responsible thing to do would be to read the book.
Truth: I didn't think I'd be interested in the book initially, because when I had flipped through the ARC back in July, I was like, ag, chat transcripts, blech. (Sorry Lauren Myracle, but I had to say L8r G8r to your ttyl series) The good news is that the chat transcripts, being broken up by prose text as they are, don't bother me.
Luv Ya Bunches is a fairly textbook fifth grade friendship drama, with mean girls and new girls and popular girls and geeks, but it's well done. It's funny and happens to include a cross section of kids you might come across today in any fifth grade classroom: Muslim techie girl, geeky filmmaker girl, dark-skinned new girl whose mom is receiving inpatient treatment for bipolarism, and - it just so happens - popular girl who has two moms. I love that her having two moms doesn't mean she's teased or picked on. She's popular! And just happens to have two moms!
(Two moms who, BTW do NOT engage in graphic lesbian sex ANYWHERE in the 335 page book. I know you are SHOCKED.)
The funny thing is, the same-sex relationship isn't even what I would pick to be the most Angry Mom baiting topic in the book. (An honor that I award to a headgear sporting girl who gives a straight-from-Wikipedia oral presentation about the Greek satyrs and their talent of balancing wine cups on their erect "penitheth.") Runner-up: the definition of "dingleberry." HEY! I didn't know what that was until HIGH SCHOOL!
All in all, a read that will appeal to many 4-5 grade girls - and probably a few in third grade too - that is one of the VERY few mainstream titles that takes a refreshing "shrug - it's just the way it is" approach to same-sex parents. Here here, Lauren Myracle. And if I were placing bets, I'd say that most girls today won't even realize there's a hubbub to be had.
In conclusion, here's what I said to yalsa-bkers regarding the Scholastic Scandal: "For me, the issue is not so much inclusion in the book fairs (although that is problematic, to be sure), it’s that Scholastic’s editorial process requested the REMOVAL of a character’s same sex parents from the novel. That, to me, reeks of an outdated and biased attitude.
Props to Lauren Myracle for standing up for her book as it was written. I would much rather deal with the problem of whether a book with GLBT content should be excluded from a Book Fair (IMHO, it shouldn’t, but that’s another fight) than be unable to find/purchase for my library middle-grade books that reflect a same-sex parent household."