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Recently at Lit. Club I promoted David Levithan’s book Boy Meets Boy.
This is a gentle, funny love story set in a town which doesn’t have a gay scene or a straight scene. ‘They all got mixed up a while back, which I think is for the best.’ It is the book that David
‘dreamed of getting as an editor – a book about gay teens that doesn’t conform to the old norms about gay teens in literature (i.e. it has to be about a gay uncle, or a teen who gets beaten up for being gay, or about outcasts who come out and find they’re still outcasts, albeit outcasts with their outcastedness in common.).’Boy Meets Boy is engagingly romantic, with playful banter between a cast of endearing characters, some of whom just happen to be gay.

It became clear at Lit. Club that not everyone feels there is a need to have ‘gay books’ at Scotch. I definitely believe there is a need, and would like to quote from an article I wrote for Viewpoint magazine after hearing David Levithan speak at the Centre For Youth Literature’s Reading Matters conference in May.

“We all agree that kids and teens want to see themselves reflected in books. None need this more than those who are marginalised by society, for whatever reason. As librarians we are in a unique position to ensure books about gays and for gays are available and visible in our libraries.However, it’s not just the gay teenagers that would benefit from such a change. Story can so effectively illustrate the worth of diversity. We can lecture kids about the right and wrong way to treat people, even the atrocities committed throughout history because of a fear of difference, but one good book with characters they really relate to,may do more to encourage empathy and acceptance than a school-life’s worth of didacticism. I believe tolerance and acceptance is our natural state, our starting point, and that children learn intolerance and distaste for the different by observing the behaviour of some adults. Through books we can
hope to stymie this process.

Scottish author Andrew O’Hagan puts it poetically in his interview with Caro Llewellyn in the Weekend Australian of the 26/27th May 2007.

‘Truth is a kind of beauty and when we see its face, as we do
in good writing, we are overwhelmed with recognition for a value that we feel we
must always have known.’

When I first saw the cover to Boy Meets Boy I was concerned that the pretty colours, the obviously gay packaging, would prevent boys from borrowing the book. The fear of teasing, bullying, or downright ostracism would surely narrow the reading audience. David’s reason for taking this risk is the need to have this book be noticed and recognised as ‘gay’ by the boys who need it most. He told me that boys who want to borrow it will ‘find a way – even if it’s asking their female friends to borrow the book on their behalf’ – but they need to know it’s there first. Disguising it in a gender-neutral cover makes this less likely. I accept the reasoning, but still worry that students in a boys’ school will find it all too difficult to borrow this book…

Censorship at the selection stage does still occur in our libraries for many reasons, none of them good enough. Not only do we need to be strong advocates for the minorities in our schools and public libraries, we must also facilitate wide reading of all-inclusive books in the hope of tempering homophobia, racism, ageism, religious intolerance, nerdism and other forms of prejudice.So……..let’s get books like David’s crowding the shelves, dominating displays, talked about in book discussions, recommended on book lists, catapulted to the top of debating topics. Wouldn’t it be great if any boy could pick up a book with a pink cover and carry it to the circulation desk without qualms or subterfuge?”

Anyone who is interested may listen to the podcast of David’s talk, Kill the Vampires.
???
I am very keen to hear the opinions of Scotch staff and students on this matter. Is there a place for books with gay themes and gay characters on the Scotch Library shelves?

Mrs Sweeney

In Lit. Club on the 29th June we celebrated the end of term with another exciting round of The Scotch Factor. The Riders (Allan Q, Andrew K & James N- Alex Rider series), Ma’s Homebaked Cookies ( Sam , Nick B & Nick M – Artemis Fowl) and The Hogwarts People (Jason H, Nathan T & Ronald Z – Harry Potter of course) vied for points, enlisting the invaluable help of the illustrious Brains Trust (Ms Morris, Rob M & Andrew B).

The Riders fought courageously(they were filling in for original team members Jamie P, Liang Q & Xiyang Z, who were unavoidablly detained at a less scintillating school activity – sorry you missed it boys), and made up for their piddling score in the special subject session by forging ahead when the Quirky Questions were asked. Ma’s Homebaked Cookies put in another stirling effort (they were competing for the second time this year) but were unable to match the almost perfect score notched up by The Hogwarts People. Congratulations boys – you certainly know your Harry Potter facts!
Thanks (again) to Nick for timing (come and see me for your non-chocolate reward Nick), and James for scoring.

If you’d like to test yourself on the Quirky Questions, read on. I’ll post the answers on August the 8th.
Those of you who haven’t yet pitted your wits against Lit. Club’s greatest minds, start thinking of a special subject for the next round of The Scotch Factor at the end of term 3.

Scotch Factor Quirky Questions, Term 2 2007

Lupus is the Latin word for which animal?

A: Linx

B: Rabbit

C: Wolf

What is the colour of magic, the eighth colour in the Discworld spectrum?

A: Octarine

B: Huitoise

C: Achtarine

The colours of which Hogwarts house are black and yellow?

A: Hufflepuff

B: Griffindor

C: Ravenclaw

Boy reporter Tintin’s best friend is a cursing seafarer known as Captain ___?

A: Haddock

B: Halibut

C: Herring

Which great British writer is buried in Westminster Abbey?

A: Charles Dickens

B: William Shakespeare

C: William Wordsworth

What is a group of rhinoceroses called?

A: a Clash

B: a Crash

C: a Smash

Which Sci-Fi novelist gave the world the Three Laws of Robotics?

A: Isaac Asimov

B: Ray Bradbury

C: Arthur C Clarke

As its German name literally suggests, what kind of a ghost is a poltergeist?

A: Clumsy

B: Friendly

C: Noisy

The name for which type of pasta is Italian for ‘little worms’?

A: linguine

B: spaghetti

C: vermicelli

Mrs Sweeney