Author: Garden, Nancy
Publisher:Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Year Published:1982
Cost:$17.00 (Library Binding)
Other Bibliographic Info.:
ISBN: 0-374-40011-3
ISBN 13: 978-0-374-40011-8
Word Count:60,151
Reading Level:6
Interest Level:9+
Plot summary:
Liza comes from an affluent New York home, attends a private school, and has aspirations of becoming an architect. Annie attends public school and is a talented singer. The two seventeen year old girls meet one day in an art museum and become fast friends. Meanwhile, at Liza’s school, she is student body president, but gets suspended for not reporting her friends for setting up an ear piercing business in the school’s restroom. As Liza and Annie spend more time together, they begin to realize that their feelings for each other are of more than just friendship. While Liza is house sitting for her teacher, the two girls’ relationship is discovered, placing them at the center of an ugly scandal. The consequences of their actions are far reaching and affect much more than the two girls’ lives.
Issues for Being Challenge: The issues likely to be challenged are: Homosexuality, Sexual situations, and Language
Evaluation:
This book by Nancy Garden is told through a series of Liza’s letters to Annie and memories of the two girls’ relationship. It tells of a budding love between two girls at a time when they had no real support or role models to help them find their way. The two girls set out to make their own way in secret. The social rules of the time place Liza and Annie at the center of a scandal at Liza’s conservative private school. Liza and Annie’s friendship and love for each other, remains honest and timeless. Teens going through similar experiences today may relate to the girls and their relationship, but will hopefully find more supportive and understanding adults in their lives than Liza and Annie had. It is a story that most young adults will find very interesting
Reader’s annotation:
Liza and Annie meet at a New York art museum and become fast friends. As the friendship grows, the two girls fall in love. When Liza and Annie get caught making love in the house of two lesbian teachers, not just their lives but others’ are irrevocably changed. They find themselves at the center of an ugly scandal.
