The Letter Q: A Queer Writers' Notes to Their Younger Selves
Illustrator
Sarah Moon
Publisher
Farrar Straus and Giroux
Publication Year
2012
ISBN
9780545399326
Pages
288 pages
Genre
memoir
Format
anthology
Item Type
Nonfiction
Annotation
If you received a letter from your older self, what do you think it would say? What do you wish it would say? That the boy you were crushing on in History turns out to be gay too, and that you become boyfriends in college? That the bully who is making your life miserable will one day become so insignificant that you won't remember his name until he shows up at your book signing? In this anthology, sixty-three award-winning authors such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline Woodson, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan, and Armistead Maupin make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know then about their lives as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender people. Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love and understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead. They will tell you things about your favorite authors that you never knew before. And they will tell you about yourself.
Grade Level
6-8; 9-12
Lexile Measure
950L
Diversity Topics
LGBTQ (Gender and Sexuality); Gay/Lesbian; Bisexuality; Androgyny; gay; gay adults; lesbian; lesbian adults; bisexual; bisexual adults; queer; same-sex relationships; gender fluid
Main Character
multiple
Race/Ethnicities
multiple
LGBTQ+
gay males; lesbian females; bisexual males; bisexual females
Awards
Best Children's Books of the Year, 2013 Memoir
Booklist Book Review Stars, 2012
Rainbow List, 2013 Middle Early Young Adult Nonfiction
Keywords
personal stories; celebrities; famous people; authors; bullying; teenage experiences; fears
Diversity Impact
direct
STARS Citation
Moon, Sarah, "The Letter Q: A Queer Writers' Notes to Their Younger Selves" (2012). Diverse Families. 1463.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/1463