Confessions of a Closet Catholic

I kind of took this book to have one of the same themes as Project Mulberry, and that is to embrace who you are and learn more about yourself. However, unlike Julia in Project Mulberry, I felt like Justine's issue with self identity was more resolved. She embraced her religion and found out more about it on her own, and in the end the reader could tell that she was satisfied with her choice. I personally felt much more satisfied at the end of this book. I think one of the turning points for Justine is when she receives her grandmother's necklace. I was very surprised that she began to wear it so quickly, especially with her being so confused with what religion she was going to identify with. I think that wearing the necklace made her feel closer to her grandmother and that might even be ultimately makes her choose to explore and stay with the Jewish religion. She does decide to read more up on it and visit the Center for Jewish Understanding after she reads the letter that her Bubbe leaves her. Maybe it is a way to feel connected and closer to her Bubbe.
I do believe that she was struggling more with just religion in this book. She was dealing with the loss of a close family member, she was the middle child, she had physical self-confidence issues, she had her first major crush on a boy (to make it worse, her best friend's brother), not to mention she is about to enter a very confusing stage of life: adolescence. I think that young readers could relate to this book on many different levels, and that the discussion of religion is one of may things that the main character is dealing with.
We recently had a discussion in one of my classes about how to talk about religion with your children as parents. My professor said that his personal belief, the one that he is currently following with his children, is to make sure that they are educated about various types of religions including the one that you follow. He wasn't saying to carry out religious practices other than your own, but to just make sure they are educated. Bring the child up under your religion, but understand that when they become an adult, they might decide that this religion is not for them. He said that parents should be open to this and to not force religion upon their children. I agree with this now, but I honestly don't know how I would feel as a parent. It really did surprise me that Justine's mother was the one upset while her Bubbe was very open to the idea of her converting to Catholicism. Usually elders are very "stuck in their ways," as any like to put it. But I can understand why Justine's mother would be so upset, especially since her daughter is not even 13 yet and she is already making these decisions. I would be curious to see what others thought on this topic.

The Lambda Literary Foundation Award (LLFA)-Group Post

The purpose of the Lambda Literary Foundation Award (LLFA) is to "celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians - the whole literary community." From www.lambdaliterary.org/index.html

The selection criteria is as follows:
~Books are about LGBT categories
~Author does not have to be LGBT themselves, as long as their piece of literature includes something about LGBT. Perhaps even one character.
~There are 21 different categories that book nominations fall under
~Only the author or a publisher can nominate a book.

The selection committee includes the writers themselves, booksellers, librarians, teachers, book reviewers, journalists, and/or members of the literary community. It is also stated that editors and publishers or members of the Board of Trustees may serve as a judge.

The LLFA relies on support from the literary community to connect LGBT writers and readers. Personal donations and organizations also help to fund the award.

Our group could only find 4 young adult books that had won the award. However, not all of the books' main themes were LGBT. In "Eight Seconds" by Jean Ferris, the story is not at all about LGBT, it is about bull riders and the rodeo. However, it won the award because one of the characters is gay. The other young adult books we found were "Between Mom and Jo" by Julie Anne Peters, "Express of the World" by Sara Ryan, and "The Full Spectrum" edited by David Levithan and Billy Merrell. "The Full Spectrum" is a compilation of short stories that are about LGBT.

Finally, the book "Boy Meets Boy" by David Levithan is also a winner of the LLFA!