Annie on My Mind

Garden, N. (1982). Annie on my mind. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/ppRtHPFXzzk 

Two seventeen-year-old girls that come from different backgrounds first meet on a rainy day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Liza Winthrop the narrator attends a private school. She lives with her parents in a Brooklyn Heights neighborhood where most people living there are professionals. She is studying hard to get into MIT because she wants to be an architect.  Annie Kenyon lives with her immigrant Italian parents and grandmother.  She goes to a public school and wants to become a singer. She wishes to attend the University of California, Berkeley even though she is afraid she might not be accepted. Though with different goals in mind the two girls become friends quickly. At school Liza gets suspended for three days for defending a student that was ear piercing in the school basement. During this time the two girls become even closer and encounter their first kiss. Liza volunteers to take care of a home and cats that belong to two teachers that are discovered to be gay. The girls stay at their house when unexpectedly an administrator from the school finds that they are together. They try to expel her but the board allows her to stay. Unfortunately the teachers were fired. Liza ends up leaving Annie. They go their separate ways to different colleges. Later on Liza calls Annie to reconcile and decide to meet before going on a winter break.

This is a book for ages 14 and up. This story might help others that are confused or struggle with their sexual orientation. This books shows that no matter what your sexual orientation might be things can work out positively reassuring that they too are normal and that there are other ways to love. Books written by this author include, Good Moon Rising, Hear us Out, and The Year they burned the Books. Other books that relate to this story are The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer and Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan.