Garden, Nancy (1982). Annie on My Mind. Toronto: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. ISBN: 374404135?. 234 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: Liza's final year of high school doesn't quite go the way she planned. She gets in trouble with the headmistress of her school (on more than one occasion), the school itself is financially unstable, but mostly, she's falling in love with Annie. The two are a perfect match. Annie doesn't go to Liza's school, but the two become inseparable, creating a strong bond of friendship before delving into something more. When their relationship does become physical, the two are able to live in a temporary utopia, until their love is exposed to others. How these others (including Liza's parents) respond effects more than just Liza and Annie.

The story is slightly dated in pacing, environment, and politics, but the primary content and subject matter are still current and valid. Farmer writes a love story that is honest and heartwarming. While some of the characters play out more like caricatures at times (the headmistress is named Mrs. Poindexter?), there is a lot within this book that feels genuine and true. It is easy to become emotionally tied to these characters as they come out to themselves and to their worlds. A young person struggling with issues of sexuality can find a lot within the story that is supportive and encouraging. I think many who come out to their parents would hope their parents respond like Liza's father.

Before reading this book, the only YA book I had read with a same sex love relationship was M.E. Kerr's Deliver Us From Evie, which I found, like some other gay romance stories, moved too quickly from attraction to action. Perhaps one of the best things about Annie On My Mind is the careful way Farmer takes the reader through this budding first love. The story is believable, and I can see it as a touchstone for other authors who want to write similar love stories.

Booktalk: If I could find reproductions, I might talk about this book by introducing the two "symbolic" art pieces of each of them--the choir screen and the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan. I could bring images of these two works and describe the two main characters as they relate to this art.