(For more information about that trend, you should definitely read this Library School Journal article by Christine Jenkins). In other words: happy endings not allowed. At best, some of these early gay characters were sidekicks or foils for straight protagonists without any plot lines of their own. See: the plot of every ’50s lesbian pulp novel I’ve ever read. Why was Annie On My Mind such a big deal and why does it continue to be relevant today? Well, prior to its publication, YA fiction (and, indeed, much of the fiction for adults as well) only portrayed queer sexuality if the book simultaneously condemned that sexuality and handed out negative consequences, such as gay characters dying in tragic accidents, being left by their partner for different gender relationships, or even deciding that they were in fact not gay at all. As you can see, there’s a lot of library love for Annie On My Mind. Edwards Award for lifetime contributions to literature for young people. In 2000 School Library Journal selected Annie as one of the most influential books of the 20 th century! In 2003 Garden was selected by the American Library Association (the ALA) as the recipient of the Margaret A. The 2007 version-the one that I own-is a commemorative edition, which includes an interview with the author where Garden discusses her motivations in writing the novel, her experience publishing it, and her thoughts on the challenges the book has faced. Since then, it has never been out of print (!!) and has been re-issued in different editions in 1988, 1992, 1999, and 2007. The now iconic Annie on My Mindby Nancy Garden was first published in 1982.
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