The Elected Series - In A Future America, A Girl Pretends To Be A Man To Become President (With A Girl-Girl-Guy Love Triangle!)

Elected by Rori Shay

It’s the year 2185, and in two weeks, Aloy will turn eighteen and take her father’s place as president of the country. But to do so, she must masquerade as a boy to avoid violating the Eco-Accords, four treaties designed to bring the world back from the brink of environmental extinction. As she struggles to lead amidst a brimming political battle, Aloy maintains her cover by marrying a woman, meanwhile battling feelings for the boy who knows her secret. When assassination attempts add to the turmoil, Aloy doesn’t know whom to trust.

She understood leadership required sacrifice. She just didn’t realize the sacrifice might be her life.

Suspected

In the year 2185 Earth is rebuilding after climate change created a global eco-crisis. Countries maintain complete isolation so there is no warfare over scarce resources. One Elected family is chosen to lead each country for 100 years to ensure stability. Women aren’t allowed to take office and must reproduce at all costs. Technology use of any kind is banned to preserve what’s left of the environment.

And yet, I’m my country’s Elected. I’ve just sanctioned technology use to ready us for war. I’m about to cross the border to spy on our neighbor. And…I’m a girl.

Shhhh…

There's also a prequel story, The Pendant, written from the perspective of Aloy's mother in the anthology Athena's Daughters Volume 2.

Add your review of any or all of the stories in "The Elected Series" in comments!

Some Assembly Required: The Not So Secret Life Of A Transgender Teen - a memoir

Some Assembly Required: The Not So Secret Life Of A Transgender Teen by Arin Andrews

Seventeen-year-old Arin Andrews shares all the hilarious, painful, and poignant details of undergoing gender reassignment as a high school student in this winning first-of-its-kind memoir. Now with a reading group guide and an all-new afterword from the author
In this revolutionary first-of-its-kind memoir, Arin Andrews details the journey that led him to make the life-transforming decision to undergo gender reassignment as a high school junior. In his captivatingly witty, honest voice, Arin reveals the challenges he faced as a boy in a girl's body, the humiliation and anger he felt after getting kicked out of his private school, and all the changes--both mental and physical--he experienced once his transition began.
"Some Assembly Required" is a true coming-of-age story about knocking down obstacles and embracing family, friendship, and first love. But more than that, it is a reminder that self-acceptance does not come ready-made with a manual and spare parts. Rather, some assembly is always required.

Add your review of "Some Assembly Required" in comments!

The Pebble Champion - a gay teen comes of age in the face of loss, guilt and figuring himself out

The Pebble Champion by Alan David Pritchard

Haunted by the death of his mother and the loss of a childhood friendship, 15-year-old Chris moves to the coast to begin a new life with his estranged father.

There, alone on the beach, he deals with his sadness and guilt by entering an imagined world where he competes to become The Pebble Champion, skimming stones farther than anyone else across the surface of the sea.

With each pebble thrown, and with each new encounter, Chris gradually learns how to let go of the burdens of the past, how to hold on to what really matters, and how to embrace his bewildering desires.

Add your review of "The Pebble Champion" in comments!

The Paths Of Marriage - 3 generations of Indian and Indian-American women struggle with a granddaughter's coming out and keeping their family from coming apart.

The Paths of Marriage by Mala Kumar

Lakshmi, a bright student who grew up in poverty, marries and immigrates to the United States from India to provide a better life for herself and her family. Clinging to her cultural realities, she forces her American daughter, Pooja, into an arranged marriage, creating a rift of resentment. Pooja's daughter, Deepa, is an out lesbian to everyone but her family. The woman Deepa loves presents an ultimatum—come out to Pooja or break up—and Deepa is forced to confront her greatest fear.
From the harsh slums of Chennai to the bustle of New York City, it's a cathartic generational collision to try to come together as a family.

It's also worth checking out this article by the author where she explains her own coming out as an Indian-American "brown, gay girl." The article made me nearly cry - twice! Her mother's response to her coming out, and her father's eventual understanding that only came about from reading Mala's book – this book.

Add your review of "The Paths of Marriage" in comments!

Rethinking Normal: A Memoir In Transition - a transgender teen memoir

Rethinking Normal: A Memoir In Transition by Katie Rain Hill

Nineteen-year-old Katie Rain Hill shares her personal journey of undergoing gender reassignment. Now with a reading group guide
Katie Rain Hill realized very young that a serious mistake had been made; she was a girl who had been born in the body of a boy. Suffocating under her peers' bullying and the mounting pressure to be "normal," Katie tried to take her life at the age of eight years old. After several other failed attempts, she finally understood that "Katie"--the girl trapped within her--was determined to live.
In this first-person account, Katie reflects on her pain-filled childhood and the events leading up to the life-changing decision to undergo gender reassignment as a teenager. She reveals the unique challenges she faced while unlearning how to be a boy and shares what it was like to navigate the dating world--and experience heartbreak for the first time--in a body that matched her gender identity.

Add your review of "Rethinking Normal" in comments!

Smorgasbord - Humans discover that Vampires & Zombies are delicious (and a gay Werewolf couple who protect the main characters!)

Smorgasbord by Jagjiwan Sohal

When Anna Lopez’s zombie attack video goes viral, no one could believe that the high school cheerleader had taken a bite out of the undead monster – and liked it! Now nothing will ever be the same for supernatural beings…because humans have discovered they taste freakin’ DELICIOUS!

And when a zombie boy gets in the crosshairs of a gang of hungry-human hunters, Julie, a young vampire loner, jumps in for the rescue. But now Julie’s got more than she bargained because taking care of a rambunctious undead creature who only knows one word (“brains”) is NOT easy. And when Julie and her zombie pal stumble upon on a crazed soccer mom, they find themselves on the run from a trigger-happy family who want nothing more than to grill them up for a neighborhood barbecue bash!

What's queer about it? Two integral gay characters, a tough werewolf couple who help and protect the lead characters from their foes!

Add your review of "Smorgasbord" in comments!

Edge - Short Stories by M.E. Kerr that include a lesbian teen, a homophobic dad, and a society where sex isn't special (but ideas are)

Edge by M.E. Kerr

Three stories from the collection include LGBTQ characters/themes:

“The Fire At Far and Away”
- Gil’s dad constantly makes negative comments about Paul and Robert, a couple who spends their summers in Gil's town. Though it bothers him, he never speaks up and when Gil starts working as a housekeeper for them, Gil fears what slurs his dad will start saying to him.

‘We Might As Well All Be Strangers”
-After coming out to her Holocaust-survivor grandmother and mother, Alison deals with backlash from her mother, who is having trouble coming to terms with Alison's sexuality. As a victim of prejudice, Alison's grandmother is more accepting.

“Do You Want My Opinion?”
- John lives in a society where everyone belongs to each other — you are free to touch anyone you chose, but the sharing of opinions is looked down upon. Sex is not seen as something special to share between two people in love; rather it is the sharing of ideas that you wait for the right person for.

Add your review of "Edge" or any of the short stories in the collection in comments!

OUT for Safe Schools - a very cool program that started in Los Angeles and is now going to nine other school districts in the U.S.A.

I love the sound of this program!

Since the introduction of the OUT for Safe Schools initiative, thousands of teachers and staff members have been wearing rainbow badges to identify themselves as LGBTQ allies and protectors of LGBTQ students. Now, nine other school districts throughout the country – in New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, Duval County (Florida), San Francisco and Washington, D.C. – have requested the program, along with more than 80,000 badges.

The program encourages educators, administrators and other school district employees to “come out” and be visible allies for LGBT students in an effort to make the schools safer, more welcoming places.

Hurray!

Remember, there's no such thing as a closeted ally.

Let's put that to a hashtag, shall we?

#ThereIsNoSuchThingAsAClosetedAlly

Stand Proud!

Outlander Leander - A Science Fiction/Fantasy series that includes LGBTQ characters (and treats them the same as everyone else!)

Outlander Leander: Vol. 1, Flute of the Wind Queen by Eisah

Leander is an energetic young man who wants to become a treasure hunter. When his dad is deployed he sees it as an opportunity to go on his first adventure; which unfortunately leads him straight into enemy territory. All ambition and no skill or experience, he stumbles his way around enemy camps to find the famous relic the Wind Queen left behind.

Outlander Leander: Vol. 2, Coronation Necklace

Frustrated by the work Ellora has been giving him, Leander is ready to quit when she reveals she knows exactly where the stolen necklace of the late king is. Unfortunately, it's in the hands of black marketers, and Leander quickly learns how violent they can get. A precarious situation forces him to continue pursuing them as he tries to evade both murderers and soldiers.

Outlander Leander: Vol 3, The General's Bust

Ellora has found the location of the remains of an ancient Naggian statue. The only problem? It's in Rhodaren, a country that Nagdecht rarely interacts with because of their location.
The Rhodarens aren't known to be violent like Geuranians are and Leander believes that the hardest part of his trip will be traversing through Geuran in order to get there. However, Rhodarens aren't what he thought they would be, and they have their own motives and goals.
Will Leander make it back? If the Rhodarens don't kill him the weather might.

Add your review of any or all of the self-published books in the "Outlander Leander" series in comments!

The Futon Years (The New Russel Middlebrook Trilogy) - Russel is gay, out and in his 20s, trying to figure life out

So the first two books in this new trilogy are out, and I'm pretty excited about it:

The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know by Brent Hartinger

Russel Middlebrook is twenty-three years old, gay, and living in trendy Seattle, but life isn’t keeping up with the hype. Most of his friends have a direction in life—either ruthlessly pursuing their careers or passionately embracing their own aimlessness. But Russel is stuck in place. All he knows is that crappy jobs, horrible dates, and pointless hook-ups just aren’t cutting it anymore.

What’s the secret? What does everyone else know that he doesn’t?

Enter Kevin, Russel’s perfect high school boyfriend. Could rekindling an old flame be the thing Russel needs to get his life back on track? Or maybe the answer lies with a new friend, an eccentric screenwriter named Vernie Rose, who seems plenty wise. Or what the hell? Maybe Russel will find some answers by joining his best friend Gunnar’s crazy search for the legendary Bigfoot!

One way or another, Russel is determined to learn the all-important secret to life, even if it’s a thing he doesn’t even know he doesn’t know.

Barefoot In The City Of Broken Dreams

Twenty-four year-old Russel Middebrook and his boyfriend have moved to Los Angeles so Russel can try to make it as a screenwriter.

Almost right away, in a forgotten old house off of Sunset Boulevard, Russel meets Isaac Brander, a once-famous film producer who is convinced he can turn Russel’s screenplay into a movie.

Russel knows that success can’t possibly come this easy. After all, most of Russel’s Los Angeles friends are so desperate to make it that it’s downright scary. His ex-boyfriend, Otto, is trying everything to become an actor, and Daniel, the sexy neighbor, doesn’t even need a casting couch to get naked.

So what’s the catch with Mr. Brander? Could it be that movies about Hollywood don’t tell the whole truth? But what does that mean for Russel’s soul?

*  *  *

I really liked the second part of the dedication of Book 1 in this series, where Brent writes:

...And for everyone in the twenties
Spoiler alert! Life all works out in the end

Note that the author says this is a series "for adults." Add your review of "The Thing I Didn't Know I didn't Know" and/or "Barefoot In The City Of Broken Dreams" in comments!

Resources If You Were At My #CASC15 Session "Interventions for LGBTQ Youth" (and even if you weren't!)

I want to thank my co-presenter at this weekend's California Association of School Counselors 2015 Conference, Palisades Charter High School Counselor Jill Barker, and the more than 60 school counselors from all over California who attended and participated with so much engagement and good energy!

Again, my apologies for not having enough handouts to go around, but the reason for the problem (more counselors than we expected showing up who wanted to learn how to better help and support the LGBTQ youth in their schools) was wonderful!

As to the two handouts, 

here's a link to the Gender Unicorn.

For the Shakespeare and Sappho handout, just pop me a quick email at leewind (at) roadrunner (dot) com and I'll send you that pdf. (Or, leave your email address in the comments section, below.)

The resources Jill, myself and your fellow counselors shared:

The article by Mitali Perkins discussing how books can be mirrors and doors is here.

And here's the wonderful piece by Lisa Egan that I read the first part of, I'm Not A "Person With A Disability": I'm a Disabled Person, that discusses the social model of disability.

The American Library Association's Rainbow List website, listing the best books each year for kids and teens with LGBTQ characters and themes is here.

And the handful of books I brought to illustrate the power of books to spark conversations and be those mirrors and doors were:

Board Book:

Mommy, Mama, and Me
by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Carol Thompson
(An essential, simple board book - there's also a Daddy, Papa and Me one.)

Picture Books:

And Tango Makes Three
by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole
(This is the book that's been in the top 10 of the most challenged books in American for years and years!)

This Day In June
by Gayle E. Pitman, illustrated by Kristyna Litten
(A Pride parade book with an extensive readers guide, won the ALA's 2015 Stonewall Book Awards – Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award!)

Snutt the Ift 
by Helen Ward
This is the Intergalactic, Gender-Free Love Story, and it's the one published by Little Pickle Press, where I now work!

Middle Grade Books:

Drama
by Raina Telgemeier
(A graphic novel, super-sweet)

Better Nate Than Ever
by Tim Federle
(Funny and brave and VERY Broadway)

Young Adult (older-skewing)

Tricks
by Ellen Hopkins
Tough-hitting novel in verse, brilliant.

I'll Give You The Sun
by Jandy Nelson
Gorgeous writing and twins (one gay, one not) struggling to deal with grief and life and... they'll stay with you long after you've read it!


Organizations mentioned that offer additional great resources and opportunities to engage with young people about LGBTQ equality to help shift the culture at your school:

GLSEN - The Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network

GSA Network - The Gay-Straight Alliance Network (with a lot of resources and advice on starting a GSA at your school)

PFLAG - Parents, Families and Friends and Allies United with LGBTQ People to move equality forward!

Trans Student Educational Resources

Genderfork

No Name-Calling Week

National Coming Out Day - October 11

Ally Week 

Day of Silence

Harvey Milk Day here in California

The Trevor Project and their TrevorSpace online community for young people. They also have a crisis intervention and suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ Youth: 866-488-7386

GSA Monday posts here at this blog with conversation prompts (including some curated youtube videos that are really thought-provoking and/or just amazing!)

LGBTQ Pride Month is June

October is LGBTQ History Month

While compiling this list, I realized there were three organizations that didn't get mentioned but that are well-worth checking out:

The Human Rights Campaign,

Gender Spectrum

and

Trans Youth Family Allies.


There it is! Glad you stopped by, and if you have any further questions, email me or leave a comment.

Thanks again!
Lee

Playing By The Book – Preacher's Son Jake is 17, from Alabama, and in New York City for the Summer. Cue the handsome Jewish guy that turns Jake's head (and life) around...

Playing By The Book by S. Chris Shirley

Seventeen-year-old high school newspaper editor Jake Powell, fresh from Alabama, lands in New York City to attend Columbia University's prestigious summer journalism program. For Jake, it's a dream come true, but his father, a fundamentalist Christian preacher, smells trouble. And his father is rarely wrong. Jake navigates new and unfamiliar ways "up North,” starting with his feelings for a handsome Jewish classmate named Sam. What Jake could keep hidden back home is now pushed to the surface in the Big Apple. Standing by his side are a gorgeous brunette with a Park Avenue attitude and the designer bags to match, a high school friend who has watched Jake grow up and isn't sure she's ready to let him go, and an outrageously flamboyant aunt who's determined to help Jake find the courage to accept love and avoid the pain that she has experienced.

Add your review of "Playing By The Book" in comments!

The Boy's Own Manual to Being a Proper Jew - 17-year-old Yossi is coming to terms with being gay and growing up in a Jewish Orthodox community at the same time

The Boy's Own Manual to Being a Proper Jew by Eli Glasman

Yossi, at seventeen, feels as though his homosexuality makes him less of a Jew. Living as he does in Melbourne’s Orthodox Jewish community, he has a lot to hide. When non-religious rebel Josh turns up at school, Yossi is asked to look after him, and while Yossi educates Josh on the ancient traditions of their race, Josh does some educating of his own. Through their relationship, Yossi learns to see the laws of Judaism in a very new light.

But when he and Josh are caught kissing in the bathhouse, Yossi’s life takes on a dramatic new turn, and he can ignore his new reality no longer.

Add your review of "The Boy's Own Manual to Being a Proper Jew" in comments!

Jen Rofé (Andrea Brown Literary): Agent Looking For Diversity

AGENTS AND EDITORS NEED TO ADVERTISE THEIR INTEREST IN DIVERSITY

That's the idea. And this series is an effort to do just that.

For now, we’re focusing on agents, and today's post features agent Jen Rofé of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Agent Jen Rofé

Here's Jennifer's short bio:

Jennifer Rofé has been an agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency for nine years. She represents picture book through young adult with a special love for middle grade and author-illustrators.

And here's our interview:

Lee: Hi Jen!

Jennifer: Hi, Lee!

Lee: Thanks so much for agreeing to talk about your interest in Diversity in Children's and Teen Literature!

Jennifer: Thank you for your continued efforts to bring diversity in children's literature to the forefront of conversation.

Lee: There's been growing discussion about how the 5,000 or so traditionally published books a year don't reflect the actual diversity of our world, including the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement and the stunningly low numbers of representation revealed in "Children's Books by and about People of Color Published in the United States," put out by the CCBC (The Cooperative Children's Book Center.

To start us off, of the submissions you get, let's say in the past year, how many of those projects included some kind of diversity of characters or theme?

Jennifer: The numbers in the CCBC report are indeed low, and also depressing. The conversation to be had overwhelms, but I am encouraged that we are having the conversation and that concerted efforts are being made by the industry to change these numbers.

As for your question, I receive many queries that include some kind of diversity, but "many" is likely still below 15%. To have a clearer picture, though, we also need to consider how many queries I receive for picture book texts featuring characters who could be illustrated as diverse. Then there are the queries I receive for picture books texts featuring animals. If you eliminate those queries from the calculation, then the statistic is higher.

Lee: Let's unpack that a bit more: Are you seeing many stories featuring protagonists of color?

Jennifer: Many? No. More than I used to, yes.

Lee: How about LGBTQ characters, and please break that down - are you seeing lesbian characters? gay? bi? trans*? questioning? queer or gender non-conforming?

Jennifer: I see some but not many queries with LGBTQ characters or storylines. I've seen more trans characters recently. However, I mostly work in middle grade and picture book where sexuality and gender identity isn't covered to the same extent as in YA. I anticipate -- and hope! -- that my colleagues who focus more intently on YA are having a different experience.

Lee: How about characters with disabilities?

Jennifer: I often receive queries featuring characters with disabilities — physical and/or emotional — but they are so often "issue" books and not mainstream stories featuring a character with a disability and his/her journey.

Lee: Are you seeing other types of diversity in the works submitted? - And please share any specific categories that spring to mind.

Jennifer: I see the most diversity in queries for historical fiction middle grade, especially as many of these stories deal with race relations and tensions during those periods.

Something else I'm seeing more of, now that there is greater focus on diversity in children's literature, is what I consider forced diversity -- where it's clear a writer has made a character a different race in order to have wider appeal, but the representation of the race is superficial, incomplete, inaccurate. Hopefully over time diverse characters and themes will be integrated into all kinds of stories in a natural way.

Lee: How about the creators? Are you seeing under-represented writers and illustrators submitting to you?

Jennifer: Certainly, but writers may not point out their race or ethnicity in a query, nor are they expected to do so. There may be more than I realize or fewer than I hope.

Lee: There's a lot of discussion about who has the 'right' to tell the story of an under-represented type of character. What's your take?

Jennifer: This is a challenging question. But no matter what, it is important — crucial, even — to accurately and sensitively portray stories. I have clients who, when they are writing a character outside of their experience, will share their work with a trusted colleague of that experience to be sure that the depiction is authentic and avoids stereotypes.

Lee: When you're submitting projects to editors, do you think stories with under-represented characters take more 'selling' on your part?

Jennifer: In my recent experience, no.

But earlier in my career, I did have a few experiences of pitching mainstream manuscripts featuring diverse protagonists and race was as much an issue in the stories as you being tall and me being short matters to this interview. 

Lee: Not much! What happened?

Jennifer: These books went on to sell, but there were other interested editors who liked the manuscripts but who longed to see race play a bigger role in the plots. I personally have seen fewer revision requests of this direction and more support for mainstream commercial stories featuring characters of diverse backgrounds.

Lee: I do think that's a sign of progress!

I often feel the sense of ‘otherness’ is transferable. That from my own experiences being marginalized (for being Gay, being ill as a teen, being Jewish, being an Atheist, etc…) I feel tremendous empathy for people who are marginalized for other kinds of ‘otherness’ as well.

Can you share what’s driving your desire to see more diversity in Children’s and Teen books?

Jennifer: My mother is a Cuban-Jew who escaped the country with her family when she was 12, and my father is an Eastern-European Jew who was born outside of a displaced persons camp his parents lived in after they were liberated from the concentration camps. I grew up in a family rich with history and tradition. I also grew up in Los Angeles, where I went to public school with children of all races, ethnicities, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds; where I could (and still do) eat the foods and shop the markets of various cultures and ethnicities; where I can direct you to synagogues, churches, Buddhist temples, mosques. I have been surrounded by diversity and "otherness" my entire life — it is a part of my fabric. Which is probably why I went on to minor in Social and Ethnic Relations with a focus on multicultural literature, and have been seeking out and selling diverse children's literature since I began working as an agent nine years ago.

Lee: Tell us about some books that highlighted or included diversity that you loved and that inspired you (maybe even ones you wish you represented).

Jennifer: A few books that immediately come to mind: THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET by Sandra Cisneros; THE KNOWN WORLD by Edward P. Jones; THE WOMAN WARRIOR by Maxine Hong Kingston; THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME by Mark Haddon; HARD LOVE by Ellen Wittlinger.

Also, I have a slew of diverse books on my list, including the hilarious middle grade HOW LAMAR'S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY by Crystal Allen and the 2014 Pura Belpré winner YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS, and I have more forthcoming, including

Mango, Abuela, and Me, a picture book by Meg Medina about a girl learning to communicate with her abuela (grandma) through the help of a parrot named Mango. (Candlewick)

The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Spirit Week Showdown, the first in a middle grade series by Crystal Allen, which is about a young African-American girl who is excited to spend Spirit Week partnered up with her megapopular best friend, but then she is paired with the biggest bully in school.... (HarperCollins)

Moving Target by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, which is the action-packed start to a duology about a Cuban-American girl studying abroad in Rome, where she discovers her secret ancient bloodline, and now the fate of the world rests in her hands. (Scholastic)

Lee: Okay, here’s your wish list moment. What are you looking for? Put out the call...

Jennifer: I am always looking for illustrators and author-illustrators; middle grade of all genres; and big-world YA or cringe-worthy YA romance. Also, I recently traveled to Brazil and was taken by the favelas. I would love a story set in a favela, something like CITY OF GOD, but maybe with less violence and more hope. And I am always, always looking for the book version of my favorite movie, DIRTY DANCING.

Lee: And for writers and/or illustrators reading this who feel a resonance with what you’ve shared and who want to submit to you, how should they go about that?

Jennifer: Please see the submission guidelines at www.andreabrownlit.com.

Lee: Anything I didn’t ask that you’d like to add?

Jennifer: The direction children's literature is heading is exciting. I'm proud that the industry is listening and that they are making the effort. I hope next up is reaching out to the multicultural communities and inspiring children and young adults to write from their perspective and to consider jobs in editorial.

Also, I hope that Hollywood gets on board with us. Every great thing we do, they follow, so....

Lee: Getting the world of Children’s literature to better reflect the diversity of our world -- the world kids today are growing up in -- is so important. Thank you so much for working to make things better!

Jennifer: Thank you, Lee.


Thanks, Jennifer! Look for another AGENT LOOKING FOR DIVERSITY interview on the first Monday of next month. Until then,

Illustrate and Write On!
Lee

Moon at Nine - a novel about two teenage girls who are arrested for being gay in Iran

Moon at Nine by Deborah Ellis

Fifteen-year-old Farrin has many secrets. As the daughter of an aristocratic mother and wealthy father, Farrin must keep a low profile at her school for gifted girls in Tehran. It is 1988; in the ten years since the Shah was overthrown, the deeply conservative and religious government controls every facet of life in Iran. If the Revolutionary Guard finds out about her mother’s Bring Back the Shah activities, her family could be thrown in jail, or worse.

The day she meets Sadira, Farrin’s life changes forever. Sadira is funny, wise, and outgoing; the two girls become inseparable. But as their friendship deepens into romance, the relationship takes a dangerous turn. Refusing to deny their love for one another, the girls are arrested. Separated from Sadira, Farrin can only pray as she awaits execution. Will her family find a way to save them both?

Add your review of "Moon at Nine" in comments!