How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity

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How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity

by Michael Cart (editor), Francesca Lia Block (Goodreads Author), David Levithan (Goodreads Author), Ron Koertge, Eric Shanower (Goodreads Author), Julie Anne Peters, Jennifer Finney Boylan (Goodreads Author), William Sleater , more…

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 · rating details · 440 ratings · 65 reviews

A girl thought to be a boy steals her sister's skirt, while a boy thought to be a girl refuses to wear a cornflower blue dress. One boy's love of a soldier leads to the death of a stranger. The present takes a bittersweet journey into the past when a man revisits the summer school where he had "an accidental romance." And a forgotten mother writes a poignant letter to the...more

Hardcover, 350 pages

Published October 6th 2009 by HarperTeen (first published September 23rd 2009)

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Oct 12, 2011 Sesana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, romance, short-stories, young-adult, lgbt

Anthologies are almost always a mixed bag. Especially anthologies by multiple writers. There's always at least a few stories that I just don't like, for whatever reason. How Beautiful the Ordinary is doing good to have only two stories that didn't resonate with me.

The subtitle (Twelve Stories of Identity) is a little cagey. What does that mean, exactly? Especially in a YA, where half the genre is about discovering who you really are. Here, though, it means sexual and gender identity. Yes, this i...more

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Nov 22, 2010 Hallie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbt

As many have noted, this would be a solid three stars without a couple of standout pieces. David Levithan's is probably my favorite. He writes with the absolute conviction that it gets better, to steal the recent catchphrase. He has the power to make you see the world as a better place without leaving you feeling disappointed when you finish reading. I have to say, I didn't like Margo Lanagan's story as much as I wanted to -- she's an amazing author and I love her books, but her story didn't rea...more

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Feb 21, 2010 Henry rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Teens

Recommended to Henry by: My English teacher

When I read How Beautiful The Ordinary: Twelve Stories Of Identity I thought it was great. I thought some of these stories were more for adult than teens like the story by David Levithan’s “A Word from the Nearly Distant Past,” in which Levithan recounts the experiences of generations past as they dealt with being in the closet, dealing with the AIDS crisis, and exhorts the younger generation to make sure that they live for future generations, as much as for themselves. This one was one of my f...more

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Dec 29, 2009 Nancy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, december-2009, gender-variance, graphic-novels, lgbt-books, short-stories, young-adult-fiction

Editor Michael Cart has collected twelve stories about LGBT youth identity in the form of short stories, graphic fiction, and verse, by well-known young-adult, and adult authors including Francesca Lia Block, Gregory Maguire, Jacqueline Woodson, Ariel Schrag, Emma Donoghue, and others.

There is something for everyone in this collection: stories of ghosts and girls trapped in walls serving as metaphors for transgendered teens trapped in the wrong body; handsome highway men and soldiers for a stab...more Editor Michael Cart has collected twelve stories about LGBT youth identity in the form of short stories, graphic fiction, and verse, by well-known young-adult, and adult authors including Francesca Lia Block, Gregory Maguire, Jacqueline Woodson, Ariel Schrag, Emma Donoghue, and others.

There is something for everyone in this collection: stories of ghosts and girls trapped in walls serving as metaphors for transgendered teens trapped in the wrong body; handsome highway men and soldiers for a stable boy to lust after; stories of first love; and of first making love. One graphic short story is about two teens who make conflicting wishes when they meet a genie, leaving all three of them tortured; the other is about the San Francisco Dyke March.

While there is some sex, most of it is left to the imagination, good as in Julie Anne Peter's "First Time," and unsettling, as in William Sleator's "Fingernail," a disturbing story about the sex trade between older western men, and young boys in Thailand. In this particular story, the Thai "boy" is already a young man of twenty and thus technically legal, unlike much of the sex trade that actually takes place there between men and underage boys. But the abusive relationship that he finds himself in is almost equally disturbing.

Some of the stories may actually be of more interest to older readers than to teens: in particular, David Levithan's "A Word from the Nearly Distant Past," in which Levithan recounts the experiences of generations past as they dealt with being in the closet, dealing with the AIDS crisis, etc., and exhorts the younger generation to make sure that they live for future generations, as much as for themselves. Emma Donoghue's "Dear Lang," is a letter from a lesbian mother who has been denied access to her now sixteen-year-old son by his biological mother, in which she tells the story of how she came to be barred from his life, and how she is just now taking the chance of having another child with a new partner.

One of the best stories is Jacqueline Woodson's insightful "Trev," about a transgendered child, and the struggles he has with his family and at school to be who he really is. Trev's mother both reassures him that he isn't the reason his father left, and yet whispers her wish to him every night at bedtime, that Trev will wake up "my sugar and spice, and everything nice."

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Jun 21, 2010 Melody rated it 4 of 5 stars

The story from which the title of this collection comes is by David Levithan. It took me apart. Entirely. I think Levithan writes from the same place L'Engle wrote from- that calm and sure center where love lives, that place of hope untainted by delusion. He's rapidly becoming one of my favorites. I suspect this particular piece resonated so strongly with me because I can remember so clearly the time when all the beautiful boys were dying and we were powerless and afraid and fairly certain we we...more

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May 01, 2011 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those with an open mind

Shelves: biography-ish, essays-short-stories, lgbt-etc, ya

Michael Cart has pulled together an interesting and fairly well-rounded sampling of lgbtq writings. The first 11 stories are fairly predictable and thoroughly enjoyable (or at least, if not whole-heartedly enjoyable to me, I can easily imagine that they would be enjoyable to others) but Gregory Maguire’s final story is a bit of a sore thumb.

*enter diatribe*

Maguire’s story is good, really good…it just doesn’t meld with the other selections. Told from the POV of a 40 year old father, flashing back...more Michael Cart has pulled together an interesting and fairly well-rounded sampling of lgbtq writings. The first 11 stories are fairly predictable and thoroughly enjoyable (or at least, if not whole-heartedly enjoyable to me, I can easily imagine that they would be enjoyable to others) but Gregory Maguire’s final story is a bit of a sore thumb.

*enter diatribe*

Maguire’s story is good, really good…it just doesn’t meld with the other selections. Told from the POV of a 40 year old father, flashing back to the summer before he started college, it jars a bit from the other substantially younger narrative voices. More a novella than a short story or essay, Maguire is able to take his time and build a character with more subtlety and complexity than the rest of the selections. I’m gay, while some of the plot twists could be seen coming a mile away, the most important and most subtle came as a complete surprise…and I loved it. So powerful. This is a side of Maguire and the Wicked-loving masses may never see, and what a sad, sad loss for them.

Let’s take stock:

*Disembodied gay men who lived (or didn’t) though the early AIDS epidemic speak to today’s gay youth.
*Best high school boy friends who can never be boyfriends…or can they? A survivor of a gay bashing comes to terms by (re)imagining himself as a dog.
*A six year old transgendered boy deals navigates the perils of school bathrooms.
*A teenage transgendered boy finds solace through art and acceptance online.
*The Highwayman is reinvisioned as a tragedy born of jealousy as a stable boy yearns for the body of “his” soldier.
*A young Thai man finds dangerous love in an abusive relationship with a gay tourist.
*San Francisco Dyke March: enough said.
*A young transgendered girl wears a skirt in public for the first time.
*Two teenage girls lose the virginity the way we all should have- sweetly, awkwardly, and without regrets.
* An estranged lesbian mother writes a letter to the teenage daughter she hasn’t been allowed to see in 14 years.
*A man looks back/relives/comes to terms with his first gay experience.

As a lesbian, I could definitely see myself in these stories. I wish this book had been around when I was desperate to see myself mirrored on the printed page. I’d be curious to see how the general (read “straight”) public reacts to this collection…
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Mar 04, 2012 Beth Kemp rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-contemp

I enjoyed the variety within this collection, unified nonetheless by the theme of gendered and sexual identity. The anthology includes stories of love, loss and betrayal, as well as specifically LGBT experience. Few are traditional short stories; there are two comic book stories, one novella and several use unusual voice or experiment with narration in some way. The stories are a mixture of realism and fantasy, and cover different time periods as well as a wide range of LGBT experience: male/mal...more I enjoyed the variety within this collection, unified nonetheless by the theme of gendered and sexual identity. The anthology includes stories of love, loss and betrayal, as well as specifically LGBT experience. Few are traditional short stories; there are two comic book stories, one novella and several use unusual voice or experiment with narration in some way. The stories are a mixture of realism and fantasy, and cover different time periods as well as a wide range of LGBT experience: male/male and female/female love and desire and the less often represented trans experience - both female-to-male and male-to-female.

I particularly enjoyed Francesca Lia Block's "My Virtual World". An updated epistolary story, this is mostly told in the form of emails and presents a blossoming friendship between two emotionally raw teens. Another favourite for me was Margo Lanagan's retelling of The Highwayman, "A Dark Red Love Knot", with its themes of jealousy and betrayal. I hadn't read any Lanagan before, but I have now moved her up my wishlist :). I also enjoyed the gentle narration and effective metaphor of Jennifer Finney Boylan's "The Missing Person". My final top choice is Julie Ann Peters' "First Time", which is a touching tale of a lesbian couple's first sexual encounter. This story rendered slightly incorrectly on the kindle (I think) as I didn't realise how it worked to start with and had to go back and read over once I'd sussed out that there were two narrators telling the same story from their independent perspectives. The paragraphs alternated on screen, but there was no visual indication to cue the change. Possibly the print version uses a different font or some other indication? Anyway, I realised pretty quickly and was then able to enjoy the tenderness of the tale.

There were no stories I actively disliked (fairly unusually for a mixed anthology like this), and the variety of material is a strong point in favour of this collection. If there is something you don't like, you can guarantee there'll be something else that you will. Most are pretty short, with the exception of Gregory Maguire's "The Silk Road Runs Through Tupperneck, N.H." which takes up about a third of the entire book and is therefore quite a different reading experience, having more room to develop characters and take its time. Both this story (the last in the collection) and the first - David Levithan's "A Word From the Nearly Distant Past" - feature narrative voices who are considerably older than the teen target audience and speak from a more experienced and informed perspective. Both still focus on teen experience, however, keeping the overall YA appeal. Any teen, LGBTQ or not, will find something that feels familiar here, in terms of the uneasy course of young love or the uncertain nature of adolescent identity.(less)

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Jun 07, 2011 Nesa Sivagnanam rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Nov 19, 2009 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: glbt, romance, young-adult

This is a collection of short stories about identity for GLBT teens, though I'm not sure it's entirely aimed at YAs. Gregory Maguire's story in particular is definitely more of an adult story; it's set in both the past and the present, and tells the story of a key incident in a teen's life, and how it continues to affect him as a 40-something father. While I appreciated the viewpoint, being a 40-something myself, I'm not sure any YA would understand (or want to understand) how life works sometim...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Jennifer Lavoie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: family, gay, lgbt, older-teens, friends, public-library, lesbian, romance, anthology

Twelve stories, all exploring different aspects of LGBT life and identity. I definitely enjoyed some stories more than others, but each was enjoyable it its own way. "A World from the Nearly Distant Past" nearly made me cry. I loved how the ghosts of the past watched the present and future and cheered them on from the side. "Happily Ever After" was a nicely drawn comic that had a great resolution that is left open for many different avenues. "A Dark Red Love Knot," while excellent writing and be...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Jody rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: lgbt, teen, short-stories, rowdy-librarians-book-club

I had no idea this was an LGBT book when I picked it up - I was looking for a book of short stories to read for book club and the title and subtitle (twelve stories of identity) drew me in. I think the ambiguous cover and title might make it more appealing to teens who might not want it immediately visible what they are reading.

The stories represented a wide variety of experiences, emotions, and styles. There were one or two that just didn't click with me, but in an anthology that's not bad. And...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Erin Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

There isn't much to say about this book or a lot I really want to say to be honest, so this will be shorter than my other reviews.

I liked what this book was all about, I really did. The title jumped out at me and so did the subject matter. What didn't really capture me was a lot of the stories. I had my 2 favourites and then I skimmed over the other stories because their beginnings just did grab me like the couple I liked.

It seems that nowadays the subject of being an outcast, whether gay, strai...more

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Feb 20, 2010 Laurie added it

Shelves: lgbtq

I picked this up after reading Margo Lanagan's post about her story (http://amongamidwhile.blogspot.com/20...), because I've loved "The Highwayman" ever since reading it in a grade-school literature book. And I did think "A Dark Red Love Knot" quite wonderful. I'm a little put off by the collection as a whole, though. The cover promises "stories of identity" and the flap details "distinctively modern views of love, sexuality, and gender identification." Keep going and in the introduction you lea...more

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Nov 09, 2009 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: glbtq-ya, mock-printz-2010, ya-lit, short-stories

This collection of GLTBQ-themed short stories definitely skews toward older teen readers in style as well as content. And the content ranges all over, including the darkly disturbing (Lanagan, big surprise) and the honestly explicit (Peters). Most of the stories are about older young adults--Donoghue's and Maguire's stories are even written from an older adult perspective. I enjoyed the mixed format (comics by Schrag and Shanower), and was pleased to see several stories featuring trans character...more

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Feb 01, 2010 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: yal-with-lgbtq-content

These twelve stories represent a variety of genres (prose, poetry, letter, instant messaging/e-mail, and graphic formats). Award-winning authors David Levithan, Jacqueline Woodson, Gregory Maguire, William Sleator, Francesca Lia Block, and Julie Anne Peters all contribute to this mostly moving, sometimes stunning collection, which includes two stories that explore gender identity and expression exclusively. One of my favorite pieces is Margo Lanagan’s “A Dark Red Love Knot,” which retells Alfred...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Sam rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: lgbtq

Well, other than the fact that the introduction kept saying lesbian, gay, and trangender, thus excluding bi, pan, and otherwise queer identified people, and the borderline transphobia and cissexism in two of the stories, this anthology was okay. It felt very GL(t) to me, with 6 books about gay males, 3 about lesbians, 2 about trans* guys and 1 about a trans* girl. David Levithan's story was fairly good, and a good reminder to younger queer people about older members of the community did before t...more

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Dec 31, 2012 K.B. rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed most of the stories in the collection. Many were very touching and I cried several times, but I withheld one star because there were definitely some pieces that seemed overly lengthy or which simply didn't hold my attention as much as others. The various narrative forms were interesting and added variety. David Levithan's piece, in particular, was beautiful.

I think there is something to be found in each story and I would recommend this collection, especially to anyone else struggling w...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Onna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the short stories in here. Out of the twelve stories I didn't like four, so there's that. That's the thing with picking up a book with multiple authors. You'll read one short story and LOVE it and then the next one makes you want to stop reading the entire book.

I'm really glad I read the book though. It's a great way to find the writing style of new authors so you can check out the other books they have done. For example, I loved David Levithan's story, but I love all his books...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: queer-people-themes-studies, young-adult, anthologies, romance-major-theme, angst-angst-angst, china-japan-southeast-asia, crap-parents, creepy, i-cried, issues-with-this, made-me-think, multiple-perspectives, north-america-about-or-setting, our-world-special-powers, protagonist-i-want-to-slap, quickie, plothole-what-plothole, politically-socially-aware, realistic-or-contemporary-fiction, shield-your-eyes-kids, where-are-your-parents

I had varying feelings about each of the stories.

A world from the nearly distant past: David Levithan - 5 Stars
I cried. Just read it; it's good.

Happily Ever After: Eric Shanower - 2.5 Stars
My life as a dog: Ron Koertge - 3.5 Stars
Trev: Jacqueline Woodson - 3 Stars
My Virtual World: Francesca Lia Block - 3 Stars

A Dark Red Love-Knot: Margo Lanagan - 0 Stars
Ohhh, this one made me angry. I don't know whether it's because I love The Highwayman (original Noyes poem on which this story is based- for a...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Pghbekka rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought my impression was: a somewhat uneven collection. But I'm pretty sure the problem is not with the book, but with me being a long way from 17. Not all stories resonate across ages.

As a 37 year old then: David Levithan's story was brilliant: heartrending and joyous; classic and iconic and new and different and everyone should read it. Eric Shanower's comic was very well done, but...I think you have to love the storytelling tropes of comic books to appreciate it, and I don't. I love Ron Ko...more I thought my impression was: a somewhat uneven collection. But I'm pretty sure the problem is not with the book, but with me being a long way from 17. Not all stories resonate across ages.

As a 37 year old then: David Levithan's story was brilliant: heartrending and joyous; classic and iconic and new and different and everyone should read it. Eric Shanower's comic was very well done, but...I think you have to love the storytelling tropes of comic books to appreciate it, and I don't. I love Ron Koertge, read all his books, and I loved this treatment of a coming out story. (I also love that he is an older straight man who says of his LGBTQ characters: "I've had gay characters in books before, especially Wes in The Arizona Kid* and that makes people ask me how a straight man can write a gay character. No one ever asks how a straight man can write a fifteen year old girl. The answer to both is the same -- I make it up. I write and then read out loud what I've written until it sounds right to me just like composers fiddle with a score until the dissonance is in the right place.") Jacqueline Woodson is an amazing YA author I was thrilled to discover in the 90's, her story was wonderful. Sadly, I think I've outgrown Francesca Lia Block. I love her lyricism, but the characters are alweays so tortured as only self-absorbed, dramatic teenagers can (and should be), and bleh! I've never read anything by Margo Lanagan before, this treatment of The Highwayman didn't make me want to read anything else. I'm very conflicted by William Sleator's story, but I've had a fascinating afternoon, because of it, learning that he wrote that book with the food pellets (House of Stairs, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of...) that I've remembered for years, following the posts about his life on his memorial page, and starting his autobiographical work, The Oddballs. Ariel Schrag's: Meh? Neither good nor bad. Comic again. Hadn't read Jennifer Finney Boylan before, but her story made me want to search out more. Julie Anne Peters is an excellent YA writer, and I was thrilled to see a stories about the sensual side of teenagers included in this book. You should really read everything Emma Donoghue's ever written, and her story here is no exception. I want to love Gregory Maguire's books, but somehow have trouble getting into them. His story here was so good it made me want to go back and try his books again. (less)

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Feb 21, 2011 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: gender-sexuality

Truly enjoyable collection. I'd read works by David Levithan, Jacqueline Woodson, Ariel Schrag, Jennifer Finney Boylan, and Gregory Maquire in the past, so had fairly high expectations. I wasn't disappointed. What was most impressive and enjoyable was the variety of stories present - graphic story, poetry, prose, short form and long, comedy and tragedy, realistic fiction, fantasy, biography, and complex main characters who, amidst their other identity markers, identify as gay, lesbian, or transg...more

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Jul 31, 2009 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, short-stories

Ages 14+ (sex, sex, and sex)

I adore, I adore, I adore. Of course, that may just be the afterglow of Gregory Maguire's modern homage to Brokeback Mountain. But even without that, this is a well rounded collection of what it means to be gay, lesbian, or transgender from a series of great authors. (Julie Ann Peters, your offering was almost PWP, I never expected!) As of this note, Margo Lanagan's is the only story I haven't read, but her style has never suited me. For gay folks, straight folks, and...more

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Oct 16, 2009 Christian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

With the Trax commuting I do, I find that I really like having short story collections on my Kindle. The stories here were OK. The bulk of the book was about a 3 star for me, not standing out one way or another. Until I got to the last story by Maguire. I'm generally not a fan of Maguire's writing, but I loved this story. The juxtaposition of present/third person with past/first person was done quite well. The way the story slowly filled itself in and revealed itself was wonderful. And the emoti...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Thorn MotherIssues rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2011

Not every story in it is a five-star for me, but I think most of them would be for somebody. I'd have loved to have read this as a teen when I was looking for representations of myself and of the people I hoped to love someday. And as far as covering plenty of different LGBTQ topics, this anthology works. Parents and straight kids may not get it, but I absolutely believe it will hit the spot for young people who need it.

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Nov 19, 2009 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

i chose to read 3 stories from this collection. the book features stories (fiction) from twelve popular authors on being glbtq. i read stories by: david levithan, francesca lia block, and julie anne peters. i've read more than one book by each before. although i love david's writing normally, i just couldn't get into his story. i'm still confused as to what it's about. block's story is told through blog entries and emails, and tells the story of a girl who has always identified as straight falli...more

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Aug 06, 2009 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, queerlyphrased

oh my god how did i not add this book to goodreads before? it was fucking awesome. Also, normally I feel pretty indifferent about David Levithan, but the first story by him was AMAZING. and Julie Ann Peters rocked as well. And Gregory Maguire surprised me -- I don't usually like him either. Great great great great. Although I don't know why I'm surprised; Michael Cart always does awesome anthologies.

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Jun 29, 2011 Brandy Haru rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

I really enjoyed some of the stories in this collection, and others I felt were lacking luster or excitement. Some of the stories felt forced, being written solely on the crutch of "this needs to be LGBT related" and forgetting the art of story and prose.

I didn't hate this book, I think it's fantastic that the collection exists, I just wish some of the stories had been better.

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Aug 26, 2011 Jill Guccini rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: glbt-young-adult-lit, short-stories

A really solid group of authors, I overall really enjoyed this collection. In particular, the opening piece by David Levithan was really wonderful, some of his best writing I've seen. And I LOVED Gregory Maguire's story, which is the last one and the longest one, taking up almost a quarter of the book. So good.

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Feb 12, 2010 Carrie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, post-sept11, glbt-queer, short-stories, y-fiction

A collection of gay, lesbian and transgender short stories aimed at teens, but with crossover adult appeal. David Levithan, Jennifer Flynn Boyle, Jacqueline Woodson, Fransesca Lia Block, and William Sleator are some of the authors featured in this collection. Worth reading just for the closing story from Gregory Maguire, about a gay, Iranian-American man looking back at a college romance as he travels across the United States to visit his alma mater.

Other highlights included the story from Will...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Shivani Bieber ♥ rated it 4 of 5 stars

The stories in this book are short, but SO inspiring. I admire these people with all my heart, they've struggled so much with their identity, and have made it through. I just started this book at like 9 last night, and I've already read so much- I'm obsessed. This was a really good book.

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About Michael Cart

Former Director of the Beverly Hills (CA) Public Library and a Past President of the Young Adult Library Services Association, Michael Cart is a nationally recognized expert in children's and young adult literature. Now a columnist and reviewer for ALA's Booklist magazine, he is the author or editor of eight books, including From Romance to Realism, a critical history of YA literature; MY FATHER'S...more

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