Annie On My Mind

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

Awards:

Margaret A. Edwards Award (2003)

Summary: 


A chance meeting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art paves a new path for Liza Winthrop, aspiring architect, and singer Annie Kenyon. Their friendship soon blossoms into something more, something Liza certainly isn’t prepared for. The more and more time spent together, however, proves to Liza that Annie is an important part of her life. And the world needs to be prepared. 

Reaction:

Annie On My Mind begins as a simple slip Liza makes while working on a college assignment. “It’s raining, Annie.” (pg 3). Which develops into a longer letter, an analysis Liza makes of their relationship and what transpired between them. The book periodically flips between first and third person - first during the events and third when Annie is writing the letter.

Garden creates a contrast between the two main characters. Liza attends a private school, Foster Academy, is president of student council, and has dreams of attending MIT for architecture. Annie is dark in features - the Italian in her - with a beautiful singing voice. She goes to a harsh school compared to Foster Academy and has an active imagination.

Released in the early 80s, this novel served as a reflection to many young women - and men - that were confused about their sexuality. No one books really tackled this subject before. Judy Blume touched on menstruation and sex, but never homosexuality. Teens didn’t have a place to go or book to read that reflected their lives. Garden pushed a lot of her experience into this book between Liza, Annie, and the teachers from Foster Academy.

Though seemingly outdated in its treatment of lesbian students, Annie On My Mind continues to be an important novel for the LGBT+ community. More and more books are being published to help these teens feel accepted, but this was one of the firsts.

The ending flips the scale to the positive. Both girls received acceptance from their parents. The couple makes plans at the very end of the novel to reunite during the holiday break. And the experience the teachers, Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer had. It was rough but they stuck together throughout the years. This gave Annie and Liza hope. It could give readers hope for a future for themselves.

Connections:

Activities:

- Compare Annie and Liza. What attracts Liza to Annie? 

- How would the story be different if it were set in current times versus the 1980s? What sort of reaction do you think it would receive from readers? How would some of the characters react differently? 

- Think of someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time. Write them a letter describing an experience only the two of you had together. 

- Create a visual that represents the parallels between the characters in the book to Nancy Garden and her life. Information about Nancy Garden can be found online and in the conversation with Kathleen T. Horning at the back of the 2007 edition. 

- Promote Annie On My Mind during Banned Book Week

- Older students can research homosexuality and the views strongly held about homosexuals during the 1980s. 

- Promote Annie On My Mind to support LGBTQ+ students.  

- Create a timeline for LGBTQ+ rights. 

- Stage a mock trustees’ hearing. Provide student with an alternate prompt: two male students of the same gender were holding hands, two students of the same gender were caught kissing on public property, a student was caught dressing as the other gender. Students will have to pretend they are in the 1980s and decide if the students are allowed to return to school. 

Information regarding Nancy Garden:

Fox, M. (2017, December 20). Nancy Garden Dies at 76; Wrote Young-Adult Novel of Lesbians. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/books/nancy-garden-dies-at-76-wrote-young-adult-novel-of-lesbians.html

Same-Sex Marriage: 

Chappell, B. (2015, June 26). Supreme Court Declares Same-Sex Marriage Legal In All 50 States. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/26/417717613/supreme-court-rules-all-states-must-allow-same-sex-marriages

Gay Marriage Timeline - Gay Marriage - ProCon.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://gaymarriage.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineID=000030

Questioning/LGBT+ Books:

Albertalli, B. (2018). Leah on the offbeat. New York, NY: Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.

Spalding, A. (2018). The summer of Jordi Perez (and the best burger in Los Angeles). New York: Sky Pony Press.

Myracle, L. (2003). Kissing Kate. New York: Dutton's Children's Books.