ANNIE ON MY MIND

'''Annie On My Mind''' is a 1982 novel by Nancy Garden about the romantic relationship between two 17-year-old New York City girls, Annie and Liza.

Contents

Plot summary

Publication

Cover art

Reception

Praise

Criticism

Kansas controversy

Play adaption

See also

References

Plot summary

Liza Winthrop first meets Annie Kenyon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a rainy day. The two become fast friends, although they come from different backgrounds. Liza is the student body president at her private school, Foster Academy, where she is studying hard to get into MIT and become an architect. She lives with her parents and younger brother in the upscale neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights where most of the residents are professionals. Annie goes to a public school and lives with her parents — a bookkeeper and a cabdriver — and grandmother in a more disreputable part of Brooklyn. Annie is uncertain if she wants to go to college, and is equally uncertain if she can afford it. She aims to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she will continue to develop her singing talent.
While they have different histories and goals in life, the two girls do share a close friendship that quickly grows into love. Liza's school is struggling to remain open and she finds herself having to defend a student who planned a poorly conceived fund-raiser: ear piercing in the school basement. This results in a three-day school suspension for Liza and helps to bring Liza and Annie closer together as they both deal with the struggles encountered by many high school students.
The suspension and the partly concominant Thanksgiving break give the girls time to become closer and lead to their first kiss. Annie admits she is gay. Liza soon realizes that although she has always considered herself different, she has not realized her sexual orientation until she falls in love with Annie.
When two of Liza's teachers go on vacation during spring break, she is offered the job of taking care of their home and feeding the cats. The two girls use this opportunity to further explore their relationship, but in an unexpected turn of events, one of the Foster Academy administrators discovers what the two girls had been doing. This results in Liza having to come out to her family. The school principal convenes a meeting of the school's board of trustees in an attempt to expel Liza. She argues that her personal actions are irrelevant to her school life and is therefore allowed to continue at Foster and keep her position as the student president although the two teachers (who are also lesbian) end up being fired. The tension over this trial ultimately results in the ending of Annie and Liza's relationship as school ends and they go their separate ways to colleges on different sides of the country. However, eventually, reevaluation of their relationship and Liza's final self-acceptance of herself as a lesbian allow the two girls to reunite.
The book is framed and narrated by Liza's thoughts as she attempts to write Annie a letter, in response to the many letters Annie has sent her. This narration comes right before the winter break of both their colleges' and Liza is unable to write or mail the letter she had been working on. Instead she calls her friend, the two quickly reconcile and decide to meet together before going home for winter break.

Publication

The novel was originally published in 1982 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Since then, it has never been out of print.
Editions of the book include the following:^[1]

Year	ISBN	Edition and publisher
2007	ISBN 0374400113	Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), paperback
1999	ISBN 0808587560	Rebound by Sagebrush, school and library binding
1992	ISBN 0374404135	Farrar Straus & Giroux, paperback
1988	ISBN 0860682714	Virago Press Ltd, paperback

Cover art

Various cover art includes the following:

Changes in cover art throughout the years has reflected the change in attitudes towards homosexuality, according to the author. The original cover illustration showed Annie, in a black cloak, and Liza, standing away from Annie, on the Esplanade in Brooklyn overlooking the harbor. Garden commented that "it really looks as if Annie is going to swoop down on Liza—almost like a vampire attacking." Although this cover was never used, future covers failed to showed the girls relating, Garden said. Garden's preferred cover art, which came out in 1992 and has been reused in more recent publications, shows "the two girls really relating to each other equally," Garden said.

Reception

Praise

The American Library Association designated the book a "Best of the Best Books for Young Adults."^[2] The School Library Journal included the book in its list of the 100 most influential books of the 20th century.^[3] It was selected to the 1982 Booklist Reviewer's Choice, the 1982 American Library Association Best Books, and the ALA Best of the Best lists (1970-1983).^[4]

Criticism

The book is No. 48 on the top 100 most frequently challenged books during the period 1990 to 2000, according to the American Library Association.^[5] It ranked No. 44 on the ALA's 1990 to 1999 list.^[6]
In 2005, the blog ''The Conservative Voice'' listed ''Annie on My Mind'' as one of several children's books criticized for "indoctrination of our children into homosexuality."^[7]

Kansas controversy

In 1993, the LGBT organization Project 21 donated ''Annie on My Mind'' , along with Frank Mosca's ''All-American Boys'', to 42 high schools in the Kansas City area.
Because both books included homosexual themes, some parents objected that the books were made available to high school students.
During the controversy, copies of the book were burned.^[8]
Around the time the incident happened, author Nancy Garden was at a writers' conference. When asked if she had had trouble with ''Annie on My Mind'' she said no. Soon after, she learned of the burning when she received a call from Stephen Friedman, who asked, "Did you know your book has just been burned in Kansas City?"
Garden commented on the incident,
On December 13, 1993, superintendent Ron Wimmer, of the Olathe School District, ordered the book removed from the high school library. Wimmer said he made his decision in order to "avoid controversy," such as the public book burning.^[9]
The Olathe School District refused to accept copies of the book, removing a copy that had sat on its shelf for over ten years. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union joined several families and a teacher and sued the school district for removing the book.
Two years later in September 1995, the case went to trial. In November 1995, U.S. District Court justice Thomas Van Bebber ruled that while a school district is not obligated to purchase any book, it cannot remove a book from library shelves unless that book is deemed educationally unsuitable. He ruled ''Annie on My Mind'' to be educationally suitable, and called its removal an unconstitutional attempt to "prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion."
On December 29, 1999, the school district announced it would not appeal the court's decision, and restored ''Annie on My Mind'' to library shelves. The entire proceeding had cost the district over $160,000. ^[10]
After the banning controversy, author Nancy Garden became a spokesperson on behalf of children's intellectual freedom as readers. This earned her Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award in 2000.^[11]

Play adaption

In 1994, Kim J. Smith collaborated with Nancy Garden to write a play based on her novel. ^[12] The play premiered on November 4, 1994 at the Renegade Theatre in Lawrence, Kansas. Fred Phelps and some of his followers picketed the event. The play was the first and only production of the Renegade Youth Theatre's "Banned Book Theatre."^[13]

See also

★ Lesbian teen fiction

★ LGBT literature

References

1. Annie on my mind by Nancy Garden
2. Annie on Her Mind: Edwards Award–winner Nancy Garden's groundbreaking novel continues to make a compelling case for sexual tolerance Christine A. Jenkins
3. One Hundred Books that Shaped the Century Staff
4. Garden, Nancy: Annie on My Mind
5. The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000
6. The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999
7. Public Libraries, The Left, and the Corruption of Children
8. Books in Trouble: Annie on My Mind
9. When Reading Good Books Can Get Schools In Trouble: First of Two Articles Barbara Miner
10. Annie on My Mind: Let Love Win! Debra L. Stang
11. Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award
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13.