Without Annette

May 2, 2016
In her first book for teens, Mason (the Dog and His Girl Mysteries series) takes on peer pressure, same-sex relationships, and being a fish out of water. Josie and Annette have been dating since they were 12, and although nearly everyone in their Minnesota town accepts their relationship, Josie decides that they should apply to Brookwood Academy in Connecticut for their sophomore year. The idea is to get Annette away from her alcoholic mother, but the school isn't the refuge Josie pictured. Annette insists on keeping their relationship a secret, and she focuses her energy on being accepted by her roommate, Becca, one of the school's social elites, or "Soleets." Frustrated by Annette's increasing distance, Josie makes friends with the guys, joining them in exploring the steam tunnels below campus. Josie is an engaging narrator whose loneliness and worry are well drawn. The plotâwhich includes a lost-and-found shrunken headâgets rather elaborate, and Annette's difficulties trying to fit in are tied to a heavy dose of prep school stereotypes, but it's rewarding to watch Josie start to make decisions for herself. Ages 12âup. Agent: Josh Adams, Adams Literary.

April 1, 2016
In her debut for teens, Mason pens a novel about small-town longings and circumstances compelling a young person to find a safe place to simply be. Protagonist 15-year-old Josie, a young white lesbian from tiny Virginia Falls, Minnesota, applies to tony Brookwood Academy in Connecticut as an escape for her and her abused girlfriend, Annette, also white. In a delightful step forward from the standard coming-out novel, Josie and Annette are comfortably and actively sexual with each other. Their relationship shifts at Brookwood, both from external (peer pressure, high academic expectations) and internal (nascent alcohol abuse) sources. Josie and Annette are both given the grace of flaws, foibles, and fleshed-out characterization, as are Josie's roommate and other secondary characters. Even a minor character, a working-class white "townie," extends compassion, wise words, and food to Josie as she grapples with Brookwood's upper-class expectations. But even as the author writes a solid conversation among Josie and her classmates about anthropology's colonialist roots, unfortunately she doesn't do so well with characters of color. One Asian-American student in particular seems mostly reduced to stereotypical attributes: fluent in five languages and eschewing group fun for Latin test prep. Beyond another Asian student and an "olive-skinned [girl] with dark eyes and a round face," no other students of color are described or even noted in the book. Based on the author's own experiences in boarding school, a landmark lesbian love story set in a narrow slice of white privilege. (Fiction. 12-16)

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April 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Josephine "Josie" Little has been looking forward to attending Brookwood Academy, a prestigious boarding school in rural Connecticut, with her girlfriend, Annette Anderson. She feels she has saved Annette from her alcoholic and abusive mother, Shannon, in their hometown of Virginia Falls, MN. While Josie struggles to adjust to Brookwood, Annette fits in with Rebecca (Becca) Ryder, Marina Carlisle, and Cynthia Wu, whom Josie refers to as the Soleets (social elites). Annette's quest for acceptance prompts her to keep her same-sex relationship with Josie a secret from the Soleets and the other students. While Josie agrees to the arrangement, Annette pushes her further and further away for recreational peer pressure moments with the Soleets. Meanwhile, Josie befriends Roxanne Wylde, her off-beat and acerbic roommate, and Penn McCarthy, a boy who harbors romantic feelings for Josie. Annette's self-destructive quest for acceptance causes an unexpected medical emergency, which throws a monkey wrench into Josie and Annette's clandestine relationship. Mason has woven a smart and witty debut YA novel. All of the characters are multidimensional and well delineated. Josie and Annette are not an idealized LGBT couple. The Soleets are not depicted as Mean Girls. Penn's friend Sam Moon pokes fun at the prevailing stereotype of Asian Americans as the model minority. The author also works in strands of anthropology, which plays a pivotal role in the backstory of Edward Hunter, a former Brookwood Academy student and promising science genius who died mysteriously in the boiling room 50 years before. His backstory intertwines Brookwood's past with Josie's present. Mason will shock readers with unexpected twists and turns and surprising reveals. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy character-driven stories about identity and acceptance.-Donald Peebles, New York Black Librarians Caucus

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