Annie on My Mind

Garden, N.  (1982).  Annie on my mind. New York, NY:  FSG.    Annie and Liza are from entirely different social classes.   Somehow, they are both at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and immediately become friends and trade numbers.  Liza calls Annie to let her know that she was suspended because she witness her friend Sally perform an ear piercing on Jenny Piccolo’s ear.  One day, Liza agrees to take care of the cat and house for Ms. Widmer and Ms. Stevenson.  She invites Annie to come over, and they become closer.  A religious teacher, Ms. Baxter, finds them in the house and searches it and figures out that the two teachers were a couple.  Liza is forced to tell her parents that she is gay.  Liza had to go through a hearing and the board of trustees allows her to come back to school.  When both girls go to college, they agree to meet each other again prior to going home on vacation and profess their love to each other.  I think this book needs to be in the high school library in case there are students out there that are going through the same thing these two girls are going through.  I think a similar book to this book is Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle.  It is also about two girls who also have feelings for each other and deny themselves at first. I think Annie on My Mind is a good example of realistic fiction.  The reader experiences different view point through both girls.  We are left wondering if their relationship will last even though they are now both free to express themselves.