Advocate Bookshelf: Gay Baseball, Perverse Painters, and the Religious Right

Back to school brings a host of offbeat books to the shelves, including the memoir of an influential gay painter, a love story between a gay man and baseball, and the tale of a lesbian teen who wants to go to prom.

BY Diane Anderson-Minshall

September 27 2012 5:00 AM ET

Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin (Walker Books, $16.99)

This young-adult retelling hues closely to the true-life story of high school student Constance McMillen, whose 2010 announcement that she would be attending her prom with another girl became national news when the homophobic school chose to cancel prom rather than allow a same-sex couple to attend. Tessa Masterson’s similar story is told alternately by Tessa and her best friend Lucas, who is devastated when Tessa rejects his prom invite to make one of her own. Readers 12 and up (and even adult fans of thoughtful youth media like Easy A) will find an accessible, if not entirely original, story about coming out, taking stands, and fighting homophobia. One original element is Lucas’s mom, who has a surprising and humorous response to his (initially) angry reaction. (WalkerBooks.com)