Annie on My Mind
by Nancy Garden
ANNIE ON MY MIND by Nancy Garden
Category: Contemporary
Age Recommendation: Grades 9+
Release Date: 2/20/07
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"
Rating: 5 Stars
Nancy Garden’s ANNIE ON MY MIND, originally published in 1982, was recently re-released. (It includes an interview
with the author herself.)
The book represents an early example of realistic young adult fiction depicting a lesbian relationship between two high
school seniors. It is still a fitting portrayal for today’s teens.
Liza and Annie meet in a New York museum and develop a fast friendship. Both seem to realize there is something different
about their relationship, but admitting that at the start is difficult for both. The story is told as Annie remembers it, and
focuses mostly on her struggle to accept the facts she is learning about herself.
The book’s first half takes the reader into the growing friendship between the girls. There is considerable time spent
describing how they discover their common interests and the activities they find to spend time together. The girls come from
different backgrounds – Liza attends a relatively sheltered, private school currently struggling with financial difficulties, while
Annie attends public school and is faced with drugs, violence, and other social problems public schools must deal with both
then and now.
As the girls’ relationship develops, the plot becomes more involved in Liza’s role as student council president and her
school’s struggle with a fund-raising campaign. Liza and Annie begin to accept the true direction of their friendship, and of
course, as other people become aware, controversy surfaces. Will the admission of their gay lifestyle cause acceptance or
abandonment by family and friends? Could their situation adversely affect a similar relationship between two teachers in
Liza’s private school?
ANNIE ON MY MIND delves into the acceptance of homosexuality. It seems there will always be two sides to this
controversy, but the re-release of the book may ask readers to decide if things are changing as time passes. What really
matters in love – what is “right” for those involved or what is perceived as “right” by those whose views may differ?
