Homosexuality

School Library Journal

Gr 7 UpSeries nonfiction titles on social issues seem to be a dime a dozen. These three books share the dry, canned, passionless style that is the trademark of this "objective" body of literature. They most certainly are serviceable, presenting various viewpoints on controversial topics. Occasionally, they are even interestingfor example, in Teen Violence, there are some revealing quotes by kids themselves, such as "A gun is power. It makes you feel like somebody." Homosexuality, despite its overall fairly balanced approach and sometimes fascinating true-life accounts, is clinical from the start. ("Males who are attracted to males are known as `gay.' Females attracted sexually to females are referred to as `lesbians.' ") In general, despite their clarity and usefulness for reports, all three treatments are basically detached, formulaic, and antidotal to impassioned, imaginative debate on important issues.Jennifer Fleming, Boston Public Library

Merri Monks

Dunbar's entry in the Issues in Focus series presents several perspectives on an aspect of human sexuality that continues to arouse controversy in American culture. It is a basic and mostly unbiased place for a young reader to begin an investigation of homosexuality. Chapters are clearly divided into headlined sections, making the book easy to use for school reports. Chapter topics include "Society and Homosexual Orientation," "What Science Can Tell Us," "The Gay Revolution," "Religious Views," "The Charlie Howard Murder" (an accounting of a 1984 hate crime resulting in a particularly brutal homicide of a gay man), "Homosexuality and the Law," and "Weighing Both Sides." Some of Dunbar's terminology is outdated, even occasionally peculiar, but overall, the book is a good choice for middle and high school libraries. Chapter notes; further reading.