A seventh-grade girl has just moved to a new school and takes the opportunity to reinvent herself—including pretending she doesn’t have two moms. But how to keep up the charade? And both moms are hurt when Holly pretends one is just an aunt. It was good enough, I guess, but I’m having a really hard time reconciling this (frankly) kind of bland, weakly-written novel (published in 2000) with the wonderful Annie on My Mind from almost 20 years earlier. Annie had so much heart to it, with sharp writing that rang true to the ear. I honestly thought Holly’s Secret must’ve been published first—it has a lot of problems with rough, stilted dialogue and stereotyped characters (Understanding former Fat Girl, Follower, and Queen Bee), and the activities of seventh-graders in suburban/rural Massachusetts seems so hopelessly out of touch. But no, it’s just preachy and bland. ( )

When twelve-year-old Holly and her parents and younger brother move from New York City to rural Harrison, Massachusetts, she decides to put the Plan into action, thinking this new environment is an opportunity to alter her life. She goes so far as to change her name from Holly Lawrence-Jones to Yvette Lawrence-Jones, and so begins an effort to deny her true identity to conceal her unusual secret—that her parents are both women; they are gay. Keeping the secret is much more complex than Holly thought and involves telling many lies, keeping them straight, and even asking others—her family members—to join in her deceptions. Trying to be who she isn’t becomes a heavy weight, and she begins to questions whether being Yvette is in any way right or worth the struggle and pain. ( )

Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind is a classic, highly regarded and sensitive young lesbian coming of age story; a groundbreaking young adult novel.