Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle

Kissing Kate
Lauren Myracle
ISBN 0-525-46917-6
198 pages
Dutton, 2003

Genre: LGBT, Contemporary Life
Readers Annotation
Lissa and Kate have been best friends forever, but after they share a romantic kiss at a party, their relationship is strained.

Plot Summary
Lissa and Kate have been best friends forever. Kate, a beautiful gymnast, has always had confidence enough for both of them. After they share a romantic kiss at a party, their relationship is strained. Though Kate initiated the kiss, she stops speaking to Lissa. Lissa finds herself starting her junior year without a group of friends, since her previous friends were really Kate's friends. Through her weekend job at a restaurant delivery service, Lissa gets to know Ariel, a girl from school she'd previously dismissed as too kooky. Ariel sets up a social outing with their boss, an overweight, middle-aged single woman, whom Lissa had previously dismissed as sort of pathetic, and introduces her to Finn, a cute, funny boy who has a birth defect. Lissa realizes that she has been prejudging people and pushing them away without really getting to know them.

At the same time, she struggles with the realization that she is in love with Kate. Kate wants them to return to their old friendship, without even acknowledging what happened between them. When pressed, Kate admits she has feelings, too, but is too concerned with what her family and classmates would think if she came out as a lesbian. Meanwhile, Lissa's younger sister's new friend makes pronouncements on everything--including how gross gay people are--and Lissa's uncle, who has been their guardian since their parents died in a car accident, has the courage to start a new romance and change and grow as a person. Lissa observes all of these people's different reactions to change and being different and wonders whether she should patch things up with Kate and pretend that nothing has happened or take ownership of her new identity.

Critical Evaluation
Though Kissing Kate is very much about Lissa's eventual realization that she can't and won't deny her romantic feelings for Kate, its themes are broader than LGBT. Lissa's acceptance of her sexual identity, whatever it is (Ariel warns her not to be to quick to put a label on herself: maybe she's lesbian, maybe she's bisexual, or maybe she loved Kate the person), is part of a larger self-acceptance that's common to the adolescent experience. Lissa is a realistically flawed person who has been hiding herself her entire life, yet judging people who put themselves out there. While she's presented with a number of previews of how difficult life as a gay person might be, she decides the greater crime is to live a lie, a half-formed life.

There is a running subplot throughout the book about Lissa's attempts to engage in lucid dreaming that I did not think was very successful. While Lissa's interest and success in this new-age topic, despite her previous identity as a skeptic, is meant to show her growth as a person and provides the context for Ariel and Lissa's friendship, I felt like it took up too prominent space in the plot long after it had served its useful purpose.

I very much enjoyed Lissa's relationship with her younger sister. Lissa is both a sister and a mother to her sister, who was only two when their parents died; she realizes that her sister is developing a toxic friendship, but she handles it very well, subtly showing her sister her new friend's true colors and letting her come to that realization on her own. One can see that Lissa wishes her own mother were still alive, helping her work out her own issues with Kate.

About the Author
Lauren Myracle is perhaps known for her "IM Girl" series that started with ttyl, reviewed in this blog. She is a young adult author whose work has been frequently challenged: ttyl for its adult themes and Kissing Kate for its lesbian content. Her latest offering for middle school readers, Luv Ya Bunches, recently made headlines when it was banned from Scholastic Book Fairs because one of its four main characters had same-sex parents.

Curriculum Ties
The book could be used in a school setting to discuss identity and/or lesbian and gay themes.

Booktalking Ideas
1. Explain Kate and Lissa's history and current strained relationship.
2. Discuss Lissa's new friendship with Ariel and how it helps her reevaluate herself.
3. Explore Lissa's family and her relationship with her sister. Is it easier to see other people making mistakes than to see those mistakes in ourselves?

Reading Interest/Level
This book would be of interest to both junior high and high school students.

Challenge Issues
Though there is some alcohol involved--Kate is drunk when she first kisses Lissa, and Lissa later gets drunk after school with Finn and Ariel--this book's main challenge issue is the fact that it's centered around two teenage girls who are romantically involved. I personally do not think there is anything in this book that wouldn't be appropriate for junior high or high school students, but it is a frequently challenged book.

Should it be challenged, the librarian should be able to explain and defend her library's collection policy to the challenger and show how Kissing Kate meets those criteria. S/he could point to the book's numerous positive reviews as proof of its worth.

Selection Criteria
Kissing Kate was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.