Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Kid

Author: Dan Savage

Title: The Kid: What Happened When My Boyfriend and I Decided To Go Get Pregnant, An Adoption Story

Genre: Non-Fiction, Gay

Publication Date: 1999

Number of Pages: 256

Geographical Setting: U.S.

Time Period: Modern Day

Series: yes (Skipping Towards Gomorrah, The Commitment: Love Sex Marriage and Family)

Plot Summary: Famous sex column (Savage Love) writer Dan Savage writes about life as a gay man with a quirky, and in your face sense of humor. In The Kid Dan picks up where he left off in Skipping to Gomorrah. Dan and his partner Terry set off to have a child through adoption. Dan details the experience with a heavy dose of sarcasm, and humor which keeps the sometimes heavy topics of longing to be a parent coupled with discrimination light and funny. Dan takes us through the ups and downs of the process: the seminars with the adoption agency; the agony of waiting to be picked by a birth mother; the fears that she would change her mind and keep the baby; and the trying relationship with both the birth mother and the baby’s biological father.

Subject Headings: GLBT Family, Gay Adoption, Gay parenting,

Appeal: accessible, humorous, quirky, intriguing, witty, nonfiction, fast paced, family, discrimination, sociatal norms, character centered, compelling, funny, sarcastic, introspective, political, (some strong language, and sex-the author writes a sex column)

3 terms that best describes this book: Adoption, Gay Parents, Humor.

Similar Authors and Works

Non-Fiction:

• Skipping Towards Gomorrah by Dan Savage- The beginning of the journey to find love and acceptance as a Gay man.

• The Commitment by Dan Savage- First comes love, then baby, then Marriage…If it’s legal.

• 21st Century Gay by John Malone Williams- Looks at sexuality in history and the events that have influenced the gay movement.

Fiction:

• Don’t Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems by David Rakoff- The story of a a new U.S. citizen and the trials and tribulations of life in the land of excess.

• When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris- Sarcastic and funny essays about life as a smoker and a homosexual in France.

• Payment In Full by Henry Denker- Rebecca and David, a young Jewish couple, have no children, however when they are the only ones left to raise an eight-year-old African American girl, they decide to form a loving family unit, against society’s mores.

Name: Laura Bartnik

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