The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

Bibliographic Information:

Title: The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

Author: Sonora Reyes

Publisher: Blazer + Bray

Copyright Date: 2022

ISBN: 978006306025

Format: Print Prose Book

Genre: LGBTQIA+/ Contemporary Fiction/ Romance/ Neurotransmittal Atypicality

Awards: Lambda Literary LGBTQ+ Young Adult Award-2023

Interest Level: Ages 13+ or Grades 10-12 (The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School copyright info)

Plot Summary:

Yamilet is in the closet, mostly. At her last school Yamilet was outed by her ex-best friend Bianca, we hate her now. Thankfully Yami is going to a new school where she can be safely closeted once again. At Slayton Catholic, Yami is determined to keep her brother out of trouble and to keep her queerness a secret. With her dad being deported and her critical, conservative, mom acting as a single parent, Yami worries her identity may disappoint her parents or worse, get her kicked out.

The only problem is she can't seem to control her brothers life and she can't seem to stay away from Bo, the only openly queer girl at Slayton. Will Yami be able to manage her straight girl facade, the pressure from her parents, and keeping her brother out of trouble?

Author Background:

Sonora Reyes writes stories celebrating mexican queer identity and is the creator and host for the X #QPOCChat a community building chat for queer writers of color. They currently live in Arizona with their family and enjoy singing karaoke and dancing. Some other works to check out by Sonora Reyes are The Luis Ortega Survival Club, upcoming novel The Broposal, and their work in Transmogrify.

Critical Evaluation:

Yamilet needs to be the voice in my head! She is funny creative and makes me laugh and smile! The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School had me kicking my feet! Just the cutest book with the cutest people in the cutest relationships! I really enjoyed this book and if I was a teen reading it I would have been obsessed! I grew up catholic and while I did not go to catholic school I was around a ton of people who were and felt as if I attend with them! This book transported me and brought me back to a time where I was trying to find myself. I want to make special note of how Sonora Reyes handled some very heavy themes such as suicide. Sometimes I feel like novels, especially award winning ones, try to make heavy topics the main focus of a novel and just ruin the reader with strong emotion from reading about extreme hardships and trauma. Sonora did not do this, they stressed the importance of how to handle difficult themes and situations with care, support, and purpose. They knew when to be brief and when to expand on topics and experiences regarding mental health, and this needs to be commended. The space that Sonora has given queer teens to understand themselves and coming out in sometimes hostile environments is beautiful. This story is about loving thyself as much as it is about the freedom of loving whomever you wish.

Creative Use for Library Program:

Personal Commandments- In The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School each paragraph is titled with a commandment that Yamilet has created for herself to follow. While many religions have rules to follow, it can be helpful or inspiring to create rules or commandments for yourself similar to how Yamilet did. Librarians can give examples from the novel and some other unique examples of commandments teens can create about how to respect, protect, and love themselves. Once done librarian can display some in the teen space of the library as a reminder to love yourself!

Baile Folklórico Class- In The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School Yamilet describes how sometimes she doesn't feel like she gets to participate or live her life in her culture. Culture is a major theme presented in this book as well as appreciating other people's culture. Yamilet and Bo's Family attend a Baile Folklórico performance within the book and Sonora Reyes share the joys of dancing with friends throughout the novel. Librarians can invite professional Folklórico dancers to come and teach teens how to dance. This class can become a series where different professional dancers from different cultures share dances from their heritage.

Speed Round Book Talk:

Yami's talents: eyeliner, social media management, and being herself. Things Yami struggles with: pretending to be straight. Too bad she's now at Slayton Catholic and she just made friends with the cutest only out queer girl there.

Potential Challenge Issues or Defense Preparation:

At the time of publication, laws in certain states were being questioned, propositioned, and passed regarding the place sexuality had in schools. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School continues to be an easy target for content about the "queer agenda" in schools. What is more interesting is that discourse about the appropriateness of queerness in school, a catholic one at that, is discussed and attempts for denying identity is questioned. This novel makes a point to emphasize how denying identity is harmful to the community and especially to the self. Sonora Reyes expresses disappointment that their novel is receiving such backlash but hopes due to its title that queer kids will still be able to seek it out for themselves (Alfonseca, 2022).

Reason for Inclusion:

I had seen this book before deciding to use it in my blog, the cover is just so beautiful, fun, and the title begs to be read. I picked this book to read and review because of the vibes and because of all the awards and nominations it has received. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is fun and comedic but it also takes time to carefully consider heritage, mental health, and identity. Teens will eat up this book, because Yami sounds, behaves, and thinks like them in relatable situations.

Check Out:

This beautiful character art by Be Fernandez shared on Sonora Reyes X page the following are some of the main characters in The Lesbaian's Guide to Catholic School; Yami, Bo, Cesar, and Jamal.

References:

Alfonseca, K. (2022, June). Book bans and anti-LGBTQ laws: how queer authors are responding. Good Morning America. https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/book-bans-anti-lgbtq-laws-queer-authors-responding-85383429

Amazon. (n.d.). The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School [Photos]. Accessed July 2024 from https://www.amazon.com/Lesbianas-Guide-Catholic-School/dp/006306023X

Fernandez, B. (2022). Closeups of the character art: (art by Be Fernandez) Yami  Bo Cesar Jamal [Post]. @SonoraReyes. X. Accessed July 2024 from https://x.com/SonoraReyes/status/1504836266654789633

Goodreads. (n.d.). The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School. Accessed July 2024 from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58842731-the-lesbiana-s-guide-to-catholic-school

Reyes, S. (n.d.). About. Accessed July 2024 from https://www.sonorareyes.com/about