How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity is an anthology

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 of LGBTQ

LGBT literature

Gay literature is a collective term for literature produced by or for the LGBT community, or which involves characters, plot lines or themes portraying male homosexual behavior.-Subgenres:...

 short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 for young adults edited

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author Michael Cart. It was first published in 2009. The anthology contains an introduction by Cart, 11 short stories, and one novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

 by acclaimed lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 and gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 authors.

The book was a Lambda Literary Award

Lambda Literary Award

Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...

 finalist for LGBT Children's/Young Adult literature. Booklist

Booklist

Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...

 added the work to its Rainbow List 2010, a bibliography of young adult books which include significant gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

, lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning content.

Contents

The anthology contains an introduction by editor Michael Cart, and the 12 stories. Cart's six-page introduction declares the theme of the anthology to be "what it might mean to be gay, lesbian, or transgender." The introduction introduces each author, briefly describes their story entry, and provides a very brief note about how the story confronts the concept of sexual identity

Sexual identity

Sexual identity is a term that, like sex, has two distinctively different meanings. One describes an identity roughly based on sexual orientation, the other an identity based on sexual characteristics, which is not socially based but based on biology, a concept related to, but different from,...

. Three stories feature transgender

Transgender

Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....

 characters, and two explore how nationality

Nationality

Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

 and language barrier

Language barrier

Language barrier is a figurative phrase used primarily to indicate the difficulties faced when people who have no language in common attempt to communicate with each other...

s interact with sexual orientation. Most of the stories are written from the perspective of people in their late teens or 20s.

The title of the anthology is taken from David Levithan

David Levithan

David Levithan is an American young-adult fiction editor and award-winning author. His first book, Boy Meets Boy, was published in 2003...

's short story, "A Word From the Nearly Distant Past," which is the first short story in the book: "He has no idea how beautiful the ordinary becomes once it disappears."

The short stories in the book are:

• "A Word From the Nearly Distant Past" by David Levithan—Written as if it were a message from gay men in the future to gay teens today, this story is told in flashback
  Flashback (narrative)
  Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
  
  . The unnamed narrators (the plural pronoun "we" is used throughout the work) describe how a few young men are seen in the present going to a boyfriend's house, dancing alone, attending an LGBTQ prom
  Prom
  In the United States and Canada, a prom, short for promenade, is a formal dance, or gathering of high school students. It is typically held near the end of the senior year. It figures greatly in popular culture and is a major event among high school students...
  
  , etc. The narrators express knowledge about how these young men feel, and urge them to live life fully. The story is 13 pages long.

• "Happily Ever After" by Eric Shanower
  Eric Shanower
  Eric James Shanower is an American comics artist and writer, best known for his Oz novels and comics and the on-going retelling of the Trojan War as Age of Bronze.-Biography:...
  
  —This short story is told in comic book
  Comics
  Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
  
   format. Two high school teenage boys seem to be in love, but their relationship is in trouble because Mark has difficulty accepting he is gay. The two discover a genie
  Genie
  Jinn or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that...
  
   (the comically named Genie-Fouadi-Wadi-Wasr-Ras-Daroun-Boun-Ali-Meht-Ma-Hani-Pal the Perspicacious) in a bottle who grants them each a wish. The unnamed narrator wants Mark to love him, but a horrified Mark demands that the genie remove his homosexuality. The genie grants each teen his wish. Three years pass. Both men (now in college) are miserable, but because "when a genie grants a wish, it comes true" the genie must intervene again. The story is 13 pages long.

• "My Life As A Dog" by Ron Koertge—At first, this is a fantasy story
  Fantasy literature
  Fantasy literature is fantasy in written form. Historically speaking, literature has composed the majority of fantasy works. Since the 1950s however, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music, painting, and other...
  
   told in the first-person singular by Noah, a dog with very human emotions and intelligence. But at points throughout the story, the text changes to look like a screenplay
  Screenplay
  A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
  
  . The screenplay describes a teenage boy, Noah, who has apparently been hit by a car. Noah has quarrelsome parents, and his father is particularly homophobic
  Homophobia
  Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
  
  . The screenplay-like text reveals that Noah is closeted
  Closeted
  Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
  
   and has a boyfriend, Robbie, who is not. Noah and Robbie quarrel over whether Noah should come out
  Coming out
  Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
  
  , but Noah refuses because his father already treats him like a dog. The reality of Noah's situation becomes apparent through the story, as well as the truth about Noah's accident. The short story is 26 pages long.

• "Trev" by Jacqueline Woodson
  Jacqueline Woodson
  Jacqueline Woodson is an American author who writes books targeted at children and adolescents. She is best known for 'Miracle's Boys' which won the Coretta Scott King Award in 2001 and her Newbery Honor titles 'After Tupac & D Foster', 'Feathers' and 'Show Way'...
  
  —A girl named Trevana Louise Johnson is in the second grade
  Second grade
  In the United States, second grade is a year of primary education. Second grade is the second school year after kindergarten. Students are traditionally 7–8 years old, depending on when their birthday occurs....
  
  . But already "Trev" wants to be a boy. Trev knows he is "wrong down there" but his father and brother have a great deal of difficulty handling Trev's gender difference. Trev himself struggles to understand his gender, learns about his grandmother, and asserts himself. This story is nine pages long.

• "My Virtual World" by Francesca Lia Block
  Francesca Lia Block
  Francesca Lia Block is the author of adult and young adult fiction, short stories, screenplays and poetry, most famously the Weetzie Bat series. Block wrote her first book, Weetzie Bat, while a student at UC Berkeley; it was published in 1989 by Harper Collins. She is known for her use of imagery,...
  
  —Primarily written as a series of e-mail
  E-mail
  Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
  
  s from "Boy Blue" to "Ms. R.E." (e.g., misery), this story tells about the growing friendship between Garret and Rebecca, two people who have never met and communicate primarily online. Over the course of the emails, Garret reveals that he is a transsexual who was born female, and who may have attempted suicide
  Suicide
  Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
  
  . Rebecca also has a secret (revealed in part at the end of the story), and has engaged in cutting
  Self-harm
  Self-harm or deliberate self-harm includes self-injury and self-poisoning and is defined as the intentional, direct injuring of body tissue most often done without suicidal intentions. These terms are used in the more recent literature in an attempt to reach a more neutral terminology...
  
  . The two emotionally troubled people bond, with their future revealed in a traditionally-written narrative text. The short story is 13 pages long.

• "A Dark Red Love Knot" by Margo Lanagan
  Margo Lanagan
  Margo Lanagan in Waratah, New South Wales is an Australian writer of short stories and young adult fiction.Many of her books, including ye Young Adult fiction, were only published in Australia. Recently, several of her books have attracted worldwide attention. Her short story collection Black...
  
  —Tom Coyne is an English
  English people
  The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
  
   teenager living in the past (possibly the 17th century). He works as a stableboy
  Hostler
  An hostler or ostler in the horse industry is a groom or stableman, who is employed in a stable to take care of horses...
  
   at a local inn
  INN
  InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
  
  . The first-person narrative
  First-person narrative
  First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
  
   briefly describes how Tom saw Bess (the innkeeper's daughter) meeting with her lover (a handsome highwayman
  Highwayman
  A highwayman was a thief and brigand who preyed on travellers. This type of outlaw, usually, travelled and robbed by horse, as compared to a footpad who traveled and robbed on foot. Mounted robbers were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads...
  
  ) one night in the stables. Tom tells how he recently lost his sexual virginity to a soldier in the King's army. Desiring to see his lover again, Tom tells the innkeeper about his daughter's sexual indiscretion in the hopes this will bring the King's men to the inn. Consumed only by his own desire to see his soldier, Tom does not consider the consequences of his actions (which lead to tragedy). The short story is 29 pages long.

• "Fingernail" by William Sleator
  William Sleator
  William Warner Sleator III , known as William Sleator, was an American science fiction author who wrote primarily young adult novels but also wrote for younger readers. His books typically deal with adolescents coming across a peculiar phenomenon related to an element of theoretical science, then...
  
  —Lep is a young Thai
  Thai people
  The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...
  
   with little education who speaks no English
  English language
  English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
  
  . Although he has had homosexual sex with other Thai men, it is unsatisfying to him. He meets Bernard, a French
  French people
  The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
  
   tourist. They make love and spend much time together. Bernard returns to France
  France
  The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
  
  , and Lep works hard to learn English. Bernard returns to Thailand
  Thailand
  Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
  
  , but Lep realizes Bernard is insanely jealous
  Jealousy
  Jealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...
  
  . He accuses Lep of having sex with other men all the time, and one night tries to smother him in bed. Lep forgives Bernard. Bernard's jealousy worsens. After a final act of treachery, Lep refuses to see Bernard any longer. Lep must decided whether his love for Bernard was real, and whether knowing Bernard was worth it. The story is told in broken English
  Broken English
  Broken English is a 1979 album by singer Marianne Faithfull. It is often cited as Faithfull's definitive recording; Faithfull herself describes it in her autobiography as "the masterpiece"...
  
  , as if written by a non-native speaker of English. The story is 22 pages long.

• "Dyke March" by Ariel Schrag
  Ariel Schrag
  Ariel Schrag is an American cartoonist and television writer who achieved critical recognition at an unusually early age for her autobiographical comics.-Biography:...
  
  —Told in comic book format, this short story depicts the major events that occur every half hour one evening as an unnamed lesbian attends a pride parade. Various events occur (planning for the parade, texting
  Text messaging
  Text messaging, or texting, refers to the exchange of brief written text messages between fixed-line phone or mobile phone and fixed or portable devices over a network...
  
   friends, dancing, etc.) and she experiences various emotions (eagerness, paranoia
  Paranoia
  Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
  
  , awe, hunger, etc.). Her ability to deal with the things she sees and experiences, conveyed comically and primarily in visual form, is the basis of the story. This story is five pages long, and is the shortest in the book.

• "The Missing Person" by Jennifer Finney Boylan
  Jennifer Finney Boylan
  Jennifer Finney Boylan is an American author and professor at Colby College. She has openly discussed being a trans woman. Boylan's memoir, She's Not There, was published by Broadway Books in 2003. Until 2001, she published under the name James Boylan...
  
  —Written in the first-person, the narrator of this story, Jimmy, is a boy who, during the summer between the eighth
  Eighth grade
  Eighth grade is a year of education in the United States, Canada, Australia and other nations. Students are usually 13 - 14 years old. The eighth grade is typically the final grade before high school, and the ninth grade of public and private education, following kindergarten and subsequent grades...
  
   and ninth grade
  Ninth grade
  Ninth grade is the ninth post-kindergarten year of school education in some school systems. The students are 13 to 15 years of age, depending on when their birthday occurs. Depending on the school district, ninth grade is usually the first year of high school....
  
  , decides he wants to be a girl. The story describes "Jenny's" first experience as she dresses in girls' clothing that belongs to her older sister and goes to a local fair
  Fair
  A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
  
  . A subplot
  Subplot
  A subplot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
  
   about a Taiwanese
  Taiwanese people
  Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
  
   exchange student
  Student exchange program
  A student exchange program generally could be defined as a program where students from secondary school or university choose to study abroad in partner institutions...
  
   who becomes trapped in a wall bookends
  Framing device
  The term framing device refers to the usage of the same single action, scene, event, setting, or any element of significance at both the beginning and end of an artistic, musical, or literary work. The repeated element thus creates a ‘frame’ within which the main body of work can develop.The...
  
   the narrative, providing a metaphor
  Metaphor
  A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
  
   for what the transsexual narrator feels. The story is 18 pages long.

• "First Time" by Julie Ann Peters—Jesi and Nicolle are two lesbians about to have their first sexual encounter. The short story is told in the first-person narrative by both people. The text is split into two columns
  Column (typography)
  In typography, a column is one or more vertical blocks of content positioned on a page, separated by gutters and/or rules. Columns are most commonly used to break up large bodies of text that cannot fit in a single block of text on a page. Additionally, columns are used to improve page composition...
  
  , with Jesi's narrative on the left and Nicolle's on the right. Each girl remembers important things which have happened during their relationship (such as the first time they hugged) as they prepare to engage in sex, engage in foreplay
  Foreplay
  In human sexual behavior, foreplay is a set of intimate psychological and physically intimate acts between two or more people meant to create desire for sexual activity and sexual arousal. Either or any of the sexual partners may initiate the foreplay, and they may not be the active partner during...
  
  , and consummate the sex act. The text is somewhat sexually explicit (primarily the description of body parts). The story is 31 pages long.

• "Dear Lang" by Emma Donoghue
  Emma Donoghue
  Emma Donoghue is an Irish-born playwright, literary historian and novelist now living in Canada. Her 2010 novel Room was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and an international bestseller. Donoghue's 1995 novel Hood won the Stonewall Book Award and Slammerkin won the Ferro-Grumley Award for...
  
  —This short story is written in the form of a letter from a 40-year-old dyke
  Dyke (slang)
  Dyke is slang terminology referring to a lesbian or lesbianism. It originated as a derogatory label for a masculine woman, and this usage still exists. However, some attempt to use it in a manner they see as positive, or simply as a neutral synonym for lesbian...
  
   (a masculine lesbian) to her 16-year-old daughter, Lang. The woman reveals that she used to be partnered
  Same-sex marriage
  Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
  
   with Lang's mother, Cheryl. Cheryl received artificial insemination
  Artificial insemination
  Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
  
   and gave birth to Lang when the narrator was 24 years old. Two years later, the two women's relationship ended and Cheryl won custody
  Child custody
  Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
  
   of Lang. The narrator reveals much of her own life story and her current situation through the letter, and talks about the hopes she has as a parent for both Lang and for her own child (her current partner is pregnant). The story is 35 pages long.

• "The Silk Road Runs Through Tupperneck, N.H." by Gregory Maguire
  Gregory Maguire
  Gregory Maguire is an American writer. He is the author of the novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and many other novels for adults and children...
  
  —Faroukh Rahmani is an 18-year-old Iranian American. In danger of losing his college scholarship after failing a class, he takes a make-up summer course in music at the fictional Tupperneck College in Tupperneck, New Hampshire
  New Hampshire
  New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
  
  . He meets the impossibly handsome, muscular, and talented Blaise D'Anjou, a French American
  French American
  French Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 1.6 million speak French at home.An additional 450,000 U.S...
  
   music student. Faroukh struggles with poverty, family relationships, and his own sexual desire for the emotionally cold, distant Blaise. But the revelation of a tragedy in Blaise's family brings the two men together. This first-person narrative is interspersed with a third-person singular narrative, describing events 15 years later as Faroukh brings his two young children to New Hampshire to attend a concert at Tupperneck College. The sacrifices a gay person makes for one's family, in the face of tragedy, and to secure a career form the basis of both narratives, which are tied together at the end of the novella. The story is 117 pages long.

Critical reception

A review in the School Library Journal

School Library Journal

The School Library Journal is a monthly magazine with articles and reviews for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with a focus on technology and multimedia. Reviews are included for preschool to 4th grade,...

called the anthology "refreshing" and chose the stories by Lanagan and Maguire. The review cited the main character in William Sleator's "Fingernail" as "compelling", and said Ron Koertge's "My Life as a Dog" contained "an ingenious metaphor for coming out". Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...

concluded that the book contained "[p]rovocative, quality content." The journal cited Shanower's "Happily Ever After" and Block's "My Virtual World" as the best stories in the collection. Reviewer Gillian Engberg, writing in Booklist, found the experimentation in narrative styles "inventive" and the stories "raw [and] moving", and concluded the anthology was "a groundbreaking addition to young-adult literature". Erin Williams, reviewing the book of the PFLAG

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays

Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays is a socio-political group of family members and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Its mission statement describes the goals of PFLAG as promoting health and well being of LGBT persons as well as actively supporting...

National Blog, found the collection "unique" because "...the stories vary from spiritually philosophical to personal histories to comic strips—all dealing with teen GLBT experiences."