A Queer, Middle Grade Love Story Set in 1977

A new middle grade book gives us a romance between two girls, set in the U.S. South in 1977, long before gay-straight alliance clubs, marriage equality, or any kind of LGBTQ-inclusive books for children and youth.

Allie Drake, the protagonist of Shannon Hitchcock’s One True Way (Scholastic), wants to join the newspaper staff at her new middle school in North Carolina, where she and her mother moved following her older brother’s death and her parents’ separation. On her first day at school, she meets Samantha “Sam” Johnson, a “handsome” basketball star who moves effortlessly among the school’s social cliques. The girls fall for each other, but must deal with the prejudice of Sam’s conservative Christian parents, Allie’s overprotective but ultimately more understanding mother, the bigotry promulgated nationwide by actor Anita Bryant, and the ramifications for two of their teachers who are also a same-sex couple. All this transpires as Allie seeks to find her place at the new school and to understand her parents’ pending divorce.

At the risk of a small spoiler, I’ll note that Hitchcock gives us an ending that hints at a happy future for the two, despite the troubles of family, geography, and era. Other recent middle grade books about same-sex attractions, such as Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, by Ashley Herring Blake, and Hurricane Child, by Kheryn Callender, involve more unrequited crushes. In that, they are arguably truer to life—middle school crushes of any type are often unrequited. All three books, however, will be vital in giving young queer girls reflections of themselves: Blake and Callender’s may help them through the pain of rejection and break ups, while Hitchcock’s will give them hope that sometimes, things may work out. All, too, importantly offer us stories of girls at the boundary between child and young adult, finding themselves and gaining inner strength even as they navigate relationships with others.

Hitchcock paints a picture of the 1970s that made me smile—I was only two years younger than Allie in 1977. Figure skater Dorothy Hamill and actor Farrah Fawcett are both referenced in the very first chapter, and other pop-culture tidbits are scattered throughout. My only quibble is that there is no mention of Star Wars, which premiered in May 1977, three months before the book is set. All of the kids I knew at the time were talking about it, and it doesn’t feel right that those in Allie’s school never gave it a thought.

Despite the 40-year-old setting, though, the book feels like a remarkably contemporary read. There’s little in it that couldn’t still happen today—including, unfortunately, the prejudice against people in same-sex relationships. The rhetoric from religious conservatives today sounds very much like that of Sam’s mother. And while some states offer stronger protections against firing someone for being LGBTQ, LGBTQ teachers in many places remain at risk.

Still, by placing the story in the past, Hitchcock has given readers something important—a glimpse at the long history of same-sex relationships. Knowing one’s history can offer an important feeling of connection to a community and heritage, and help bolster one’s sense of self-worth. Queer youth today deserve no less. One could even imagine Allie and Sam beating the odds for middle school relationships and taking part in the “gayby boom” in the late 1980s or 1990s. Is it too much to wish for a subsequent volume from Hitchcock, told from the perspective of the couple’s own middle schooler? I hope not.

(I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program that provides a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)