Book Description
for Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
In her senior year of high school, Holland Jaeger seems to have everything going for her: she’s a straight-A student, she’s president of the student council, and she’s got a wonderful boyfriend. Then she meets CeCe Goddard and everything changes. Holland falls madly in love with CeCe. Suddenly Holland has to reevaluate everything she thinks she knows about herself, her friends, her family, and her future. This adolescent coming-out story doesn’t paint a completely rosy picture: Holland is rejected by her family and kicked out of her home, while CeCe asks her to keep their love a secret, something that Holland is at first happy to do but later begins to find a burden as she becomes more comfortable with her own sexuality. But it does give a realistic portrait of the gay and lesbian community beyond high school, something that’s frequently lacking in young adult novels with gay and lesbian themes. (Ages 14–16)
CCBC Choices 2004 . © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2004. Used with permission.