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Summary from the Library of Congress cataloging-in-Publication Data: Thirteen-year-old Melanin Sun’s comfortable, quiet life is shattered when his mother reveals she has fallen in love with a woman.

Notes/Excerpts:

This is a book in which a boy faces his fears and learns to accept that his mother is a lesbian.

“…put those faggot stamps away!" [a friend tells him] (p.19) “I knew it was faggy to collect stamps…as long as I didn’t start wanting to kiss on Ralphael and Sean, I was okay…I figured out there was two kinds of ‘faggy’…the other kind of ‘faggy’ was the messed up kin…actually wanted to be with other guys…made me want to puke every time…” (pp.19-20).

He tells his friends that his mom is having a male guest come over:

“Tell your mama to bring me home…that woman is so fine [his friend says] (p.22).”

His mother actually invites a woman over, K******.

“…there had never been a white person in our house…no use for them in this neighborhood…something about the two of them [his mother and K******] together that made my stomach hollow out…couldn’t figure out what it was (pp.32-33).

In the car, he and his mother converse about gays:

“Your friends ever talk about…gay people [his mom asks] (p.56)?”

“What? Faggots [her son questions]” [thinking to himself] I’m not a faggot (p.56).

“…wanted to explain my faggot theory to her….wasn’t going to be one of the real faggots (p.56).”

“that’s not faggot stuff…how close we get to talk about…gay people [he and his friends] (p.57).”

“What about in school [she asks] (p.57)?”

“[he is speaking]…I’m not gonna turn gay on you (p.57)”

“…not thinking you might be gay…(p.58)”

“…I’m not, Ma (p.58).”

“Let me [his mother] start again. Does the topic of queerness… (p.58)?”

“How come you can say…queerness and I can’t say fag - (p.58)”

“…when you say the f-word, it sounds like your spitting…like you have so much hate (p.58)”

“…Are there gay teachers at school (p.59)?”

“…no one’s there trying to teach me to be queer (p.59).”

“I need to tell you I’m in love [his mother is saying]…with Kristin (p.59).”

This book continues - the words “queer”, “dyke” and “faggot” are used loosely throughout the book. Her son goes through a phase of confusion: If his mother is a “dyke”, then what is he?

In the end, he has a long talk with K******, all three go to a “gay” beach: “…something began melting inside of me…maybe it didn’t matter…we had each other… (pp.139-140).”

Research by M. Lyn