Holly's Secret

By Nancy Garden

When 11-year-old Holly moves from Manhattan to Massachusetts, she and her lifelong friend Kelsey devise a new plan for her new life. After all, new beginnings offer us a chance to change the things we don't like about ourselves, right? Holly decides to call herself Yvette (after her glamorous and girly aunt) and lies to her new friends about a central fact of her life: that she has two moms. As could be expected, assuming this new identity proves to be harder than Holly ever expected. And readers are left wondering: how long can she keep it up before her secret comes out?

Of course, eventually Holly's plan backfires, and she learns a lesson about being who you truly are, without shame or fear. While I appreciated the theme and message of this book (while there are several picture books regarding homosexuality is has been difficult for me to find any novels, particularly from the perspective of a child with gay parents), the entire story felt a bit contrived. Since the book is written in the third person, as a reader I felt like I was never really able to get inside Holly's head. What was she feeling? And it seemed as if Holly was never really able to stand up for herself until she had absolutely no other options. I understand that Garden was trying to reflect upon the fact that dealing with such issues is often difficult for children, but it would have been beneficial to see a much stronger heroine in this story. Additionally, Garden leaves out a lot of details (such as saying they ate "all Holly's favorite dishes" for her birthday, instead of actually giving us any details). I get the feeling that this was an attempt to make Holly seem more universal to a wide audience, but in reality it made the story seem less real. As a reader it was very hard to relate to any of the characters or situations in this book.

Overall I think this book was okay - nothing spectacular. I have to give Garden credit for tackling a difficult subject that many authors avoid - but at the same time, I am left wishing for a story that would be more realistic.