I’ve read this book three times over the last ten years and I was so pleased that nothing had been altered from the original in this reprint. This is such a beautiful, innocent book tackling the themes of first love, being gay, and accepting yourself. It was truly an original for its day in the early 80s. There are some pieces that are a little dated, and thankfully some of the public reactions to homosexuality have eased quite a bit from the time of original publish to today. However, for the most part this story is still relevant and believable. It’s one of the books I will always keep in my library and reap enjoyment from each time I pick it up.

Reading this book seems dated now, however it accurately portrays the fears of living as a gay person during that time. It shows how much progress we've lived through. It's truly a classic in the genre.

Speaking as a lesbian, I can't even begin to properly explain to you why this book is so important to me. My only wish is that I read it at 15 instead of 25 & I really, really hope there have been a bunch of kids who did just that! I'm sure there must have been though given it's 35 years (!!!) since Annie on My Mind was first published.

And I think that's one of the greatest things about this book. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to read something this wholesome and this soft back then. It's still lowkey revolutionary now! Lines like "nothing has ever felt so right and natural and true and good" about two girls kissing? I don't think I'm gonna be over it anytime soon.

It's amazing to not only see yourself represented by very real, multi-dimensional characters, but also - being told time & time again that there's nothing wrong with the way you are, with the people you love. It's not often that someone defends us so fiercely in books and it really feels like a very much needed warm hug at the end of a hard day.

You can tell while reading that the book isn't new. The writing isn't like what we're used to nowadays, no one has a cellphone, the school problems seem a little bit ridiculous. But none of that really matters. Because the writing is still great & hits right in the heart, like it was meant to do all those years ago. And teen sapphic girls can still see themselves in the characters and can still take courage in the characters' journey to self-love & acceptance. There's period-appropriate homophobia here, of course, and it's still appropriate today, unfortunately, and it made my stomach turn more than once. But it's presented as just an obstacle that's possible to overcome, as something we can crush with our love, not as something we need to accept.

Because like the dedication says, it's a book for all of us. For teenage sapphic girls who need guidance, who need someone they can trust, someone to tell them loving other girls is Wonderful, who need some hope in their lives. And the beauty of Annie on My Mind is, it provides all of that & more

what an eye-opener! In today's society, there is obvious prejudice against the lgbtq community, but it is not as blatant as it once was. Having not been a part of this community it is easy to not recognize how far they have really come and how far they still need to go for equality. Reading this book really shines light on the situation from a past perspective.

"The thing about mountains is that you have to keep on climbing them, and that it's always hard, but there's a view from the top every time when you finally get there."

This was a lovely story. It’s amazing to see how far literature has come in the aspect that this was a scandal in its time and burned in front of a school, while now it’s not uncommon to see people reading Fifty Shades of Grey on the subway during your morning commute.

Nancy Garden crafted a beautiful story of first love and how love truly is just that; love. This story was pure and eloquent, and I’m so glad I had the chance to read this revolutionary story from when YA was comprised of a few dozen books or so.

Most of the stories I read tend to lean toward darker, so it was refreshing to read something that wasn’t meant to depress me. As I said above, even when you see the hateful and disturbing things in the media, remember all of our victories. Remember all the of the good and the lovely things we have done for our society, and how far we have come.

There’s still room to improve, and there will always be bad people, but for now, I’m a little bit happier knowing that a beautiful story like Annie on My Mind is now respected and known as exactly that; a beautiful story of first love.

"Don't let ignorance win. Let love."

The Good
Annie on My Mind is potentially the quintessential lesbian YA novel, but for some reason I’ve never gotten around to reading it until now. And I wish I’d read it sooner! It was lovely watching the relationship between Annie and Liza develop. I really bought their relationship and found it realistically and compelling. It developed slowly and it had good times and bad times and it was just so lovely.

The book also treated relationships in general as complicated and nuanced. I liked seeing all the characters interact and found everything to be developed in really realistic, compelling ways. This was about relating to other sand growing up and it was really good.

The Bad
This definitely had its melancholic points and also is definitely dated. The message is to be yourself and that things will be okay, but also that the world can be a dangerous, unpredictable place. Which also goes back to the overall theme of growing up. Still, it’s definitely rooted in both time and place.

The Verdict
This was a lovely book. It’s a classic for a reason. If you, like me, have been putting off reading it, stop! Go out and read it now!

This was amazeballs! This is a lesbian romance with a happily ever after!

Nancy Garden’s ANNIE ON MY MIND, originally published in 1982 – that is incredible that a book like this was written and published at this time. I’m sure it helped a lot of young girls and women who didn’t have access to a lot of LGBT books at this time. It is a very well written book with a lot of insight in the young girls lives. They are from two very different families but somehow they become friends and fall in love. While reading the book it is easy to feel the connection between Liza and Annie and how they are drawn to each other.

Nether less to say, Annie on my Mind, will always be a classic and a go to book for many. It is definitely a must read for everybody interested in LGBT books or anybody who knows a teenage girl who might be gay.

This was a pleasant (at times) and quick read. The romance was believable and the characters were well drawn. The story seemed extremely dated in some ways and sadly still relevant simultaneously. I can see how this book would be helpful to those coming out. I do feel that the resolution wasn't particularly realistic, however. Sadly, these hateful thoughts and ideas still exist and more often than not the bigots cause many more issues than shown here.

Annie On My Mind is THE gay book. And I was lucky enough to get a chance to read and review it for an upcoming re-release. So with banned book week here, I sat down and read through this book finally. 

We follow Liza and Annie in the year that they fell in love while Liza is looking back on the whole experience. It starts out sweet and wonderful, but trouble strikes when the two are caught together at Liza's teachers' house. Liza in turn is nearly expelled for simply being gay in the 1980's. Luckily, she wasn't, but the two teachers who are also gay lose their jobs at the school for the same issue. 

All of which is still a nightmare for me, a gay genderfluid person. I grew up in the late 1990's and early 2000's. I witnessed a lot of homophobic behavior while it was still considered a mental illness. I grew up knowing it was 'wrong'. Things have changed greatly, but with the current political climate, I fear that still that I could not be allowed to work in my dream job, a library, simply for being gay. It's less likely now and I'm thankful for that every day, but this book simply reminded me of these old fears. 

The story itself is sweet, though possibly a bit naive considering when this book takes place and where. Two girls falling deeply in love with each other and deciding that they rather not live in a make-believe world like they originally did, which seems a bit odd for actual college seniors to actually do. A lot of things like this haven't aged too well with this book. It is a good book with a good message, but teens today are a lot different then they were and a lot would find that them living in their pretend worlds off. 

There's a lot that isn't explained in this book that really should have been. Both Liza and Annie live in New York City during a time when Gay rights was huge, a long with the AIDs epidemic, neither of which are mentioned or even remotely acknowledged as being a thing. I realize that it's possibly because during that time period the author might not have been part of it, but living in New York, you would think they would both know being gay is a thing and that the hysterical nature of the homophobia they face is partly due to the AIDs epidemic, not just the supposed 'wrongness'. 

Nowhere in the book does it mention the year, which leaves you think the author meant for it to be one of those books that are simply universal. Sadly, it doesn't hold up that way anymore. For starters, payphones are no longer a thing, which get featured heavily in the book. Students would no longer nearly be expelled from school for being caught half naked with another girl outside of school, though even in this book its mentioned how wrong that it was in the first place Liza was going through it. I've had plenty of openingly gay teachers who haven't lost their jobs for being gay, thankfully. My suggestion to fix the confusion would to be to add a forward to explain these things or somewhere just stick a date for readers to better understand that this takes place in our not so pleasant past. 

The book might not have aged well, but the story is itself is still important. Everyone should understand how far we've come to be able to just marry our partners compared to nearly having your school career ruined for being gay. I think the story itself is good and sweet. Teens and everyone should be able to see what a healthy gay relationship looks like, even if its no always perfect. 

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to just read a good LGBTQA book that's sweet and helps us better understand our past as well.

Blurb:

This groundbreaking book is the story of two teenage girls whose friendship blossoms into love and who, despite pressures from family and school that threaten their relationship, promise to be true to each other and their feelings. The book has been banned from many school libraries and publicly burned in Kansas City.

Of the author and the book, the Margaret A. Edwards Award committee said, “Using a fluid, readable style, Garden opens a window through which readers can find courage to be true to themselves.”

Review:

Oh my God! This book was so absolutely amazing!

Starting off, I'd felt a bit bored, but once I really got into it, I couldn't stop reading! I just had to read the next chapter!

Annie On My Mind was eye opening, mind boggling, heartwarming and heart-wrenching all at the same time!

Liza and Annie's story was full of complications, misery, pain but also joy and love. It was a story to suffer through and still one to cherish.

I'd probably read it all over again, again and again, because that's how amazing it was!

5 stars, no doubt about that! <3

This book is a classic and a milestone in the LGBT community, especially that of lesbians. I am a lesbian, therefore this book means something to me sentimentally.
That being said, after reading this book, I was kind of disappointed. It was a little drawn-out and boring. I struggled to stay interested and only finished the book because of the fact that this book is special because of what it is and what it meant for the LGBT community at the time it was originally released. The book is makes me nostalgic, but it just couldn't hold my interest.

I simply love this book! The story is well written and holds my interest, I want to go on and on - even though I've read the earlier edition of this book before. It's shocking to read LGBT history from such a short time ago, especially if we know that in many parts of the world nothing has changed.
The main characters are likable, their love is very beleivable and real. The indignation of the young and the experience of the older couple is a nice contrast. I like to beleive that the story goes on with a happily ever after for Annie and Liza.

Annie on My Mind is a classic. I’ve heard about it for years and was not disappointed in the least.

Our main character is Liza, 17. She meets Annie by chance and they fall for each other. But the story is set in 1982 and I don’t think they even knew what homophobia was back then.

I really loved this story. It was a quick read but still made me feel so much. I was enraged, happy, sad; I felt everything. Mostly rage though. The way Liza was treated by her school director was horrifying, and so unfair, both times.
I also loved the way the story was told.

This is a must read.

Liza meets Annie in a museum randomly one day after which she can't forget her. This makes her get slack on school duties and her mind become single tracked on Annie.

Annie however admits she hasn't ever had a proper best friend, the more time the girls spend together they begin to question whether to it relationship is more than friendship.

They spend time together and meet family of each other's who don't detect anything more than friendship while the girls try to make sense of it all themselves.

It's intense with passion, love and hidden relationship's which come to light and cause uncertainty for all those involved...

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me in to review this book for them!

ANNIE ON MY MIND was first published in 1982, the year I graduated from high school. At the time, it was one of the only LGBT books in print and was widely banned in libraries and schools.

In 2017, Nancy Garden's book is dated in both writing style and societal views. Although I had a gay uncle, I never knew anyone my age who was out until I graduated from undergrad and moved to a larger city. ANNIE ON MY MIND was a HUGE deal and one of my favorite books. I was thrilled to see it become available for Kindle.

Younger readers should view ANNIE ON MY MIND as accurate historical fiction, because so much has changed in thirty-five years. Rereading the story gave me a real sense of nostalgia, pre-electronic immersion, but also when fear and hate were the norm.