"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Albert Einstein

18 August 2011

Empress of the World



Ryan, Sara. Empress of the World. New York: Penguin Group, 2001.

Nic is spending the summer at a camp for gifted students, and while she explores her passion of archeology, she also has the opportunity to meet some new friends.  One friendship soon turns into a romantic relationship, which leaves Nic examining herself and wondering at her changing identity.

I haven't read much YA lit with a homosexual theme, so I was intrigued to see how authors in general would choose to portray this issue.  I find it interesting that Nic's friends were all okay with her relationship with Battle, while the two characters who objected were already portrayed in a negative light.  The two boys who picked on Nic and Battle were already seen as ignorant and arrogant before they displayed their obvious homophobia.  Other than this, I definitely could see Nic's mental/emotional skirmishes as she tried to wrap her brain around her relationship with Battle.

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