12 new YA books you should stay indoors and read this August

Ziggy, Stardust and Me – James Brandon

A love letter to both self-acceptance and David Bowie, James Brandon’s Ziggy, Stardust and Me is both charming and timely. (And one of two great pieces of historical fiction on our YA list that center marginalized characters this month!)

It follows the story of a teenage boy named Jonathan struggling to come to terms with his sexuality in 1970s Missouri. After suffering through physical bullying and verbal slurs at school, he attends conversion therapy sessions, which come with their own set of terrible side effects. Jonathan copes by having imaginary conversations with his idol, Bowie persona Ziggy Stardust, in whom he has found something of a kindred spirit.

But when he meets a Lakota boy named Web, who isn’t anything like him on paper, but may just help Jonathan learn that there’s nothing about himself that needs fixing.

"The year is 1973. The Watergate hearings are in full swing. The Vietnam War is still raging. And homosexuality is still officially considered a mental illness. In the midst of these trying times is sixteen-year-old Jonathan Collins, a bullied, anxious, asthmatic kid, who aside from an alcoholic father and his sympathetic neighbor and friend Starla, is completely alone. To cope, Jonathan escapes to the safe haven of his imagination, where his hero David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and dead relatives, including his mother, guide him through the rough terrain of his life. In his alternate reality, Jonathan can be anything: a superhero, an astronaut, Ziggy Stardust, himself, or completely “normal” and not a boy who likes other boys. When he completes his treatments, he will be normal—at least he hopes. But before that can happen, Web stumbles into his life. Web is everything Jonathan wishes he could be: fearless, fearsome and, most importantly, not ashamed of being gay. Jonathan doesn’t want to like brooding Web, who has secrets all his own. Jonathan wants nothing more than to be “fixed” once and for all. But he’s drawn to Web anyway. Web is the first person in the real world to see Jonathan completely and think he’s perfect. Web is a kind of escape Jonathan has never known. For the first time in his life, he may finally feel free enough to love and accept himself as he is."

Ziggy, Stardust and Me is available on August 6.