Queer As a Five-dollar Bill

Gr 8 Up—Wyatt is bullied every day in his small Oregon town of Lincolnville. He repeatedly denies being gay even though he knows he is. He is terrified at school and in his conservative community. In a 180-degree move, Wyatt chooses to blog about his discovery that Abraham Lincoln wrote love letters to and slept in the same bed with a man, Joshua Fry Speed, for years before marrying Mary Todd. Part of Wyatt's naive logic is that if Lincoln were gay, the world will be more accepting of Wyatt and other gay people. The local and nationally syndicated hateful homophobic response to the blog threatens his family's business, a Lincoln-slept-here B&B, but it also earns Wyatt attention and support from the civil rights and LGBTQ communities. In particular, a black, social media–savvy teen named Martin and his mom, a legal advocate, jump into the fray. Coolheaded Martin becomes Wyatt's love interest. The judgmental small-town vibe is captured well, but also feels somewhat campy. Though some plot twists stretch credulity, the book successfully presents the evidence of Lincoln's loving relationship with Speed.