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February 2025 The Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

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“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

Literary awards
National Book Award for Young People's Literature (2021), Stonewall Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature (2022), Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature (2021), Michael L. Printz Award Nominee (2022), Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult (2023), Lincoln Award Nominee (2023), CYBILS Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2021), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2021), Walter Dean Myers Award Nominee for Teen (2022)

Good Reads

Comments

  1. Mrs. NolanFebruary 25, 2025 at 10:49 AM

    This is definitely something we could read in our Mosaics class, especially with the emphasis on cultural expectations and "norms" that Lily experienced. I appreciate the time period that it was set in - I feel like having it set back in the 1950's when there was much less acceptance for the LGBTQ+ individuals really allows the reader to see how much the world has changed in 75 years. Especially our students, who are obviously far removed from this time period. I also appreciated the structure of the book - having the flashbacks to Lily's early years growing up in an immigrant family really helps the reader to understand the layers of cultural complexity as she learns about and navigates her identity and sexuality.

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  2. Kaity KeihlFebruary 26, 2025 at 8:14 AM

    I agree with Nolan above about how the having the setting during 1950s San Francisco provided another layer of background and analysis that we could tackle with our students. Despite this being 'in the past,' the struggles that Lily, and her family, face are still very prevalent today. This is an aspect that I think students would gravitate towards and find meaningful. I love the idea of incorporating more young adult novels into the classroom, and I think that this could be a solid fit for our students, especially with an emphasis on sexuality and gender.

    I also enjoyed having FMC, as I notice many of the books within the 10th grade curriculum highlight MMC voices.

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