A V Zeppa

Miguel's Secret Journal A V Zeppa

Miguel's Secret Journal is the story of a fifteen-year-old gay Latino teenager named Miguel who lives in a very poor and violent section of South Bronx. Miguel is a gifted emo artist who is experiencing an extremely cruel childhood. His mother emotionally and physically abuses him, and he has been sexually abused by several of his mother's former boyfriends.

Miguel meets Gabriel, another gay student at high school. Gabriel is white and emo too. They fall in love and Miguel eventually comes out at school and to his family. After he comes out, his friends hate him for what he is, and his mother brutally beats him to the point where he ends up in the hospital.

The twist in this first journal comes when Gabriel tells Miguel that both of them are archangels, and have been sent back to earth to fight a new war against intolerance and hatred. Miguel's powers are slowly realized over the course of several journals.

Miguel's Secret Journal is told within the context of an intimate relationship between two gay teenage boys, and examines how their love has the same intensity as heterosexual teen relationships. This story is also a philosophical journey about the virtues of tolerance and acceptance.

The thoughts and observations are written from a fifteen-year-old teenager's point of view. He is someone who is coming of age in a violent and intolerant world, and ends up realizing that each one of us has to do our share to make this world a better place.

Genre: Gay Fiction / Magical Realism for young adults; age 14-18