JUDY SHEPARD was used to middle-of-the-night calls because her son Matt either couldn’t figure out the time zone difference or didn’t care. He lived in Wyoming, she lived in Saudi Arabia, and his early evening was her 2 AM. In the new book The Meaning of Matthew, she tells of the one call she’ll never forget.

In The Passing Game: Queering Jewish American Culture, Warren Hoffman explores the idea of queer Jewish identity as expressed in drama, literature, and film. Hoffman interrogates and deconstructs many well-known Jewish cultural works, including Sholem Asch’s controversial play 1907 God of Vengeance, the 1936 film Yidl Mitn Fidl, which starred a cross-dressing Molly Picon, and the literary works of Abraham Cahan, among many others.

IN SEVERAL DECADES of books published with bisexual themes, there has only been one to my knowledge for and about teenagers or young adults. This year, there were three in the first six months alone. All three present bisexuality in a positive light, even though it may cause confusion for the protagonist until she gets a handle on it. In all three books the protagonist is a girl, two of whom have transgender issues. All three books are written in the first person, a voice designed to draw the reader into the story in a personal way.

… White’s diligent research reveals that, in addition to publishing a magazine, ONE, Inc. also held an annual institute for 25 years in which volunteer faculty taught courses, sometimes to only three or four students, that were the precursors of queer studies. …