|
|
Celebrate Pride Month all year long with these recommended reads, handpicked by your local librarians.
|
|
|
The Gravity of Us
by Phil Stamper
When his volatile father is picked to become an astronaut for NASA's mission to Mars, seventeen-year-old Cal, an aspiring journalist, reluctantly moves from Brooklyn to Houston, Texas, and looks for a story to report, finding an ally (and crush) in Leon,the son of another astronaut.
|
|
|
Let's Talk About Love
by Claire Kann
After Alice's asexuality ended her last relationship, she has sworn off dating, until she becomes attracted to her new coworker and now Alice must decide if she's willing to risk their friendship for a love that may not be reciprocated or understood.
|
|
|
What If It's Us
by Becky Albertalli
Told in two voices, when Arthur, a summer intern from Georgia, and Ben, a native New Yorker, meet it seems like fate, but after three attempts at dating fail they wonder if the universe is pushing them together or apart.
|
|
|
Her Royal Highness
by Rachel Hawkins
A laugh-out-loud companion to Royals finds a Houston teen pursuing an education at an exclusive Scottish boarding school to mend her broken heart before clashing with, and then unexpectedly falling for, her spoiled princess roommate.
|
|
|
Blood sport
by Tash McAdams
After his sister's mysterious death, Jason, a transgender teenager, infiltrates a boxing gym to disover what happened and is torn between his investigation and the sense of belonging that he discovers at the gym.
|
|
|
I Wish You All the Best
by Mason Deaver
After coming out as nonbinary, Ben must leave home and goes to live with a sister and her husband to finish the last year of high school.
|
|
|
Like a Love Story
by Abdi Nazemian
It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He's terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he's gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media's images of men dying of AIDS. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member ofACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance... until she falls for Reza and they start dating. Art is Judy's best friend, their school's only out and proud teen. He'll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs. As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won't break Judy's heart -- and destroy the most meaningful friendship he's ever known. This is a bighearted, sprawling epic about friendship and love and the revolutionary act of living life to the fullest in the face of impossible odds.
|
|
|
Birthday
by Meredith Russo
Born in the same hospital on the same day, Eric and Morgan grow up together as best friends, through six years of birthdays they discover who they are meant to be, and if they are meant to be together.
|
|
|
Autoboyography
by Christina Lauren
High school senior Tanner Scott has hidden his bisexuality since his family moved to Utah, but he falls hard for Sebastian, a Mormon mentoring students in a writing seminar Tanner's best friend convinced him to take.
|
|
|
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
by Junauda Petrus
Told in two voices, sixteen-year-old Audre and Mabel, both young women of color from different backgrounds, fall in love and figure out how to care for each other as one of them faces a fatal illness.
|
|
|
Vanilla
by Billy Merrell
Van and Hunter, who came out together and have been dating since seventh grade, tell of their evolving relationship which sees them becoming different people and struggling to stay in love.
|
|
|
Tell Me How You Really Feel
by Aminah Mae Safi
Sana has had a crush on Rachel for years, but when she tried to ask her out it went very badly, and despite not being able to stand Sana, Rachel casts her in Rachel's senior project when she realizes that Sana is perfect for the role.
|
|
|
Sometime After Midnight
by L. Philips
A teenage music prodigy becomes an internet sensation after he crosses paths with a handsome socialite who just might be his Prince Charming, but past demons threaten to get in the way of any happily ever after.
|
|
|
Odd One Out
by Nic Stone
The best-selling author of Dear Martin presents a story told in three voices that finds old and new friendships challenged by bisexual crushes, heartbreak and self-discovery.
|
|
|
The Infinite Noise
by Lauren Shippen
Enduring bizarre mood swings that go beyond the normal limits of teens, Caleb is identified as an individual with super-sensitive empathy before he is compelled into forming a powerful bond with a classmate.
|
|
|
The Black Flamingo
by Dean Atta
A fierce coming-of-age novel about identity and the liberating power of drag follows the experiences of a mixed-race teen in London who struggles to connect with his heritage before coming out and establishing his place in Drag Society.
|
|
|
The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried
by Shaun David Hutchinson
Two estranged best friends, one the son of undertakers, are granted extra time to resolve their differences when one of them dies suddenly and then comes partially back to life, forcing the pair to figure out what is happening.
|
|
|
Some Girls Bind
by Rory James
Genderqueer adolescent Jamie and her gay friend, Levi, comes out to her brother Steve, who encourages them to seek acceptance from friends and family.
|
|
|
The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali
by Sabina Khan
After her conservative Muslim parents catch her kissing her girlfriend Ariana, Rukhsana Ali finds herself whisked off to Bangladesh and must find the courage to fight for the right to choose her own path.
|
|
|
Darius the Great is Not Okay
by Adib Khorram
Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor, Sohrab, who changes his life.
|
|
|
The Music of What Happens
by Bill Konigsberg
A cool and popular gay teen who harbors a secret, intense crush and a poetic youth who is looking for Mr. Right in spite of his troubled family weigh what they are willing to risk while working together at an organic food truck during a blistering Arizona summer.
|
|
|
Sawkill Girls
by Claire Legrand
After girls mysteriously disappear on the island of Sawkill Rock, three unlikely friends come together to destroy the Collector, a monster from another world who grows stronger with each kill.
|
|
|
Star-Crossed
by Barbara Dee
When Mattie is cast as Romeo in an eighth-grade play, she is confused to find herself increasingly attracted to Gemma, a new classmate who is playing Juliet.
|
|
|
Timekeeper
by Tara Sim
In an alternate 1875 England, seventeen-year-old clock mechanic Danny, aided by the boy he loves, must discover who is sabotaging the towers that control the flow of time and stop him or her before it is too late.
|
|
|
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
by Emily M Danforth
In the early 1990s, when gay teenager Cameron Post rebels against her conservative Montana ranch town and her family decides she needs to change her ways, she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center.
|
|
|
Call Down the Hawk
by Maggie Stiefvater
In a world where dreamers have the ability to pull the wonders and catastrophes of their dreams into reality, a thief becomes inextricably tied to the dream objects she pursues while a hunter races to prevent destructive dreaming. By the award-winning author of the Raven Cycle series.
|
|
|
Bloom
by Kevin Panetta
Dreaming of leaving his family's bakery to become a musician in the city, Ari unexpectedly falls for the easy-going young baker, Hector, who has been hired to replace him and begins to reevaluate his dreams and the consequences of his choices.
|
|
|
Goldie Vance
by Lilliam Rivera
Complemented by 16 full-color comic pages that contain essential clues, a series debut inspired by the popular comic introduces teen sleuth Goldie Vance, who investigates the theft of a jeweled cap when her mother is wrongly accused.
|
|
|
Drama
by Raina Telgemeier
Callie rides an emotional roller coaster while serving on the stage crew for a middle school production of Moon over Mississippi as various relationships start and end, and others never quite get going.
According to the ALA, this book has been challenged for being "sexually explicit"--which is puzzling, as there are no depictions of sex. Instead, we suspect the challenges were due to the book's forthright treatment of having a crush while gay, as a young teenager.
|
|
Brave Face : A Memoir
by Shaun David Hutchinson
At nineteen, Hutchinson was struggling to find the vocabulary to understand and accept who he was and how he fit into a community in which he couldn't see himself. Convinced that he couldn't keep going, that he had no future, Hutchinson followed through on trying to make that a reality -- an attempted suicide. Over time, he came to embrace life, and to find self-acceptance. In his deeply honest memoir, he takes readers through the journey of what brought him to the edge, and what has helped him truly believe that it does get better.
|
|
|
Being Jazz : My Life As a (Transgender Teen)
by Jazz Jennings
The author reccounts how her public experiences have influenced her attitude towards the transgender community, as she works to educate others about transgenderism while navigating the challenges of being a teenager.
|
|
|
The Great Nijinsky : God of Dance
by Lynn Curlee
Traces the story of the genius dancer and cultural icon of the Ballets Russes, whose openly gay relationship challenged Edwardian conventions before mental illness ended his career and overshadowed the final decades of his life.
|
|
|
A Queer History of the United States for Young People
by Richie Chevat
Through engrossing narratives, letters, drawings, poems, and more, the book encourages young readers, of all identities, to feel pride at the accomplishments of the LGBTQ people who came before them and to use history as a guide to the future.The stories he shares include those of: Thomas Morton, who celebrated same-sex love in Boston's Puritan community in the 1620s; Albert D.J. Cashier, an Irish immigrant and Civil War hero, who was born in the body of a woman but lived as a man for over a half century; Gladys Bentley, an African American blues singer who challenged cross-dressing laws in 1920s Harlem; Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King Jr.'s close friend, civil rights organizer, and an openly gay man; Sylvia Rivera, who along with Marsha P. Johnson, founded the first transgender political group in the United States in 1970; Harvey Milk, a community organizer and the first openly gay politician to win an election in California; Jamie Nabozny, a teen who brought national attention to the issue of LGBTQ bullying by bringing his case to the Supreme Court in the 1990s. With over 60 illustrations and photos, a glossary, and a corresponding curriculum, A Queer History of the United States for Young People will be vital for teachers who want to introduce a new perspective to America's story.
|
|
|
A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities
by Mady G
Complemented by educational worksheets and helpful examples, a comics-illustrated guide to queer and transgender life covers essential topics ranging from sexuality and gender identity to coming out and navigating gender-diverse relationships.
|
|
|
A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns
by Archie Bongiovanni
The concept of gender-neutral pronouns is introduced through a graphic novel tale of Archie, a snarky genderqueer artist, and cisgender Tristan, who is looking for an easy way to introduce these pronouns to his diverse workplace.
|
|
|
Trans Mission : My Quest to a Beard
by Alex Bertie
Bertie recounts his life, struggles, and victories as a young trans man. Along the way, he provides readers with accessible explanations of gender, sexuality, and transitions. He explores without judgment how complicated all these things can be, and how many equally authentic ways there are to live as yourself and find happiness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|