Break in Case of Emergency by
Life has been a struggle for Toby Goodman. But with the news that her father is coming home and finally wants to meet her, Toby must face the truth of her family's story. Not only is her father gay, but he's also a world-famous female impersonator - and a self-absorbed, temperamental man-child who is ill-prepared to be a real parent. When Toby's careful plans go awry, she is forced to rebuild the life she thought she knew from the ground up.
The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by
Themes: Heritage and Identity (Bangladesh), Muslim identities, Lesbian characters, Family
Rukhsana Ali has always been fascinated by the universe around her and the laws of physics that keep everything in order. But her life at home isn't so absolute. Unable to come out to her conservative Muslim parents, she keeps that part of her identity hidden. And that means keeping her girlfriend, Ariana, a secret from them too. Luckily, only a few more months stand between her carefully monitored life at home and a fresh start at Caltech in the fall. But when Rukhsana's mom catches her and Ariana together, her future begins to collapse around her. Devastated and confused, Rukhsana's parents whisk her off to stay with their extended family in Bangladesh where, along with the loving arms of her grandmother and cousins, she is met with a world of arranged marriages, religious tradition, and intolerance. Fortunately, Rukhsana finds allies along the way and, through reading her grandmother's old diary, finds the courage to take control of her future and fight for her love. A gritty novel that doesn't shy away from the darkest corners of ourselves, The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali provides a timely and achingly honest portrait of what it's like to grow up feeling unwelcome in your own culture and proves that love, above all else, has the power to change the world. Featured on: Bustle, Seventeen.com, Hypable, Oprah Magazine, NBC News, the BBC, Parade, BookRiot, and Paste Magazine "An intersectional, diverse coming of age story that will break your heart in the best way." -- Bustle.com "A much-needed addition to any YA shelf." -- Sandhya Menon, New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi "Heart-wrenching yet hopeful." -- Samira Ahmed, New York Times bestselling author of Love, Hate and Other Filters "A story that will stay with you for years to come." -- Sara Farizan, Lambda Award-winning author of If You Could Be Mine
The Magic Fish by
Key Themes: Heritage and Identity (Vietnamese), Fairy Tales, Coming Out
Real life isn't a fairytale. But Tié̂n still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tié̂n, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he's going through? Is there a way to tell them he's gay?
If You Could Be Mine by
Key Themes: Heritage and Identity (Persian)
In Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, seventeen-year-olds Sahar and Nasrin love each other in secret until Nasrin's parents announce their daughter's arranged marriage and Sahar proposes a drastic solution.
Camp by
At Camp Outland, a camp for LGBTQIA teens, sixteen-year-old Randall "Del" Kapplehoff's plan to have Hudson Aaronson-Lim fall in love with him succeeds, but both are hiding their true selves. Welcome to Camp Outland, a camp for LGBTQIA teens. Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland. It's where he met his best friends. Where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim-- who's only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists. This year is going to be different. Randy has reinvented himself as 'Del': buff, masculine, and on the market. He is determined to get Hudson to fall for him-- but how much is he willing to change for love? And is it really love anyway, if Hudson doesn't know who he truly is?
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by
Heritage and Identity (Chinese), History (Cold War), Family
With the threat of deportation looming over her father--in spite of his hard-won citizenship and disavowal of Communism--seventeen-year-old American-born Chinese Lily Hu pursues a relationship with her Caucasian classmate Kath.
Freaks and Revelations by
Key Themes: Prejudice, Punk Culture, Family Problems, Drug Use
Tells, in two voices, of events leading up to a 1980 incident in which fourteen-year-old Jason, a gay youth surviving on the streets as a prostitute, and seventeen-year-old Doug, a hate-filled punk rocker, have a fateful meeting in a Los Angeles alley.
Picture Us in the Light by
Key Themes: Heritage and Identity (Chinese), Immigration, Artists
Danny Cheng, a Chinese-American teen, grapples with a dangerous revelation about his parents' past, his plans for the future, and his feelings for his best friend, Harry Wong.
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by
Key Themes: Coming Out, Friendship, Coming of Age
Sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity--and that of his pen pal--will be revealed
I'll Give You the Sun by
Key Themes: Family, Grief and Loss, Coming of Age
Jude and her brother, Noah, are incredibly close twins. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude surfs and cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they'd have a chance to remake their world.
You Asked for Perfect by
Key Themes: High School, Coming of Age, Muslim identities, Jewish identities
Senior Ariel Stone is the perfect college applicant: first chair violin, dedicated community volunteer, and expected valedictorian. A failed Calculus quiz is not part of his plan. As his grade slips further, he enlists a classmate, Amir, as a tutor. Amir and Ariel have never gotten along, but spending time with Amir makes the world seem fuller and brighter. Except adding a new relationship to his long list of commitments may just push Ariel past his limit.
The Beauty That Remains by
Key Themes: Grief and Loss, Music, Friendship
Autumn, Shay, and Logan, whose lives intersect in complicated ways, each lose someone close to them and must work through their grief.
We Contain Multitudes by
As pen pals for a high school English assignment, poetry-loving sophomore Jonathan and popular-athlete senior Adam explore their growing relationship through a series of letters.
You Know Me Well by
Mark and Kate sit next to each other in school but are barely acquainted until they meet at a San Francisco club during Pride Week and connect over each one's forbidden love.
Drag Teen by
Key Themes: Drag shows, self-actualization
JT is a gay high school senior determined to get out of Clearwater, Florida, and be the first person in his family to go to college, even though he cannot figure out how to pay for it--until his friends convince him to compete in a drag teen competition where the first prize is a college scholarship.
My Brother's Husband, Volume 2 by
Key Themes: Heritage and Identity (Japanese), Family, Grief and Loss
From one of Japan's most notable manga artists: a heartbreaking and redemptive tale of mourning and acceptance that compares and contrasts the contemporary nature of gay tolerance in the East and the West. Yaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo, married to wife Natsuki, father to young daughter Kana. Their lives are suddenly upended with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi's estranged gay twin, Ryoji. Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji's past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented, revelatory look at and journey into the largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture: how it's been affected by the West, and how the next generation has the chance to change the preconceptions of and prejudices against it
The Grief Keeper by
Key Themes: Undocumented immigrants, Family, Grief and Loss
After escaping a detention center at the U.S. border, seventeen-year-old Marisol agrees to participate in a medical experiment hoping to keep her and her younger sister, Gabi, from being deported to El Salvador.
Way to Go by
Danny is pretty sure he's gay, but he spends his summer trying to prove otherwise. Forest of Reading 2013 nominee.
The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by
Key Themes: Heritage and Identity (Mexican), Adoption, Grief and Loss, Family
Sal used to know his place with his adoptive gay father, their loving Mexican American family, and his best friend, Samantha. But it's senior year, and suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and realizing he no longer knows himself. If Sal's not who he thought he was, who is he?
We Are Lost and Found by
Key Themes: AIDS, History (20th Century), Coming of Age
In 1983 New York, Michael tries to forget about his father's anger, the pressure of school, and the threat of AIDS by escaping to The Echo, where he dances with abandon and attracts the interest of another boy." -- (Source of summary not specified) 1983, New York. Michael lives in the shadow of his best friends: James, a teen performance artist who everyone wants and no one can have; and Becky, who calls things as she sees them, while doing all she can to protect those she loves. His brother Connor has already been kicked out of the house for being gay. Hanging out at The Echo, Michael can dance and forget about his father's angry words, the pressures of school, and the looming threat of AIDS, a disease that everyone is talking about, but no one understands. When Michael meets Gabriel, who is interested in him and not James, he has to decide what he's willing to risk to be himself.
You're Welcome, Universe by
When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural. Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a "mainstream" school in the suburbs, where she's treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up. Out in the 'burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon learns that she might not be the only vandal in town. Someone is adding to her tags, making them better, showing off--and showing Julia up in the process. She expected her art might get painted over by cops. But she never imagined getting dragged into a full-blown graffiti war.
The Porcupine of Truth by
Carson Smith isn't thrilled to be spending the summer with her estranged dad in Billings, Montana. But then he meets Aisha Stinson, the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. And the smartest. And the funniest. They connect like he never has with anyone. Also she's a lesbian. So there's that. Carson's dad is still bitter about the disappearance of his dad more than thirty years earlier. When Carson and Aisha discover a box full of cards from his grandfather, some of them recent, they realize the old man is still out there somewhere. What are two bored teenagers in the middle of nowhere to do? So Carson and Aisha begin a journey with no destination, to find a man who wanted to be lost, in an unreliable Dodge Neon, with one very prickly mascot. And what comes next is an extraordinary, enlightening, hilarious, inspiring, complete and utter mindblower of a road trip that will transform both their lives.
The Night Wanderer by
Key Themes: Heritage and Identity (Indigenous), Vampires
Newcomers to the Otter Lake native reserve don't go unnoticed for long. So it's no surprise that 16-year-old Tiffany's curiosity is piqued when her father rents out her room to a complete stranger. But little do Tiffany, her father, or even her insightful Granny Ruth suspect the truth about their guest. The mysterious Pierre L'Errant has a dreadful secret. After centuries roaming Europe as a brooding vampire, he has returned home to reclaim his Native roots before facing the rising sun and certain death. Meanwhile, Tiffany is deeply troubled -- she doubts her boyfriend is being faithful, has escalating disputes with her father, and her estranged mother is starting a new life with somebody else. Fed up and heartsick, Tiffany threatens drastic measures and flees into the bush. There, in the midnight woods, a chilling encounter with L'Errant changes everything as Pierre introduces Tiffany to her proud Native heritage. For Pierre, though, destiny is fixed at sunrise.
Love after the End by
Key Themes: Heritage and Identity (Indigenous)
A bold and breathtaking anthology of queer Indigenous speculative fiction. This groundbreaking fiction anthology showcases a number of new and emerging 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer) Indigenous writers from across Turtle Island. These visionary authors show how queer Indigenous communities can bloom and thrive through utopian narratives that detail the vivacity and strength of 2SQness throughout its plight in the maw of settler colonialism's histories.--Adapted from publisher information. "A bold and breathtaking anthology of queer Indigenous speculative fiction, edited by the author of Jonny Appleseed. This exciting and groundbreaking fiction anthology showcases a number of new and emerging 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer) Indigenous writers from across Turtle Island. These visionary authors show how queer Indigenous communities can bloom and thrive through utopian narratives that detail the vivacity and strength of 2SQness throughout its plight in the maw of settler colonialism's histories. Here, readers will discover bioengineered AI rats, transplanted trees in space, the rise of a 2SQ resistance camp, a primer on how to survive Indigiqueerly, virtual reality applications, mother ships at sea, and the very bending of space-time continuums queered through NDN time. Love after the End demonstrates the imaginatively queer Two-Spirit futurisms we have all been dreaming of since 1492. Contributors include Nathan Adler, Darcie Little Badger, Gabriel Castilloux Calderón, Adam Garnet Jones, Mari Kurisato, Kai Minosh Pyle, David Alexander Robertson, jaye simpson, and Nazbah Tom.
One in Every Crowd by
Ivan E. Coyote is one of Canada's best-loved storytellers; their honest, wry, plain-spoken tales of growing up in the Yukon and living out loud on the west coast have attracted readers and live audiences around the world. For many years, Ivan has performed in high schools, where their talks have inspired and galvanized many young people to embrace their own sense of self and to be proud of who they are. One in Every Crowd, Ivan's eighth book with Arsenal Pulp Press, is their first specifically for queer youth. Comprised of new stories and others culled from previous collections, One in Every Crowd is for anyone whohas ever felt different or alone in their struggle to be true to themselves. Included are stories about Ivan'sown tomboy past in Canada's north, where playing hockey and wearing pants were the norm; and about their adult life in the big city, where they encounter both cruelty and kindness in unexpected places. Then there are the tales of family and friends who live their lives by example, like Francis, the curly-haired little boy who likes to wear dresses, and the brave kids she meets at queer youth camp. Funny, inspiring, and full of heart, One in Every Crowd is really for everyone; it's about embracing and celebrating difference and feeling comfortable in one's own skin, no matter what the circumstance.
Girl Mans Up by
All Pen wants is to be the kind of girl she's always been. They think the way she looks and acts means she's trying to be a boy--that she should quit trying to be something she's not. Old-world parents, disintegrating friendships, and strong feelings for other girls drive Pen to see the truth--that in order to be who she truly wants to be, she'll have to man up.
As the Crow Flies by
Key Themes: Heritage and Identity (Black Youth), Christian Identities, Gender Identity
"A queer, black teenager finds herself stranded in a dangerous and unfamiliar place: an all-white Christian youth backpacking camp"--Amazon.com. "Charlie Lamonte is thirteen years old, queer, black, and questioning what was once a firm belief in God. So naturally, she's spending a week of her summer vacation stuck at an all-white Christian youth backpacking camp. As the journey wears on and the rhetoric wears thin, she can't help but poke holes in the pious obliviousness of this storied sanctuary with little regard for people like herself -- or her fellow camper Sydney."
Proud to Play by
The 2018 Winter Olympics marked a milestone for LGBTQ+ athletes. Thirteen athletes out of 3,000 competitors were out and proud -- nearly double the number who felt comfortable sharing their sexuality four years earlier at the Sochi Games. Many athletes stay closeted for their entire sports careers, often unable to compete at their highest ability because of the shame and self-doubt they feel in not being true to their orientation or identity. But coming out still means facing harassment from fans, teammates, opponents, and the media, and a lack of sponsorship opportunities. While organizations like You Can Play, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Egale Canada have made progress in recent years in promoting inclusivity at the grassroots and elite sporting levels, there is still much work to be done to ensure all athletes feel safe being their authentic selves. Athletes profiled include swimmer Mark Tewksbury, rhythmic gymnast Rose Cossar, professional hockey player Brock McGillis, speed skater Anastasia Bucsis, pairs figure skater Eric Radford, volleyball players Betty Baxter and Christopher Voth and hockey player Angela James. Generously illustrated with photographs and given context by an overview of the history of LGBTQ+ athletes in Canada, this book will make all young sports enthusiasts and competitors proud to play.
Pride by
This revised, updated and expanded edition of the award-winning book Pride: Celebrating Diversity & Community (2016) celebrates the LGBTQ+ community's diversity, the incredible victories of the past fifty years and the voices of young activists
It Was Never Going to Be Okay by
Key Themes: Heritage and Identity (Indigenous)
it was never going to be okay is a collection of poetry and prose exploring the intimacies of understanding intergenerational trauma, Indigeneity and queerness, while addressing urban Indigenous diaspora and breaking down the limitations of sexual understanding as a trans woman. As a way to move from the linear timeline of healing and coming to terms with how trauma does not exist in subsequent happenings, it was never going to be okay tries to break down years of silence in simpson's debut collection of poetry: i am five my sisters are saying boy i do not know what the word means but-- i am bruised into knowing it: the blunt b, the hollowness of the o, the blade of y