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The Miseducation Of Cameron Post
Danforth, Emily M.
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.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Lesbian Main Character
Audience: 14+
Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe
Saenz, Benjamin Alire.
Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 14+
Openly Straight
Konigsberg, Bill.
Tired of being known as “the gay kid”, Rafe Goldberg decides to assume a new persona when he comes east and enters an elite Massachusetts prep school–but trying to deny his identity has both complications and unexpected consequences.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 14+
I’ll Give You The Sun
Nelson, Jandy.
A story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal told from different points in time, and in separate voices, by artists Jude and her twin brother Noah”–
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 14+
Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Albertalli, Becky.
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”–
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 12+
None Of The Above
Gregorio, I. W.
Kristen discovers that she is intersex and possesses male chromosomes, a diagnosis that is leaked to the whole school, throwing Kristin’s entire identity into question.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Intersex Main Character
Audience: 14+
Lumberjanes. Vol. 1, Beware The Kitten Holy
Stevenson, Noelle
Best friends Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley spend a fun summer at Lumberjane scout camp where they encounter yetis, three-eyed wolves, and giant falcons while solving a mystery that holds the fate of the world in the balance.
Genre: Graphic Novel
Representation: Lesbian Main Character
Audience: 10+
Carry On
Rowell, Rainbow.
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up”–
Genre: Fantasy
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 14+
Symptoms Of Being Human
Garvin, Jeff.
A gender-fluid teenager who struggles with identity creates a blog on the topic that goes viral, and faces ridicule at the hands of fellow students”–
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Gender Fluid Character
Audience: 12+
Princess Princess
O’Neill, Katie
Someday your princess will come- and she’ll be rocking a mohawk-mullet, wearing a jaunty tunic complete with epaulets and cravat, and riding a disdainful pink unicorn. Trapped in a tower, ‘big-boned’ Princess Sadie, a white girl with long blonde hair, is tired of fending off unsolicited rescue attempts by princes. But when dapper, dark-skinned Princess Amira and her unicorn arrive, Sadie overcomes the inner fears and self-doubts that had imprisoned her psyche as thoroughly as the tower had her body. The two embark on adventures that include coming to the aid of an embarrassed prince, sweet-talking a sadly misunderstood ogre, and confronting Sadie’s wicked older sister. The princesses’ affection for each other deepens with every challenge- and every round of snappy banter- and when wedding bells ring, they’re for a couple who truly know and have freely chosen one another. O’Neill delivers an alternative fairy tale that challenges conventions with every twist of the plot but doesn’t veer into heavy-handed preachiness that pulls readers out of the story. The bright illustrations, clear layout, and easy-to-read type make this an inviting read. Combine a cuddly purple dragon, much sharing of cookies, abundant humor, and two distinct and appealing heroines, and you have a royal winner.
Genre: Fantasy
Representation: Lesbian Main Character
Audience: 10+
The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice And Virtue
Lee, Mackenzi
Vowing to make his yearlong escapade across Europe his last hurrah before taking over the family estate, Henry “Monty” Montague and his best friend Percy find themselves in the middle of a dangerous manhunt involving pirates and highwaymen.–
Genre: Historical Adventure
Representation: Gay & Bi Main Characters
Audience: 12+
Mask Of Shadows
Miller, Linsey
The gender fluid thief Sal Leon enters a competition to become a replacement member of the Left Hand–a quartet of the Queen’s personal assassins–but must first survive the training and the contests while putting the reason for auditioning into motion–revenge.
Genre: Fantasy
Representation: Gender Fluid Character
Audience: 14+
The 57 Bus
Slater, Dashka
Tells the true story of an agender teen who was set on fire by another teen while riding a bus in Oakland, a crime that focuses on the concepts of race, class, gender, crime, and punishment.
Genre: Non-Fiction
Representation: Non-Binary Character
Audience: 14+
The Prince And The Dressmaker
Wang, Jen
When Prince Sebastian confides in his dressmaker friend Frances that he loves to masquerade at night as the fashionable Lady Crystallia, Frances must decide if Sebastian’s secret is worth a lifetime of living in the shadows.
Genre: Fantasy/Graphic Novel
Representation: Gender Identity
Audience: 12+
Ship It
Lundin, Britta
Told from two viewpoints, Forest, a television actor who needs more fans, and Claire, a teen fan fiction blogger, are teamed to raise his profile despite their disagreement over whether his character is gay.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Queer Characters
Audience: 14+
Darius The Great Is Not Okay
Khorram, Adib
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.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 12+
Check, Please!
Ukazu, Ngozi.
I might not be ready for this. I may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It’s nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking. And then, there is Jack. You see the problem.
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Sports Fiction, Graphic Novel
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 14+
I Wish You All The Best
Deaver, Mason
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.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Non-Binary Character
Audience: 14+
I Was Born For This
Oseman, Alice
For Angel Ahmadi, life is only about one thing: The Ark — a pop-rock trio of teenage boys who are currently taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything — her friendships, her dreams, her place in the world. Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark too. He’s their frontman — and playing in a band is all he’s ever dreamed of doing. It’s just a shame that recently everything in his life seems to have turned into a bit of a nightmare. Because that’s the problem with dreaming — eventually, inevitably, real life arrives with a wake-up call. And when Angel and Jimmy are unexpectedly thrust together, they will discover just how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be. A funny, wise and heartbreakingly true coming-of-age novel, I was born for this is a stunning reflection of modern teenage life, and the power of believing in something — especially yourself.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Gay, Lesbian & Transgender Characters
Audience: 14+
Keep This To Yourself
Ryan, Tom
After high school graduation, Mac focuses on finding the serial killer who murdered his best friend the previous summer, while working through his own feelings for the deceased.” –from SkyRiver.
Genre: Mystery
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 14+
Heartstopper
Oseman, Alice:
Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. An LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between – for fans of The Art of Being Normal, Holly Bourne and Love, Simon.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Gay, Bi and Transgender Characters
Audience: 12+
Bloom
Panetta, Kevin
Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band—if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of bread, love is ready to bloom. That is, if Ari doesn’t ruin everything.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 14+
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me
Tamaki, Mariko
Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley’s dream girl, but Freddy is learning she is not the best girlfriend, so she seeks help from a mysterious medium and advice columnists to help her through being a teenager in love.
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Graphic Novel
Representation: Lesbian and Bi Main Characters
Audience: 14+
Pet
Emezi, Akwaeke
In a near-future society that claims to have gotten rid of all monstrous people, a creature emerges from a painting seventeen-year-old Jam’s mother created, a hunter from another world seeking a real-life monster.
Genre: Fantasy
Representation: Transgender Main Character
Audience: 12+
Kiss Number 8
Venable, Colleen A. F.
Mads is pretty happy with her life. She goes to church with her family, and minor league baseball games with her dad. She goofs off with her best friend Cat, and has thus far managed to avoid getting kissed by Adam, the boy next door. It’s everything she hoped high school would be… until all of a sudden, it’s not. Her dad is hiding something big–so big it could tear her family apart. And that’s just the beginning of her problems: Mads is starting to figure out that she doesn’t want to kiss Adam… because the only person she wants to kiss is Cat. Just like that, Mad’s tidy little life has gotten epically messy–and epically heartbreaking. And when your heart is broken, it takes more than an awkward, uncomfortable, tooth-clashing, friendship-ending kiss to put things right again. It takes a whole bunch of them.”– cover.
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Graphic Novel
Representation: Lesbian Main Characters
Audience: 14+
Juliet Takes A Breath
Rivera, Gabby
Juliet, a self-identified queer, Bronx-born Puerto Rican-American, comes out to her family to disastrous results the night before flying to Portland to intern with her feminist author icon–whom Juliet soon realizes has a problematic definition of feminism that excludes women of color”–
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Queer Main Character
Audience: 14+
The Moon Within
Salazar, Aida
Eleven-year-old (nearly twelve) Celi Rivera, who is a mix of Black-Puerto Rican-Indigenous Mexican is secretive about her approaching period, and the changes that are happening to her body; she is horrified that her mother wants to hold a traditional public moon ceremony to celebrate the occasion; she must choose loyalty to her life-long best friend who is contemplating an even more profound change of life or the boy she likes”–
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Transgender Character
Audience: 10+
The House In The Cerulean Sea
Klune, TJ
A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place-and realizing that family is yours”–
Genre: Fantasy
Representation: Queer Main Character
Audience: 14+
Elatsoe
Little Badger, Darcie
Imagine an America very similar to our own. It’s got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day. Seventeen-year-old Elatsoe (“Ellie” for short) lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered, in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect façade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family” —
Genre: Fantasy, Mystery
Representation: Asexual Main Character
Audience: 12+
In The Role Of Brie Hutchens . . .
Melleby, Nicole
When strong-willed, drama-loving eighth grader Brie Hutchens tells a lie because she isn’t quite ready to come out to her mother, she must navigate the consequences in her relationships with her family, friends, and faith”–
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Lesbian Main Character
Audience: 10+
You Brought Me The Ocean
Sanchez, Alex
Jake Hyde yearns for the ocean and is determined to leave his hometown in New Mexico for a college on the coast, and while his family and friends encourage him to stay, he must deal with his secrets of being gay and some strange new blue markings on his skin giving him a glow when he touches water.
Genre: Superhero, Graphic Novel
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 12+
Cemetery Boys
Thomas, Aiden
Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school’s bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.
Genre: Fantasy
Representation: Gay & Transgender Characters
Audience: 14+
Flamer
Curato, Mike
It’s the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone’s going through changes–but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can’t stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance.”–Page [4] of cover
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Graphic Novel
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 12+
Both Can Be True
Machias, Jules
Ash is no stranger to feeling like an outcast. For someone who cycles through genders, it’s a daily struggle to feel in control of how people perceive you. Some days Ash is undoubtedly girl, but other times, 100 percent guy. Daniel lacks control too–ofhis emotions. He’s been told he’s overly sensitive more times than he can count. He can’t help the way he is, and he sure wishes someone would accept him for it. So when Daniel’s big heart leads him to rescue a dog that’s about to be euthanized, he’s relieved to find Ash willing to help. The two bond over their four-legged secret. When they start catching feelings for each other, however, things go from cute to complicated. Daniel thinks Ash is all girl . . . what happens when he finds out there’s more toAsh’s story?”–
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Representation: Non-Binary, Gender Non-Conforming Main Character
Audience: 10+
The Girl From The Sea
Ostertag, Molly
Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can’t wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. Because really, Morgan’s biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl. Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn’t seem so stifling anymore. But Keltie has some secrets of her own”–Provided by publisher.
Genre: Fantasy
Representation: Lesbian Main Character
Audience: 12+
Obie Is Man Enough
Bailar, Schuyler
A coming-of-age story about transgender tween Obie, who didn’t think being himself would cause such a splash”–
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Sports
Representation: Transgender Main Character
Audience: 10+
The Insiders
Oshiro, Mark.
Twelve-year-old Haector Muñoz, fleeing from bullies, discovers a magical closet that not only provides him sanctuary, but also unites him with two other kids facing similar problems at their own schools, helping them find friendship and strength in eachother.
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Magical Realism
Representation: Gay Main Character
Audience: 10+
This Is Our Rainbow
Locke, Katherine
The first LGBTQA+ anthology for middle-graders featuring stories for every letter of the acronym, including realistic, fantasy, and sci-fi stories by authors like Justina Ireland, Marieke Nijkamp, Alex Gino, and more! A boyband fandom becomes a conduit to coming out. A former bully becomes a first-kiss prospect. One nonbinary kid searches for an inclusive athletic community after quitting gymnastics. Another nonbinary kid, who happens to be a pirate, makes a wish that comes true–but not how they thought it would. A tween girl navigates a crush on her friend’s mom. A young witch turns herself into a puppy to win over a new neighbor. A trans girl empowers her online bestie to come out. From wind-breathing dragons to first crushes, This Is Our Rainbow features story after story of joyful, proud LGBTQA+ representation.
Genre: Anthology
Representation: Multiple
Audience: 10+
Coming Back
Zabarsky, Jessi
Preet and Valissa live peacefully together in a magical village until they are soon divided by different paths, insecurities, and distance, getting sent on separate adventures and trying to find their way back to each other.
Genre: Fantasy, Graphic Novel
Representation: Lesbian & Queer Main Characters
Audience: 12+
All Boys Aren’t Blue
Johnson, George M.
A first book by the prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist shares personal essays that chronicle his childhood, adolescence and college years as a Black queer youth, exploring subjects ranging from gender identity and toxic masculinity to structural marginalization and Black joy.
Genre: Memoir
Representation: Queer Male BIPOC
Audience: 14+
Fine
Ewing, Rhea
Graphic artist Rhea Ewing celebrates the incredible diversity of experiences within the transgender community with this vibrant and revealing debut. For fans of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Meg-John Barker’s Queer, Fine is an essential graphic memoir about the intricacies of gender identity and expression. As Rhea Ewing neared college graduation in 2012, they became consumed by the question: What is gender? This obsession sparked a quest in their quiet Midwest town, where they anxiously approached both friends and strangers for interviews to turn into comics. A decade later, their project has exploded into a fantastical and informative portrait of a surprisingly vast community spread across the country. Questions such as How do you identify? invited deep and honest accounts of adolescence, taking hormones, changing pronouns-and how these experiences can differ depending on culture, race, and religion. Amidst beautifully rendered scenes emerges Ewing’s own visceral story growing up in rural Kentucky, grappling with their identity as a teenager, and ultimately finding themself through art-and by creating something this very fine”–
Genre: Graphic Novel
Representation: Transgender Character
Audience: 14+
Half Bad
Green, Sally
In modern-day England, where witches live alongside humans, Nathan, son of a White witch and the most powerful Black witch, must escape captivity before his seventeenth birthday and receive the gifts that will determine his future.
Genre: Fantasy
Representation: Bi Main Character
Audience: 14+
