In celebration of Pride Month, let’s take a look at new books that allow LGBTQAI+ readers to see themselves in what they read. Diverse titles also provide opportunities for all readers to reflect and learn about their world and its stories.
Rather than rely on my memory, I browsed the award-winning titles and lists on TeachingBooks. I’ve included a link to some great resources you can use for promotion as well. Consider adding these new titles to your collection.
When you explore titles on TeachingBooks, browse by Cultural Experience and narrow by grade band, genre and more. You can also search Awards, such as the Stonewall, or Series and filter by culture. You can also now Search/Browse/Filter by Gender, Men/Boys and Transgender/Non-conforming in TeachingBooks. Here is the link to the K-12 list I made for this blogpost.
PreK-Grade 5
Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring by Matthew Burgess and Josh Cochran | Picture Book | Biography | PK-2
This honest, celebratory book honors Haring's life and art, along with his very special connection with kids. Meet-the-Author Recording
“For Keith, this was what art was all about, the moment when people see it and respond. Maybe it makes them smile, maybe it makes them think, maybe it inspires them to draw or dance or write or sing.”
Julián at the Wedding by Jessica Love | Picture Book | Easy Fiction | PK-2
The star of Julián Is a Mermaid makes a joyful return--and finds a new friend--at a wedding to be remembered.
Activity Kit from Candlewick
Plenty of Hugs by Fran Manushkin and Kate Alizadeh | Picture Book | Easy Fiction | PreK-2
A small boy in a multiracial family enjoys spending a day with his two moms, playing outside, taking a bike ride to the zoo, and then coming home to a supper and a bath, a story and then a kiss good night. Complete Book Reading
“Every worm has a wiggle, and every cow has a moo. / There’s a leap for each frog, and a peek for each BOO!”
No Way, They Were Gay?: Hidden Lives and Secret Loves by Lee Wind | Biography | Grades 4-12
Join author Lee Wind for this fascinating journey through primary sources--poetry, memoir, news clippings, and images of ancient artwork--to explore the hidden (and often surprising) Queer lives and loves of two dozen historical figures.
“When we talk about history, everything's about 1969, the Stonewall Rebellion and afterwards, and there's this sense that nothing happened before it, but there are these stories from thousands of years ago, like Sappho, like the Pharaoh Hatshepsut, like Shakespeare.”
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff | Fiction | Grades 4-8
It's the summer before middle school and eleven-year-old Bug's best friend Moira has decided the two of them need to use the next few months to prepare. For Moira, this means figuring out the right clothes to wear, learning how to put on makeup, and deciding which boys are cuter in their yearbook photos than in real life. But none of this is all that appealing to Bug, who doesn't particularly want to spend more time trying to understand how to be a girl.
Besides, there's something more important to worry about: A ghost is haunting Bug's eerie old house in rural Vermont.
“Mom takes a deep breath and lets it out gently. "Would you like me to buy you some makeup, too?" I shake my head. It's hard to get words out. We both know there's a huge collection of makeup in Uncle Roderick's bedroom that neither of us will touch. "No," I croak. "Thanks. Maybe later." "Whenever you're ready, sweetheart." Her voice is only a little shaky. I can't imagine what ready will feel like.”
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender | Fiction | Grades 4-8
King is a 12-year-old Black boy living in the bayou of Louisiana with his mom, dad, and the memories of his dead older brother, Khalid. Because he idolized Khalid, King always followed the advice his brother gave him, including dropping his friendship with Sandy, a white boy in King’s class rumored to be gay and who King later outed.
“You don’t want anyone to think you’re gay, too, do you?”
That’s what he said. That’s what sent me straight to Sandy Sanders the next day. What made me tell himI didn’t want to be his friend anymore. Why I still can’t talk to him. I can’t be Sandy’s friend, knowing that my brother wouldn’t have wanted me to be.”
Flamer by Mike Curato | Graphic Novel | Fiction | Grades 7-12
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.
Book Trailer | Meet-the-Author Recording
“I chose to write this story because, even though it's a work of fiction, it's very much rooted in my own experience. And I did not have a book like this when I was fourteen. I didn't see myself in books or on screen. And I thought it would be really important for people like me to be able to see themselves in a book. And for people who aren't like me to be able to read this book and try to understand what it's like being a queer chubby person of color as a teenager in this country.”--Mike Curato
America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father--despite his hard-won citizenship--Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.
“But Lily’s eye was drawn to the square box directly above the Eastern Pearl ad. It read: TOMMY ANDREWS MAKE IMPERSONATOR--WORLD PREMIERE! THE TELEGRAPHY CLUB. 462 BROADWAY.”
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen | Graphic Novel | Fiction | Grades 7-12
Real life isn’t a fairytale.
But Tiến 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 Tiến, 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?
“I think the broadest thing that I want people to take away, especially kids, is that there's no wrong way to read a story. Everybody has a lot of different experiences that they take with them, and that informs their relationship with whatever it is that they're reading.”--Trung Le Nguyen
About the contributor:
Deborah Salyer is a long-time lover of children’s and YA lit. Her seminars and workshops have created piles of books to be read on nightstands from the east to west coasts. She’s also the CA Implementation Specialist for TeachingBooks and a senior presenter at BER.org, What’s New in Children’s Books, K-6.
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