Celebrate Pride Month and the LGBTQIA+ community with this list of picture books, nonfiction, and chapter books from a variety of genres and experiences.
Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers
Every day, everywhere, babies are born. They’re kissed and dressed and rocked and fed–and completely adored by the families that love them. With an irresistible rhyming text and delightfully endearing illustrations, this board book is an exuberant celebration of playing, sleeping, crawling, and, of course, very noisy babies doing all the wonderful things babies do best. Illustrations depict a wide variety of families, including same sex parents and multi-racial families.
Available formats: Book.
Julián at the Wedding by Jessica Love
Weddings have flowers and kissing and dancing and cake. And this wedding also has a new friend named Marisol. It’s not long before Julián and Marisol set off for some magic and mischief of their own, and when things take an unexpected turn, the pair learns that everything is easier with a good friend by your side. Jessica Love returns with a joyful story of friendship and individuality in this radiant picture book follow-up to Julián is a Mermaid.
Available formats: Book, eAudiobook (Hoopla).
Pride Puppy by Robin Stevenson
A young child and their family are having a wonderful time together celebrating Pride Day―meeting up with Grandma, making new friends and eating ice cream. But then something terrible happens: their dog gets lost in the parade! Luckily, there are lots of people around to help reunite the pup with his family. This rhyming alphabet book tells a lively story, with rich, colorful illustrations that will have readers poring over every detail as they spot items starting with each of the letters of the alphabet. An affirming and inclusive picture book that offers a joyful glimpse of a Pride parade and the vibrant community that celebrates this day each year.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Hoopla).
Tale of the Shadow King by Daniel Haack
Our brave and dashing heroes, the prince and the knight, are happily married and their kingdom is prospering, but soon, a fog of darkness that blocks the sun spreads across their land. They get word that the cause of this is a dark and mysterious Shadow King, and they rush off to find and stop him, but encounter many obstacles along the way. This follow-up to Prince & Knight is an inclusive, modern fairy tale for young readers.
Available formats: Book
A Plan for Pops by Heather Smith
Lou spends every Saturday with Grandad and Pops. They walk to the library hand in hand, like a chain of paper dolls. Grandad reads books about science and design, Pops listens to rock and roll, and Lou bounces from lap to lap. But everything changes one Saturday. Pops has a fall. That night there is terrible news: Pops will need to use a wheelchair, not just for now, but for always. Unable to cope with his new circumstances, he becomes withdrawn and shuts himself in his room. Hearing Grandad trying to cheer up Pops inspires Lou to make a plan. Using skills learned from Grandad, and with a little help from their neighbors, Lou comes up with a plan for Pops in this beautiful and uplifting picture book.
Available formats: Book
Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle by Nina LaCour
A little girl stays home with Mama when Mommy goes off on a work trip in this tender, inviting story that will resonate with every child who has missed a parent.
Available formats: Book
I Love You Because I Love You by Muon Van
What are all the big and small reasons why we love the people we do? And what does it look like when we voice it out loud? Author Muợn Thị Văn and Stonewall Book Award-winning artist Jessica Love detail all the big and small reasons why we love the people we do within a call-and-response picture book that features families across the spectrum. To be read aloud by one or even two people, this affirming prose demonstrates that love is a dialogue. Love is complex. Love is utterly simple. This is what love looks like.
Available formats: Book
Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope by Jodie Patterson
Penelope knows that he’s a boy. (And a ninja.) The problem is getting everyone else to realize it. In this exuberant picture book companion to Jodie Patterson’s adult memoir, The Bold World , Patterson shares her son Penelope’s frustrations and triumphs on his journey to share himself with the world. Penelope’s experiences show children that it always makes you stronger when you are true to yourself and who you really are.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive).
Two Grooms on a Cake by Rob Sanders
Two wedding cake toppers tell the love story of the men they represent, Michael McConnell and Jack Baker, and their difficult journey to become the first married gay couple in the United States. The heartfelt story pairs well with Robbie Cathro’s vintage 1970’s vibe illustrations to celebrate this under-told piece of American history in an accessible picture book format.
Available formats: Book
Sewing the Rainbow: the Story of Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag by Gayle E. Pitman
Gilbert Baker always knew he wanted a life full of color and sparkle. In his small, gray, flat Kansas hometown, he helped his grandma sew and created his own art whenever he could. It wasn’t easy; life tried over and over again to make Gilbert conform. But his sparkle always shone through. He dreamed of someday going somewhere as vibrant and colorful as he was. Set against the backdrop of San Francisco during the gay rights movement of the 1970s, Gilbert’s story unfolds just like the flag he created: in a riot of color, joy, and pride. Today the flag is everywhere, even in the small town where Gilbert grew up. This picture book biography is a colorful tribute to the creator of the rainbow flag.
Available formats: Book
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
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…and maybe haunting Bug in particular. As Bug begins to untangle the mystery of who this ghost is and what they’re trying to say, an altogether different truth comes to light–Bug is transgender. A haunting ghost story about navigating grief, growing up, and growing into a new gender identity, this middle grade novel received a Newbery Honor, the Stonewall Book Award, and was a National Book Award finalist.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive), eAudiobook (Overdrive), Large Print.
The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James by Ashley Herring Blake
When Sunny St. James receives a new heart, she decides to set off on a “New Life Plan”: 1) do awesome amazing things she could never do before; 2) find a new best friend; and 3) kiss a boy for the first time. Her “New Life Plan” seems to be racing forward, but when she meets her new best friend Quinn, Sunny questions whether she really wants to kiss a boy at all. With the reemergence of her mother, Sunny begins a journey to becoming the new Sunny St. James. This sweet, tender middle grade novel is perfect for fans of Ali Benjamin and Erin Entrada Kelly.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive), eAudiobook (Overdrive).
Beetle & the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne
In the eerie town of ‘Allows, some people get to be magical sorceresses, while other people have their spirits trapped in the mall for all ghastly eternity. Then there’s twelve-year-old goblin-witch Beetle, who’s caught in between. An enchanting, riotous, and playfully illustrated debut graphic novel following a young goblin trying to save her best friend from the haunted mall–perfect for fans of Steven Universe and Adventure Time. A Stonewall Honor book.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive).
You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P. by Alex Gino
Jilly thinks she’s figured out how life works. But when her sister, Emma, is born deaf, she realizes how much she still has to learn. The world is going to treat Jilly, who is white and hearing, differently from Emma, just as it will treat them both differently from their Black cousins. A big fantasy reader, Jilly makes a connection online with another fantasy fan, Derek, who is a Deaf, Black ASL user. She goes to Derek for help with Emma but doesn’t always know the best way or time to ask for it. As she and Derek meet in person, have some really fun conversations, and become friends, Jilly makes some mistakes . . . but comes to understand that it’s up to her, not Derek to figure out how to do better next time–especially when she wants to be there for Derek the most. Within a world where kids like Derek and Emma aren’t assured the same freedom or safety as kids like Jilly, Jilly is starting to learn all the things she doesn’t know–and by doing that, she’s also working to discover how to support her family and her friends. With the author’s trademark humor, heart, and humanity, this middle grade novel shows readers how being open to difference can make you a better person, and how being open to change can make you change in the best possible ways.
Available formats: Book, eAudiobook (Hoopla, Overdrive).
This is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us
This LGBTQA+ anthology for middle-graders features stories for every letter of the acronym. 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. 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. This is an insightful, poignant anthology of queer fantasy, historical, and contemporary stories from authors including: Eric Bell, Lisa Jenn Bigelow, Ashley Herring Blake, Lisa Bunker, Alex Gino, Justina Ireland, Shing Yin Khor, Katherine Locke, Mariama J. Lockington, Nicole Melleby, Marieke Nijkamp, Claribel A. Ortega, Mark Oshiro, Molly Knox Ostertag, Aisa Salazar, and AJ Sass.
Available formats: Book.
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