Celebrate Pride Month with books highlighting LGBTQ+ characters, experiences, histories, and voices. We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of gender and sexuality from the personal to political, introduce readers to LGBTQ+ authors, and celebrate the joyful diversity of identities, families, and relationships.
Melissa by Alex Gino
When people look at George, they think they see a boy. George knows she’s not a boy; she knows she’s a girl. George thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Auditioning for the role of Charlotte in the school play gives George the courage to show her community her authentic self. Author Alex Gino is transgender just like the main character in this heartwarming book.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Playaway)
Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle
Nate Foster has big dreams. His whole life, he’s wanted to star in a Broadway show. Nate feels stuck in Jankburg, Pennsylvania, it is so far away from Broadway that Nate wonders if he will ever make his dreams come true. Nate plans a daring overnight escape to New York, because there’s an open casting call for E.T.: The Musical, and Nate knows this could be the difference between small-town blues and big-time stardom.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
Drum Roll, Please by Lisa Jenn Bigelow
Melly only joined the school band because her best friend, Olivia, begged her to. But to her surprise, quiet Melly loves playing the drums. It’s the only time she doesn’t feel like a mouse. Now she and Olivia are about to spend the next two weeks at Camp Rockaway, jamming under the stars in the Michigan woods. But this summer brings a lot of big changes for Melly: her parents split up, her best friend ditches her, and Melly finds herself unexpectedly falling for another girl at camp. To top it all off, Melly’s not sure she has what it takes to be a real rock n’ roll drummer. Will she be able to make music from all the noise in her heart?
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender
Caroline Murphy is a Hurricane Child. Being born during a hurricane is unlucky, and twelve-year-old Caroline has had her share of bad luck lately. She’s hated and bullied by everyone in her small school on St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, a spirit only she can see won’t stop following her, and — worst of all — Caroline’s mother left home one day and never came back. When a new student named Kalinda arrives, Caroline’s luck begins to turn around. Kalinda, a solemn girl from Barbados with a special smile for everyone, becomes Caroline’s first and only friend — and the person for whom Caroline has begun to develop a crush. Now, Caroline must find the strength to confront her feelings for Kalinda, brave the spirit stalking her through the islands, and face the reason her mother abandoned her.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town. Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family. It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders. But just days before he died, Khalid told King to end their friendship, after overhearing a secret about Sandy-that he thinks he might be gay. “You don’t want anyone to think you’re gay too, do you?” But when Sandy goes missing, sparking a town-wide search, and King finds his former best friend hiding in a tent in his backyard, he agrees to help Sandy escape from his abusive father, and the two begin an adventure as they build their own private paradise down by the bayou and among the dragonflies. As King’s friendship with Sandy is reignited, he’s forced to confront questions about himself and the reality of his brother’s death
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
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.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
The Misadventures of The Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy
The start of the school year is not going as the Fletcher brothers hoped. Each boy finds his plans for success veering off in unexpected and sometimes disastrous directions. And at home, their miserable new neighbor complains about everything. As the year continues, the boys learn the hard and often hilarious lesson that sometimes what you least expect is what you come to care about the most.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
The Best Man by Richard Peck
Archer Magill has spent a lively five years of grade school with one eye out in search of grown-up role models. Three of the best are his grandpa, the great architect; his dad, the great vintage car customizer; and his uncle Paul, who is just plain great. These are the three he wants to be. Along the way he finds a fourth, Mr. McLeod, a teacher. In fact, the first male teacher in the history of the school. Now here comes middle school and a lot of changes. Archer wonders how much change has to happen before his voice does. He doesn’t see too far ahead, so every day or so a startling revelation breaks over him. Then a really big one when he’s the best man at the wedding of two of his role models.
Available formats: eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
Ashes to Asheville by Sarah Dooley
After Mama Lacy’s death, Fella was forced to move in with her grandmother, Mrs. Madison. The move brought Fella all sorts of comforts she wasn’t used to at home, but it also meant saying goodbye to her sister Zoey (a.k.a. Zany) and her other mother, Mama Shannon. Though Mama Shannon fought hard to keep Fella, it was no use. The marriage act is still a few years away and the courts thought Fella would be better off with a blood relation. Already heartbroken, Fella soon finds herself alone in Mrs. Madison’s house, grieving both the death of her mother and the loss of her entire family.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
When a tornado rips through town, twelve-year-old Ivy Aberdeen’s house is destroyed and her family of five is displaced. Ivy feels invisible and ignored in the aftermath of the storm–and what’s worse, her notebook filled with secret drawings of girls holding hands has gone missing. Mysteriously, Ivy’s drawings begin to reappear in her locker with notes from someone telling her to open up about her identity. Ivy thinks and hopes that this someone might be her classmate, another girl for whom Ivy has begun to develop a crush.
Available formats: Book, eBook (CloudLibrary), eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
The Pants Project by Cat Clarke
Liv knows he was always meant to be a boy, but with his new school’s terrible dress code, he can’t even wear pants. Only skirts. Operation: Pants Project begins! The only way for Liv to get what he wants is to go after it himself. But to Liv, this isn’t just a mission to change the policy―it’s a mission to change his life. And that’s a pretty big deal.
Available formats: eBook (Hoopla), eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy
Rahul Kapoor is heading into seventh grade in a small town in Indiana. The start of middle school is making him feel increasingly anxious, so his favorite person in the whole world, his grandfather, Bhai, gives him some well-meaning advice: Find one thing you’re really good at and become the BEST at it. Those four little words sear themselves into Rahul’s brain. While he’s not quite sure what that special thing is, he is convinced that once he finds it, bullies like Brent Mason will stop torturing him at school. Maybe, he won’t be worried about staring too long at his classmate Justin Emery. With his best friend, Chelsea, by his side, Rahul is ready to crush this challenge.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Hoopla), eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity by Theresa Thorn
Some people are boys. Some people are girls. Some people are both, neither, or somewhere in between. This book introduces the concept of gender identity to the youngest reader. Illustrator Noah Grigni, who identifies as a nonbinary trans man, has collaborated with author Theresa Thorn to bring this informational book to readers
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
Gay and Lesbian History for Kids: The Century-Long Struggle for LGBT Rights by Jerome Pohlen
This nonfiction book looks at the history of LGBTQ+ rights in the United States. The history is told through personal stories and firsthand accounts of the movement’s key events, like the 1950s “Lavender Scare,” the Stonewall Inn uprising, and the AIDS crisis. It explores the lives and contributions of activist and pivotal events that sparked demonstrations and gained equality for the LGBTQ+ community. This book includes activities to help engage readers with the history.
Available formats: Book
Pride: The story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders
In this deeply moving and empowering true story, young readers will trace the life of the Gay Pride Flag, from its beginnings in 1978 with social activist Harvey Milk and designer Gilbert Baker to its spanning of the globe and its role in today’s world. Award-winning author Rob Sanders’s stirring text, and acclaimed illustrator Steven Salerno’s evocative images, combine to tell this remarkable and undertold story. A story of love, hope, equality, and pride.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
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