GLBTQ booklist
Some titles may not be available at all locations. Please ask library staff for help if you are unable to find the item you want. Older teens may also want to explore booklists on the Readers portion of the library's website (www.multcolib.org/books/).To find additional materials, search the following subject headings and keywords in the library catalog (http://catalog.multcolib.org): bisexual, coming out, gay, gay teenagers, gender identity, homosexual, homosexuality, lesbian, lesbianism, sexual orientation, queer, and transsexualism.
Fiction
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The best of the best in queer literature have contributed to this collection: Brent Hartinger (Geography Club), Leslea Newman (Girls Will Be Girls), Gregory Maguire (Wicked) and more!
Atkins, Catherine-
The fat girl, the jock, the popular girl, the punk, the redneck and the gay guy -- not people who would normally even talk to each other. But they had a choice: get expelled for the things they did, or join the "alternative education" class — and start learning some truths about each other.
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Benduhn, Tea -
All Aurin wants to do the summer before her senior year in high school is hang out with her friends Kenney and Fred, but when she falls in love with Neila, everything changes.
Blacker, Terence-
When Sam goes to live with his cousin in England, his new friends dare him to dress as a girl for the first week — and Sam finds he likes being a girl. A humorous tale about being a guy, being a girl and what happens when you're somewhere in between.
Cameron, Peter-
Eighteen-year-old James living in New York City with his older sister and divorced mother struggles to find a direction for his life.
Dole, Mayra-
Laura, a seventeen-year-old Cuban American girl, is thrown out of her house when her mother discovers she is a lesbian, but after trying to change her heart and hide from the truth, Laura finally comes to terms with who she is and learns to love and respect herself.
Ford, Michael Thomas-
After Jeff, 15, wakes up in a psychiatric ward, he won't talk about why he slit his wrists. He lies to the therapist (whom he names Cat Poop ) and refuses to relate to the other teens in group therapy. He feels that he is not nutty like them, his parents are fine, nothing is bothering him, and he is normal ; he just had one bad day.
Garden, Nancy-
Liza puts aside her feelings for Annie after the disaster at school, but eventually she allows love to triumph over the ignorance of people.
Garden, Nancy-
Jan begins her senior year of high school not expecting that she will lose the starring part in the school play, take over as director when her beloved drama teacher becomes ill, and realize that she is a lesbian.
Goobie, Beth-
Dylan discovers that friendship can get in the way of love.
Goldman, Steven-
When David tells Mitchell he's gay, Mitchell's okay with it -- but it still seems to change things.
Harmon, Michael B.-
Ben and his two dads move to rural Montana where Ben does not fit in and finds it harder to deal with having two dads than he did in their previous urban home.
Hartinger, Brent-
Two books in one tell of sixteen-year-old friends Russel, who is gay, and Min, who is bisexual, as they face separate romantic troubles while working as extras on the set of a horror movie.
Hegamin, Tonya-
There are two constants in Opal's life: her dad's grungy green baseball cap, and her troubled pal, Marianne, whom Opal loves as a best friend and even more. But nothing stays the same forever.
Howe, James-
As a school assignment, a 13-year-old boy writes an alphabiography -- life from A to Z -- and explores issues of friendship, family, school and the challenges of being a gay teenager.
Johnson, Maureen-
Nina, Avery and Mel have been inseparable since they were little. When Nina leaves for camp and Avery and Mel are left together, what happens next is not what any of them would have expected.
Jones, Carrie-
Belle is a high school junior who expects to marry her long-term boyfriend one day, until he tells her and their entire small Maine town that he is gay, and both face prejudice and violence even as they enter new relationships and try to remain friends.
Kluger, Steve-
Three teenagers in Boston narrate their experiences of a year of new friendships, first loves, and coming into their own.
Koertge, Ron-
Billy, 16, learns a lot about love and being a man the summer he stays with his cool gay uncle in Tucson and works at a racetrack with a gorgeous horse exerciser named Cara Mae.
Koertge, Ron-
Elliot, Teresa and Larry, best friends since forever, plan to run away to California after graduation. Gay, straight, shy, cynical, angry, happy, confused -- can three people so different really stay friends?
Koja, Kathe-
Kit and Lindsay revel in their roles as leads in the school play and wrestle with their respective love lives. Even when a community protest threatens the play -- and one of the leads is targeted with a hate crime -- the show must go on.
Konigsberg, Bill-
As Bobby Framingham, quarterback of his high school football team, finally acknowledges to himself that he is gay, events start to spin out of control when his sexual orientation is revealed in the student newspaper and then in the local press, and he learns that his father has cancer.
LaRochelle, David-
Steven isn't gay. Lots of 16-year-old boys enjoy square dancing and study International Male catalogues for grooming tips, right? Just in case, Steven decides to macho up with his new plan of Healthy Heterosexual Strategies: hang out with jocks, date pretty girls, and learn to belch.
Lecesne, James-
In the beach town of Neptune, New Jersey, Phoebe's life is changed irrevocably when her gay cousin moves into her house and soon goes missing.
Levithan, David-
In a community with a cross-dressing star quarterback/homecoming queen, Joy Scouts, and cheerleaders on motorcycles, nothing can get in the way of Paul finding his true love -- if he can just make up his mind who it is.
Lieberman, Leanne-
Fifteen-year-old Ellie comes from an Orthodox Jewish family that is straining at the edges. Her older sister is planning her escape; her mother's commitment is frayed by her need for self-expression. Ellie herself discovers a different world when she spends the summer with her liberal Bubbe learning to swim and developing a crush on a neighbor, Lindsay.
Malloy, Brian-
From the end of her senior year at Minnesota's Le Seur High School through her first year as a physics major at Columbia University, Molly Swain finds the inner strength and good friends to help her cope with huge challenges, including learning that the boy she loves is gay.
McMahon, Jennifer-
Fifteen-year-old Maggie, still grieving the loss of her mother in an accident that also gave her a limp, has turned her back on old friends but connects with a new student, Dahlia, who makes her part of her quirky family and plans their future together as roving musicians and lovers.
Medina, Nico-
Jonathan Parrish is a gay and proud high school senior. But after one lapse in judgment, the girls at school start thinking he might be available after all. Medina's second novel, Fat Hoochie Prom Queen, is set at the same high school.
Moore, Perry-
The last thing in the world Thom would ever want is to disappoint his father. So Thom keeps two secrets from him: First is that he's gay. The second is that he has the power to heal people.
Myracle, Lauren-
Sixteen-year-old Lissa's relationship with her best friend changes after they kiss at a party, and Lissa doesn't know what to do - until she gets help from an unexpected new friend.
Papademetriou, Lisa-
Marcus tries to hook up his best friend Fran with her crush by IMing him on the school's closed chat room -- without Fran's knowledge. As they chat more and more, Marcus begins to think that Jeffrey might like him as Marcus, and not just as Frannie-Marcus.
Peters, Julie Anne-
Regan's brother Liam has always been different, and Regan's always understood. But when she finds out that Liam wants to transition, Regan's not sure she can deal with her brother becoming her sister.
Ryan, Patrick-
In St. Augustine, Florida, former best friends Charlie Perrin and Sam Findley, now both sixteen, come to realize that their friendship is the only thing that will keep them afloat when each of their worlds is turned upside down through death, divorce, and the seemingly out-of-control direction of their lives.
Ryan, Sara-
Nic knows she's attracted to guys -- until she meets a girl who steals her heart. The sequel is The Rules for Hearts.
Sanchez, Alex-
As the new kid in eighth grade, Frederick is glad when Xio, a chatty Latina, befriends him. But they both start to wonder - why doesn't he want to be her boyfriend?
St. James, James-
Billy Bloom is gay, but it's mostly theoretical, as he hasn't had much experience. When he has to move to Florida, he can't believe his bad luck. His new school is a mix of Bible Belles, Aberzombies, and Football Heroes, none of which are exactly his type.
Schmatz, Pat-
When Maxie's best friend from elementary school returns years later after a horrible act of violence against him, Maxie feels guilty about how she treated him and conflicted over whether or not she wants to befriend him again.
Sloan, Brian-
Cameron doesn't want to go to prom. Not with his boyfriend, Shane, and definitely not with his fake date, Virginia.
Stevenson, Robin H.-
Derek thinks he might be falling in love. The problem is, he hasn't been entirely honest with his on-line boyfriend. Derek sent Ethan a photo taken before he got depressed and gained eighty pounds.
Weyr, Garret Freymann-
As she tries to understand the closeness between her older brother and his best friend, 14-year-old Ellen finds her relationship with each of them changing.
Wilson, Martin-
Sixteen-year-old Alex feels so disconnected from his friends that he starts his junior year at a Tuscaloosa, Alabama, high school by attempting suicide, but soon, a friend of his older brother draws him into cross-country running and a new understanding of himself.
Wittlinger, Ellen-
When Marisol, a self-confident eighteen-year-old lesbian, moves to Cambridge, Massachusetts to work and try to write a novel, she falls under the spell of her beautiful but deceitful writing teacher, while also befriending a shy, vulnerable girl from Indiana.
Wittlinger, Ellen-
Angela Katz-McNair has never felt quite right as a girl. Her whole life is leading up to the day she decides to become Grady, a guy. While coming out as transgendered feels right to Grady, he isn't prepared for the reaction he gets from everyone else.
Nonfiction
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These poems are about longing, wanting, and starting to find out who you are — whoever you are.
Levithan, David (ed.)-
This book includes real people - gay, lesbian, bisexual, straight, transitioning and questioning - telling real stories about: coming out, family, friendship, religion/faith, first kisses, breakups, and many others.
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Teens of different cultures and backgrounds tell their own stories about being different.
Alsenas, Linas-
Milestones of gay and lesbian life in the United States are brought together in the first-ever nonfiction book published specifically for teens.
Garden, Nancy-
What was it like being young and gay during the closeted 1950s, the exuberant beginnings of the modern gay rights movement in the 1970s, or the frightening outbreak of HIV and AIDS in the 1980s? In this unique history, Nancy Garden uses both fact and fiction to explore just what it has meant to be young and gay in America during the last fifty years.
Huegel, Kelly-
This book describes the challenges faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens, and offers practical advice and accessible resources.
Keen, Lisa-
In this accessible guide, Keen illustrates how some laws limit the rights of LGBT youth and others protect them. Out Law lays out the basics about federal, state, and local laws that frequently impact LGBT people and explains how laws treating LGBT people differently came to exist, evolved over time, and are subject to significant changes even today.
Merrell, Billy-
In an amazing set of poems, the author tells an ordinary story in an extraordinary way.
Trope, Zoe-
Trope's entries chronicle her frank accounts of her transgender search for the perfect kiss and her first girlfriend who becomes her first boyfriend.
Bechdel, Alison-
Collects the best of Bechdel's decades-long syndicated comic about the lives, loves, and politics of a cast of characters, most of them lesbian, living in a midsize American city that may or may not be Minneapolis.
Bechdel, Alison-
Alison Bechdel came out to her father as a lesbian shortly before he died, hit by a truck, possibly a suicide. In this sometimes hilarious, sometimes bleak graphic memoir, Bechdel tells the complex story of her family.
Schrag, Ariel
Tamaki-
Suicide, depression, love, being gay or not, crushes, cliques of popular, manipulative peers — the whole gamut of tortured teen life is explored in this masterful graphic novel by cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki.
Windmeyer, Shane-
Shane Windmeyer, cofounder of the Lambda 10 Project, has created the first guide for gay and lesbian students to colleges and universities that best address their needs.
Leleux, Robert-
Hilarious stories of a comically dysfunctional family describe growing up gay in Texas.