Some LGBTQIA+ YA Recommendations
Books for Thought is where I post a discussion topic related to books, reading, writing, or something pertaining to one of the three. I hope you’ll join in, and discuss today’s topic of
lgbtqia+ ya recommendations
I suppose this isn’t really a discussion per se, but Topaz suggested that I make a list of my favourite LGBTQIA+ YA novels, and recommend them to you guys, and to be honest that is SO EXCITING. So, today, I am imparting to you some of my fave LGBTQIA+ YA novels, and I hope you find some awesome titles to read (I mean, they are awesome, obviously, but I hope you read them).
dangerous girls by abigail haas
Now, when I decided to do this post, I wanted to share books that aren’t necessarily on everyone’s LGBTQIA+ YA rec lists, because a lot of those lists tend to look the same. So quite a few of the books I mention here might not be as popular as they should be, or you might not have ever heard of them. Dangerous Girls is probably the exception, because I am almost certain pretty much everyone has heard of this book, but likely not in this context. I shelved Dangerous Girls as LGBTQIA+ (particularly bisexual), because the relationship between Anna and Elise goes above and beyond toxic friendship. There is an incredibly romantic and sexual undertone to their relationship, and that is why it’s on this list. I’m rec-ing it because it’s freaking fabulous, and one of my all time favourite novels.
teeth by hannah moskowitz
Now, Teeth is one of my favourite books EVER. I devoured it, and it broke me. It follows the story of Rudy, a boy who has to move to a sea town in the middle of nowhere because there are super special fish there that can heal his sick brother. Enter Teeth, who is a friend of these super special fish, and in fact does not want them to all be eaten because of selfish humans. Teeth is the most adorably ignorant creature in all the world, and it’s really no wonder Rudy falls in love with him. There is actually very little (pretty much no) romance in this book, but it’s pretty darn obvious, as with Dangerous Girls, that the relationship between Rudy and Teeth is more than what the average friendship has.
the marvels by brian selznick
The Marvels was one of the few five star books I read last year. One of the reasons being that it took me completely by surprise. I wanted to DNF it to begin with, but by the end I was sobbing and clutching it to my chest (apparently soul crushing books are my faves?). There is so much to this story, and it is just so beautifully subtle. Not to mention that it has GOLD edged pages, and the cutest ending in history. The author’s note at the end of the book is super important, especially in terms of the ~feels~. Yay for a gay protagonist in middle grade fiction!
because you’ll never meet me by leah thomas
I don’t really see a lot of things being said about Because You’ll Never Meet Me, which is atrocious because this book is simply gorgeous. Again, as with The Marvels, I wasn’t completely sold on it to begin with, but by the end I was absolutely in love with everything about this book. Especially Moritz, and the fact that he started out like such an asshole, and then slowly opened up and fell in love with Ollie. That’s right – one of the two boys sending letters is hella gay and hella adorable.
shallow graves by kali wallace
So I have just realised that all of these recs don’t actually really have a lot of on page romance. What is wrong with me? I LOVE ROMANCE. I live for romance. But apparently some of my all time favourite books are torturous in the romance department. Actually, one of the things I loved best about Shallow Graves was the complete and utter lack of romance. It fit so well with the story, and I just liked the focus being entirely on our bisexual protagonist, Breezy, and what creepy AF things were happening to her.
So there you have it. A handful of LGBTQIA+ YA recommendations from yours truly! I will probably do more of these posts (my next rec post for LGBTQIA+ YA books will be ALL about the romance), because I love sharing my favourite books in general, and LGBTQIA+ YA favourite books even more :D
Have you read any of these? What are some of your LGBTQIA+ YA recommendations?
Aah, awesome list, Chiara! I like this so much, and I like the idea so much, and you did it so well and just yes. A+ and APPLE PIE to you. The most specialest of gifts. I also now know why you love Barbie so much, and that’s because of the romance. I get it. I GET IT.
Every time you talk about Dangerous Girls now I get so excited! I cannot wait to read that one and discuss with you all of the things, and I’m so glad you’re featuring it here because of all the reviews that don’t mention it’s lgbt. It’s so important for books not to have their characters identities erased and the fact it happens (intentionally, unintentionally, by whatever reason) is just shitty, and you’re doing a great job of bringing this up. I’d actually love to read a post with your thoughts on this, even though we talk about it a lot. *gives you mega thumbs up*
Okay, so. I loved reading your thoughts on ALL OF THESE NOVELS and I’m so happy that, even though I’ve only read one, I’m going to be reading most of them. *glances at the open tabs to goodreads* These books sound wonderful and captivating and yessss to everything here. I love this so much. xx
Thank you, lovely <3 Well, I plan to do more of these because there are a lot of queer books that I want to share around because they need more love! You must make me apple pie in January, you know. Oh god, yeah. The romance in the Barbie movies calmed my soul.
I am so keen for you to FINALLY read Dangerous Girls omg. And hopefully you can start it as soon as it arrives :D I will pretty much never stop championing it as a queer book, until people actually realise that it IS, and that saying it is is super important. I actually wrote a guest post on it! http://chasingfaerytales.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/lgbtqia-erasure-in-book-blogging.html
I cannot wait for you to read the others, as well. All of these are glorious and special <3
I do love lists like these, and it’s nice that you included some titles that people not realize have LGBT+ content like Dangerous Girls (which I LOVED). I haven’t read Teeth or The Marvels yet, but I really do want too!
-Lauren
Isn’t Dangerous Girls just wonderful? Ah, I really hope you get around to Teeth and The Marvels, Lauren! They are gorgeous.
This is a great list! I haven’t read any of these but I just added all of them to my TBR because the premises all sound super interesting, plus I can never get enough books with LGBTQIA characters in them. I’ve read some of the more popular LGBT+ books like Aristotle and Dante and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda but the genre is still severely lacking.
One book I’ve read that is super diverse is Radio Silence by Alice Oseman. It includes gay, bisexual, and demisexual characters which is one of the many reasons I love it :D
I’m glad you think so, Helia :D Ah, it makes me so happy that you’ve added them to your TBR! I really hope you like them when you get around to reading them. Supporting LGBTQIA+ fiction is super important.
Ohmygosh, that one is on my TBR because I have never read a demisexual character before, and that it just awesome. And it also sounds super goof!
I haven’t actually read any of these yet, but now I REALLY want to read ‘Because You’ll Never Meet Me’!! I keep meaning to read some YA LGBT fiction, but somehow… I only ever get around to books with secondary characters who count. I loved the J R Ward’s adult Urban Fantasy, Lover At Last, though, so I need to make time for more awesome LGBT books this year!!
I hope you get around to reading some of these, Annette! They are all super lovely, and I highly recommend them. There are some AMAZING LGBTQIA+ YA titles out there, and I hope you do get to read some more! They are definitely worth it :)
EEK, I am so glad you decided to write this post. Added all of these lovelies to my TBR – I can never get enough LGBT YA <3 <3 (And, by the way… if you were interested in doing an MG LGBT list, our elementary school library is ordering books when the school year starts, and I'm in charge of the list, so… ;))
Me, too! I decided to make it quite short, because I want to write more :D I have a lot of recommendations, and will hopefully break them up into categories (like fluffy/fantasy/etc). Oh! That is wonderful. The Marvels by Brian Selznick, and George by Alex Gino are the first two MG ones that pop into mind. I have heard wonderful things about Better Nate Than Never, as well!
Shallow Graves has been on my list for the longest time and I had no idea it would fall under the bisexual category!!! Now I need to get it that much more, because, you know, representation is absolute bullcrap for bisexuals (and most of lgbtqia+ but i find it extremely difficult to find good rep for bisexuals in ya).
Yesss. I hope you read it soon, Natalie! It is such an awesome book, and I recommend it to everyone. I feel like there are fewer books about bi girls, and most of the bi rep in books is pretty shitty :/ But Shallow Graves is awesome about it! But there’s no romance, just in case you were looking for that.