Best books for gay youth

This groundbreaking manual, first published in , is the story of two teenage girls whose friendship blossoms into love and who, despite pressures from family and school that threaten their relationship, promise to be true to each other and their feelings.

A strong and inspiring story about a transgender teen's struggle to locate his own path -- and love his true self.

A novel about coming out, finding love, and discovering your place in the world from National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters. 

Seventeen-year-old Alyssa thought she knew who she was. She had her family and her best friends and, most vital, she had Sarah.

One cold evening, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, Will Grayson crosses paths with . . . Will Grayson. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpect

34 Books That Make LGBTQ+ Teens Feel Seen

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Quill Tree Books "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

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In They Both Die at the End, Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio both receive some bad news on the identical day: that it's their last day alive. The pair are total strangers, but are looking to make a new noun on their "End Day." Mateo and Rufus meet on an app called The Last Noun and endure a new adventure of living a lifetime in a single day all while falling for each other.

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Harper Teen "It's Not Like It's a Secret" by Misa Sugiura

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Two star-crossed girls of color fall in love in this magical and easy-to-love adolescent adult novel. Told through the lens of year-old Sana, whose family moves to California as her parents go through their own trials, this coming-of-age story is impossible to put down.

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Wednesday Books "I Kissed Shara Wheeler" by Casey McQuiston

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I Kissed Shara Wheeler is the latest release by Red, W

Books I Wish I&#;d Read as an LGBTQ Teenager

By Amy Gall
Originally posted on LitHub, March 7,

When I was young, the only literature I could find about lesbians was either deeply tragic or short on character and lengthy on formulaic, anatomically incorrect sex scenes (I’m looking at you, Xena Warrior Princess fanfiction). It wasn’t until I graduated college that I found a manual which actually spoke to my experience. Dorothy Allison’s short story collection Trash made me feel seen in a way I had never imagined possible and didn’t even know I needed. Her characters had sex that was visceral and messy and embarrassing. They had jobs and families and pasts. They spoke in a language that was sensual and angry and true. Quite simply, the characters in Trash were lesbians and fully realized human beings. Reading about them made me realize how starved I was for reminders of my own humanity.

This February, in partnership with Lambda Literary, The National Book Foundation launched BookUp LGBTQ at the Hetrick-Martin Institute taught by award winning poet t’ai noun ford. BookUp LGBTQ

Welcome to Queer Books for Teens!

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This website seeks to be a comprehensive list of all LGBTQIAP+ YA titles published between and It includes all major and indie US presses and selective self-published material. This website is not meant to execute as a list of publication recommendations, although we provide leading of lists for those who seek recommendations. These lists were commissioned from experts who divide that identity and feature what they felt were the leading representations that specific set of identities.

When looking at the filters you  may notice that there are fewer published books for certain types of representation, especially books representing characters with multiple marginalized identities, for example queer people of color, queer Muslims, queer people with disabilities and more.  We hope that seeing the reality of these numbers encourages publishers to pursue out and publish more titles that represent the intersections of marginalized identities, especially when those titles are #ownvoices.  If you have titles for us to add, please contact us!

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