OUT ON THE SHELF:
TEEN BOOKS W/ GAY CHARACTERS

For more info about GLBT issues, check out our 2 Teens in 20 Hot Topics Resources.

FICTION

Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence
Bauer, Marion Dane (YA BAUER)
What if everyone could determine your sexuality by the shade of blue your skin is? How blue would you be?

Dangerous Angels
Block, Francesca Lia (YA BLOCK)
“He didn’t even know what to call it. He wanted to be a girl and he wanted to love girls.”

The Hemingway Tradition
Butcher, Kristin (YA BUTCHER)
“If I wanted to die...I might even do what my dad did. He ate a bullet & blew half his head away….I’m the one who found him.”

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Chbosky, Stephen (YA CHBOSKY)
“I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with that person even though you could have.”

Ironman
Crutcher, Chris (YA CRUTCHER)
“I thought I owed it to him to hang around and torment him a little. It was a bad idea.”

Lucky
De Oliveira, Eddie (YA DE OLIVEIRA)
"These are the facts. I'm attracted to boys and girls.... I'm just Sam. I was born like this."

Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins
Donoghue, Emma (YA DONOGHUE)
What if Cinderella forsook her Handsome Prince and ran off with her Fairy Godmother?

Dive
Donovan, Stacey (YA DONOVAN)
“Figures, the one moment in my life it would be useful to have a family, I don’t.”

Eight Seconds
Ferris, Jean (YA FERRIS)
In the rough-and-tumble world of rodeo, control is an illusion.

My Heartbeat
Freymann-Weyr, Garret (YA FREYMANN)
What happens when you think you like the guy who might be your brother’s boyfriend?

Annie on My Mind
Garden, Nancy (YA GARDEN)
“I’m not proud of it. I make no excuses. I lied to her.”

The Year They Burned the Books
Garden, Nancy (YA GARDEN)
Jamie has lots of questions: Will the school shut down the paper she edits? Will the new school board member ban books & outlaw talk about condoms & homosexuality? Is Jamie herself gay?

Geography Club
Hartinger, Brent (YA HARTINGER)
“Why exactly did I feel like the boys’ locker room after third period P.E. was enemy territory?”

Jack
Homes, A.M. (YA HOMES)
“For the longest time I was convinced that the lamp was totally responsible for my family falling apart.”

The Bermudez Triangle
Johnson, Maureen (YA JOHNSON)
The Bermudez Triangle have been inseparable. But, the summer before senior year, Mel & Avery realize that their feelings for each other may be more than friendship.

Deliver Us From Evie
Kerr, M.E. (YA KERR)
“Do your folks know what they’re saying about Evie?”

Talk
Koja, Kathe (YA KOJA)
People are surprised when Kit gets a leading role in the school play, but Kit’s been acting all his life...as a straight guy.

Boy Meets Boy
Levithan, David (YA LEVITHAN)
Paul has met THE guy for him. But, then his ex--who dumped him to date girls--has decided he wants Paul back. Now what?

Flip Side
Matthews, Andrew (YA MATTHEWS)
You know how dressing up as someone else can transform you into that person? Rob dresses up as a woman—and discovers that he likes it. What does that mean?

Far From Xanadu
Peters, Julie Ann (YA PETERS)
Mike’s world is turned upside down when Xanadu moves to town. Xanadu’s everything Mike isn’t—cool, complicated, sexy, and…straight.

Keeping You a Secret
Peters, Julie Ann (YA PETERS)
Holland plans to do the usual: meet a guy, fall in love, get married. Then she meets out-and-proud Cece…and falls for her.

Luna
Peters, Julie Ann (YA PETERS)
“Yeah, I loved her. I couldn’t help it. She was my brother.”

Necessary Hunger
Revoyr, Nina (FIC REVOYR)
B-ball star Nancy likes new player Raina. When her dad falls for Raina’s mom & they all end up living together, life becomes too complicated.

Empress of the World
Ryan, Sara (YA RYAN)
What do you do when you think you’re attracted to guys, and then you meet a girl who steals your heart?

Rainbow Boys
Sanchez, Alex (YA SANCHEZ)
Nelson Glassman is “out” to the entire world, but he can’t tell the boy he loves.

So Hard to Say
Sanchez, Alex (YA SANCHEZ)
Xio has plans to make new guy Frederick her first boyfriend, but he can’t seem to keep his eyes off his soccer buddy Victor.

A Really Nice Prom Mess
Sloan, Brian (YA SLOAN)
Cam gets coerced into going to the prom with a girl, even though he’d rather go with his boyfriend. What could it hurt, right? Who knew things could spin this far out of control!

Tomorrow Wendy: A Love Story
Stoehr, Shelley (YA STOEHR)
“I’ve discovered that if you wear a big enough hat, no one worries much about what’s going on inside your head.”

Whistle Me Home
Wersba, Barbara (YA WERSBA)
Noli knows that TJ is her soulmate, but he doesn’t seem to feel the same. What is he hiding?

Hard Love
Wittlinger, Ellen (YA WITTLINGER)
“And so I became Marisol Guzman, Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Cambridge, Massachusetts, rich spoiled lesbian private-school gifted-and-talented writer virgin looking for love.”

Name Me Nobody
Yamanaka, Lois-Ann (YA YAMANAKA)
“I’m not smart enough to be a nerd. I’m not stink enough to be a turd.”

Kitchen
Yoshimoto, Banana (FIC YOSHIMOTO)
“Could you call someone who looked like that ‘Dad’?”

NON-FICTION

Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth & Their Allies
Bass, Ellen and Kate Kaufman (305.23 BAS)
“Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” The definitive guide for youth.

The Shared Heart: Portraits and Stories
Celebrating Lesbian, Gay, and
Bisexual Young People
Mastoon, Adam (305.235 MAS)
“I am not going to change or apologize for who I am.”

Growing Up Gay in America
Rich, Jason (305.235 RIC)
“Informative and practical advice for teen guys questioning their sexuality and growing up gay.”

Two Teenagers in Twenty:
Writings by Gay and Lesbian Youth
Heron, Ann (J 305.9 HER)
“Everything would have been perfect except for my parents.”

Is It a Choice? Answers to 300 of the
Most Frequently Asked Questions
about Gays and Lesbians
Marcus, Eric (305.906 MAR)
There are no stupid questions.

GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer
& Questioning Teens
Huegel, Kelly (306.766 HUG 2003)
Discovering that you, or someone you love, might be GLBTQ is a revelation. Accepting it is a process. One thing that can help that process is information. You can find it here.

Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss,
and What I Learned
Winick, Judd (YA 362.1969 WIN)
“I’m a big weenie liberal. I’m supposed to be OK with things like this, aren’t I?” Graphic novel.