Today, I thought I'd share some GLBT-friendly YA books that I (or people I know) have enjoyed. I looked for books with positive endings, ones where the characters end on a hopeful note, rather than tragedy. I think we've got enough of that in our lives right now, don't you?
So here are a couple I recommend, in a variety of genres. Put your favorites in the comments - give me some new books to read! And don't forget, if one of them catches your eye, head on out and Buy It Now!
Arrows Trilogy, by Mercedes Lackey. (And yes, they're more accurately called the Heralds of Valdemar series or something like that. But I remember them as the Arrows books.) This was the first series of books I remember reading with gay or lesbian characters as main or supporting characters. And what struck me the most about them is that they were treated just the same as other characters. They were normal, in the same way that every other character in this fantasy-set series was normal. And beyond that, the three books are great fun to read, and a wonderful fantasy universe. Boy Meets Boy, by David Levithan. FutureStar recommended this one. It's a fantasy story, set in a world slightly skewed from this one, where the football star is a crossdresser and everyone accepts everyone else's sexual preference, whether gay, straight, or bi. Humorous and quirky.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by David Levithan and John Green. Two Will Graysons meet one complicated night, and their lives are never the same. Throw in a student-written high school musical, a struggle with depression, an IM betrayal, and an ending scene that will make your heart swell, and you've got a wonderful, emotional book.
Annie on My Mind, by Nancy Garden. A classic, recommended by Maia Strong. M or F? by Lisa Papademetriou and Christopher Tebbets. Told in alternating chapters, this teen version of Cyrano de Bergerac is warm, funny, sweet, and engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
So how about you? What teen-level GLBT-friendly books can you recommend?
3 comments:
Hero, which is about a gay teen discovering his blossoming superpowers in a world where that is normal, by Perry Moore, is one I have long enjoyed, and in the process of being developed for TV by Showtime and Stan Lee.
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeannette Winterson is read in plenty of school too, I believe.
I second the rec for Perry Moore's Hero, although unfortunately Showtime is not making it into a series. They passed on it. :/
Now for some self-promotion, I of course must recommend my own YA book, The Next Competitor. I'm totally with you on being very sick of tragic endings, and in my book, the fact that the protagonists are gay is secondary to their quest to succeed at the Olympics. It's just who they are, and isn't the driving issue.
Prizm's mandate is to encourage GLBT YA books that are about more than just coming out. Not that there's anything wrong with coming-out stories (I love them!), but it's nice to expand beyond that.
Thanks for the recs, guys! Keira, I've been meaning to pick up a copy of your YA, so thanks for the reminder!
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