Each year more fiction is published for teenagers and middle grade readers wherein characters exploring or realizing their sexuality and/or gender identity is just one aspect of their lives and one aspect of the story. Seeing more well-rounded and realistic storytelling with LGBTQ+ characters is welcomed on our shelves!
Here are some recent contemporary fiction titles aimed at middle grade level readers with LGBTQ+ characters.
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Twelve-year-old Rahul Kapoor, an Indian-American boy growing up in small-town Indiana, struggles to come to terms with his identity, including that he may be gay. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby, as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby, as eBook on Hoopla or as eAudio on Hoopla.
As Hazel struggles to cope after entering the eighth grade, she comes to realize that sometimes you have to look within yourself– instead of the pages of a book– to find the answer to life’s most important questions. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby, as eBook on Hoopla or as eAudio on Hoopla.
After researching Glenn Burke, the first major league baseball player to come out as gay, sixth-grader Silas Wade slowly comes out to his best friend Zoey, then his coach, with unexpected consequences. You can also check out this title as an eBook on OverDrive/Libby.
Twelve-year-old Sunny St. James must navigate heart surgery, reconnections with a lost mother, the betrayal of a former best friend, first kisses and emerging feelings for another girl. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby.
When Mattie is cast as Romeo in an eighth-grade play, she is confused to find herself increasingly attracted to Gemma, a new classmate who is playing Juliet.
This is a bold heartfelt story about a trans girl solving a cyber mystery and coming into her own.