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Trans YA book recs

Because I’ve been feeling shitty about being trans and I think we all need some trans positivity.

Cemetery boys (by Aiden Thomas) : Now, I’m going to say this about all of these books but I ADORE this book. It’s mlm with a trans guy as the protagonist. BUT THATS NOT ALL… Yadriel, the main character, accidentally summons a ghost, a guy who goes to his school, Julian. He fights to figure out what happened to him and to finally be accepted by his family. Honesty this book has MY HEART.

Between perfect and real (by Ray Stoeve) : My personal favourite ;) Dean is cast as Romeo in the school play and realises that he is trans. The whole whay through the book he’s trying to figure out how to come out and accept himself and AHHHHH I love it. It also includes Romeo and Juliet references, which is just a bonus to me <3

Heartstopper (by Alice oseman) : Now, this one doesn’t have too much representation but I’m giving it a mention because I love it. I’ve found that it’s very difficult to find a book with trans femme representation, deposite the fact I’m found so much trans masc stuff?? In this, Elle, a side character is a trans girl and, while it doesn’t talk too much about that, it’s a nice little bit of rep

I was born for this (also Alice oseman, I love her OKAY) : This follows a two characters, a band (called The Ark) and a fan of the band. It makes a statement on fan culture and I think it’s just SO well written. The singer of the band is Jimmy, a gay, trans guy. It’s doesn’t talk too much about being trans, but I adore this rep, it’s just *chefs kiss*

The passing playbook ( by Issac Fitzsimons) : I must admit I haven’t read this one in a while (even more reason for you to read it). It’s about a trans (gay?) guy, Spencer, who joins a new school for a fresh start. It all goes well, he gets a crush on a guy, joins the soccer team BUT THEN he’s found out to be trans and is benched from his team. He has to fight for his right to be on the team and it goes from there… (I think I might actually re read this one, I forgot how good the premise is)

LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST…

Felix ever after (by Kacen Callender) : Felix is a trans guy who has never been in love. When he is publicly outed, he sets out for revenge but it all goes a bit crazy (but don’t worry the person who does it PAYS). I LOVE this one, I think it was the first trans book I read and it has a place in my heart <3

SO THERE YOU GO!! :D

Please tell me if you liked this because I could always make a mlm one… Just saying I have A LOT of recs and I’m always willing to share

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anyway since pride month is coming up and my local barnes and nobey has once again decided to only put young adult books in their corporate mandated rainbow display, y'all want some queer reading recs that aren’t YA?

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Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry

Abandoned by a single mother she never knew, 16-year-old Raya—obsessed with ancient myths—lives with her grandmother in a small conservative Texas town. For years Raya has been forced to hide her feelings for her best friend and true love, Sarah. When the two are outed, they are sent to Friendly Saviors: a re-education camp meant to “fix” them and make them heterosexual. Upon arrival, Raya vows to assume the mythic role of Orpheus to escape Friendly Saviors, and to return to the world of the living with her love—only becoming more determined after she, Sarah, and Friendly Saviors’ other teen residents are subjected to abusive “treatments” by the staff.

Brynne Rebele-Henry weaves a powerful inversion of the Orpheus myth informed by the real-world truths of conversion therapy. Orpheus Girl is a mythic story of dysfunctional families, trauma, first love, heartbreak, and ultimately, the fierce adolescent resilience that has the power to triumph over darkness and ignorance.

Trigger warnings: homophobia, conversion therapy, transphobia, offscreen suicide attempt

Genres: contemporary, romance

Get the book from The Book Depository here!

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Concept: an apocalyptic or post apocalyptic tv show centred on a group of disabled protagonists

Must include:

-enough details about how they survive that no one can call it “unrealistic”

-mental and physical disabilities 

-a character who isn’t necessarily contributing to the survival of the group, but is not abandoned or looked down upon

-at least one character whose disability is actually less of a problem for them now that the world is ending/ended (example: autistic character who used to be constantly overstimulated but no longer is)

Optional features:

-abled person says “the only disability in life is a bad attitude” and gets told where to stuff it

-creatively weaponized mobility aids/assistive devices

-character who abled people think isn’t worth helping because of their disability, but actually has at least one skill essential to the survival of the group

-every time an abled person says something ignorant, all present disabled people look into the camera like they’re on the office 

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my novel is almost out! if you’re into transgressive fiction (predominately LGBT+), this is for you. buy it below. over 800 pages for 12 bucks.

https://expatpress.com/product/fucked-up-damien-ark/

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Book recs!

Hello! I put together a teeny tiny list of books with ace/aro characters for my bookstagram, and I thought I'd share it here as well!

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do y’all know of any ya books (or non-ya) who have positive representation of autism? i...haven’t found many :/

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Review: Ziggy, Stardust and Me by James Brandon  Rating: 4/5 

“for one moment in time, two lonely astronauts floating in space finally find each other.”

Jonathan Collins is sick. According to his dad, his doctor, his teachers, the cops who come to school to warn students about the predators prowling in public bathrooms. Because it’s the summer of 1973 and homosexuality is illegal. But when Jonathan meets Web, he is forced to confront the fact that no amount of fear, self-hatred or aversion therapy can change who he really is.

I do not remember the last time I read such a deeply unsettling novel. I found this book incredibly difficult to read because while Jonathan has a lively voice and there’s plenty of humour and pop culture, Brandon doesn’t pull his punches in uncovering the darkness gay teens were facing in the 70s. Being classified as mentally ill, the threat of imprisonment, the fact that aversion therapy was considered the proper course of treatment…

This is not light-hearted reading and I urge anyone who picks it up to check the triggers I’ve listed below and to keep yourself safe while reading. There are some intense, graphic scenes that are painful and confronting to read but that detail the horrors queer people faced back then. Not long enough ago.

There is beauty here too, though. Jonathan’s relationship with Web is tortured by their need for secrecy but it is so beautiful how they come together to support each other. I loved how Web was always able to tell what kind of help Jonathan needed - whether it was his asthma or panic or just his wonderful weirdness. Web was so fiercely protective of everything he cared about and while we don’t get a particularly concrete ending to their love story, it was still remarkable.

I loved getting to learn a bit about Oglala Lakota experiences, traditions and stories too - especially with Web being Two-Spirit. And while the rep isn’t #OwnVoices, Brandon does mention using sensitivity readers for Web’s background and identity.

A beautiful, emotional, challenging book perfect for anyone looking to learn about historical queer experiences.

Warnings: descriptions of LGBT+ aversion therapy, homophobia, racism, abusive parents, drug use, attempted rape, violence.

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🏳️‍🌈 PROUD READING 🏳️‍🌈

Today I’m recommending the fairly new release I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver! It’s about Ben, a non-binary teen who was kicked out of the house by their parents after coming out. It’s a story about their life afterwards, their newfound family and them managing to pull everything back together. It’s such a beautiful book that I think so many people should read.

🌈 Features: Non-binary main character

🌈 Genre: YA Contemporary

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I judge how good a book is based on how disoriented I am with my physical surroundings after closing it.

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Books With Characters Who Have Mental Disabilities/Illnesses

* - Books I’ve read

Laurie Halse Anderson - Wintergirls - Anorexia*

Brandy Colbert - Little and Lion - Bipolar*

Brian Conaghan - When Mr. Dog Bites - Tourettes* 

Corinne Duyvis - On The Edge of Gone - Autism*

Jonathan Friesen - Jerk, California - Tourettes*

Donna Gephart - Lily and Dunkin - Bipolar*

Corey Ann Haydu - OCD Love Story - OCD*

Shaun David Hutchinson - We are the Ants - Depression*

Adib Khorram - Darius The Great Is Not Okay - Depression*

Sophie Kinsella - Finding Audrey - Anxiety*

Eric Lindstrom - A Tragic Kind of Wonderful - Bipolar 

Emery Lord - When We Collided - Bipolar*

Jennifer Niven - All The Bright Places - Depression*

Jolene Perry - Stronger Than You Know - Anxiety*

Beth Ravis - A World Without You - Psychosis*

Benjamin Alire Saenz - Last Night I Sang To The Monster - Alcoholism*

Tamara Ireland Stone - Every Last Word - OCD*

John Corey Whaley - Highly Illogical Behavior - Anxiety/Agoraphobia*

Rachel M. Wilson - Don’t Touch - OCD/Anxiety*

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My List of LGBT books

* - books i’ve read and can vouch for their gay/trans-ness

Lesbian:

 sara benincasa - Great

Paula boock - Dare, Truth, or Promise

Jaye Robin Brown - Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit*

Emily M Danforth - The Miseducation of Cameron Post*

Mayra Lazara Dole - Down to the Bone

J.L. Douglas - Lunaside

Deborah Ellis - Moon at Nine*

Sara farizan - If you could be Mine*

Sara farizan - Tell me Again How a Crush Should Feel*

M. E.  Girard - Girl Mans Up*

M.E. Kerr - Deliver us from Evie 

E.M. Kokie - Radical

Nina LaCour - We are Okay

Nina LaCour & David Levithan - You Know Me Well*

Julie Anne Peters - Keeping you a Secret

 Nina Revoyr - The Necessary Hunger

Gabby Rivera - Juliet Takes a Breath

 Robin Talley - Our Own Private Universe

 Mariko and Jillian Tamaki - Skim

Carla Trujillo - What Night Brings

Gay:

Becky Albertalli - Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda*

Becky Allbertalli - What if It’s Us*

Christopher Barzak - Wonders of the Invisible World

Janet E. Cameron - Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World

Austin Chant - Peter Darling

Tim Federle - The Great American Whatever

Brian Francis - Fruit

Simon James Green - Noah Can’t Even

Brent Hartinger - Geography Club

Shaun David Hutchinson - The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley*

Bill Konigsberg - Openly Straight*

Nina LaCour & David Levithan - You Know Me Well*

Christina Lauren - Autoboyography

J.R. Lenk - Collide

David Levithan - Two Boys Kissing*

David Levithan - Boy Meets Boy*

David Levithan, John Green - Will Grayson, Will Grayson*

Billy Merrell - Vanilla*

Perry Moore - Hero*

Patrick Ness - Release*

Benjamin Alire Saenz - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe*

Jeffery Self - Drag Teen*

Adam Silvera - They Both Die at the End*

Sarah Tregay - Fan Art

Will Walton - Anything can Happen

Paul Yee - Money Boy

Bi:

Becky Allbertalli - Leah on the Offbeat*

Brandy Colbert - Little and Lion*

C.B. Lee - Not Your Sidekick

Alex Sanchez - Boyfriends With Girlfriends

Kate Scelsa - Fans of the Impossible Life

Adam Silvera - More Happy Than Not

Adam Silvera - They Both Die at the End*

Misa Sugira - It’s Not Like it’s a Secret

Jen Wilde - Queens of Geek

Lili Wilkinson - Pink

Trans:

Cris Beam - I am J*

Austin Chant - Peter Darling

Cat Clark - The Pants Project

Rachel Eliason - Run, Clarissa, Run

Kristin Elizabeth Clark - Jess, Chunk, and the Road Trip to Infinity*

Kirstin Cron-Mills - Beautiful Music for Ugly Children*

April Daniels - Dreadnought*

Donna Gephart - Lily and Dunkin*

Alex Gino - George

Rachel Gold - Being Emily

M.G. Hennessey - The Other Boy*

David Levithan - Two Boys Kissing*

Anna-Marie McLemore - When the Moon was Ours

I. Merey - A+E 4ever

Matthew J. Metzger - Spy Stuff

Everett Moon - The Unintentional Time Traveler

Julie Anne Peters - Luna*

Ami Polonsky - Gracefully Grayson*

Meredith Russo - If I was Your Girl

Elliot Wake - Bad Boy

Lisa Williamson - The Art of Being Normal*

Ellen Wittlinger - Parrotfish*

Jennie Wood - A Boy Like Me

Non-binary:

Kirstin Elizabeth Clark - Freak Boy*

Jeff Garvin - Symptoms of Being Human*

Pat Schmatz - Lizard Radio

Rae Spoon - First Spring, Grass Fire

Intersex:

Alyssa Brugman - Alex As Well

I.W. Gregorio - None of the Above

Laura Lam - Pantomime* (series)

Abigail Tartellin - Golden Boy

Chavisa Woods - The Albino Album

Ace:

Claire Kann - Let’s Talk About Love*

Billy Merrell - Vanilla*

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♿️Disabled Characters in YA♿️

The thing I’m most passionate about when it comes to books is finding positive, accurate and respectful representations of physical disability and chronic illness. So often when we talk about diversity we focus on race or sexuality but disabled people make up the largest portion of marginalised people with almost 1 in 5 people around the globe having some sort of illness or disability. Disability intersects with every other kind of identity but this group still goes underrepresented almost everywhere. 

I’ve put an asterisk (*) next to books I’ve read and recommend and I’ve also marked which ones are #OwnVoices (a hashtag that was actually created by a disabled person - Corinne Duyvis, a YA author and co-founder of Disability in Kidlit). I’ve only included characters with physical and neurological disabilities as I’m planning a separate list for books about mental illness.

For more recommendations, check out Disability in Kidlit on their website or follow their reviews on Goodreads. 

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens (numerous disabilities) #OwnVoices *

A Taxonomy of Love by Rachael Allen (Tourette’s Syndrome)

Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo (cane-user, PTSD) #OwnVoices * 

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard (sign language users, mutism) *

Magisterium series by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare (limp) *

The Siren by Kiera Cass (sign-language users) *

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle  (autism & ADHD) #OwnVoices

One by Sarah Crossan (conjoined twins) *

On The Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis (autism) #OwnVoices

Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis (mutism, leg amputee)

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling by Lucy Frank (Crohn’s disease)

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman (limp) *

I Am Out With Lanterns by Emily Gale (autism) 

Meet Me In Outer Space by Melinda Grace (auditory processing disorder) #OwnVoices

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall (hearing loss) *

I Have No Secrets by Penny Joelson (cerebral palsy, autism) *

Girl in the Window by Penny Joelson (chronic fatigue)

Run by Kody Keplinger (visual impairment) #OwnVoices

Things I Should Have Known by Claire LaZebnik (autism)

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (epilepsy) *

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom (visual impairment) *

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott (cystic fibrosis) *

The State of Grace by Rachel Lucas (autism)

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp (lupus, uses mobility aids) *

Lucky Few by Kathryn Ormsbee (Type 1 Diabetes)

Kids Like Us by Hilary Reyl (autism)

Far From You by Tess Sharpe (chronic pain, uses mobility aids)

Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry (Tourette’s Syndrome, anxiety, OCD) #OwnVoices *

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde (autism, anxiety) #OwnVoices

Odd and True by Cat Winters (polio, uses mobility aids)

More of my recommendations

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It hurts my soul that Autoboyography by Christina Lauren is so underrated and I almost never see it on any LGBT+ book recs. Here is a list of reasons to read it:

The book features a bisexual boy who has a supportive, understanding (pretty cool) family 

The setting is in a small religious town so the book handles casual homophobia and religion in relation to sexuality in a very thoughtful way

The love interest is a Mormon bishop’s son (who is pretty religious himself), and once again religion and guilt and exploration of sexuality are handled so well. I say this as a formerly religious gay woman: I love that the book never once mocks or demeans the character’s religion

It handles some heavy topics but the writing style and the pacing are so good, and overall the tone of the book is really sweet and funny (I have no idea how they did it tbh but it was so addictive I finished it in one go)

One of the two writers is bisexual and the other one has worked with lgbt youth for a long time, and therefore things like coming out and figuring out your sexuality are handled realistically… meaning that the characters act the way actual lgbt people act, rather than the way media portrays us sometimes. It’ll make sense when you read the book, trust me

The characters have an awesome dynamic! And I mean that for the family, friends, and romance in the book. I wanted it to go on forever.

Did I mention it’s super sweet and funny? You will love both main characters so much and feel everything they are feeling, and you’ll want them to keep talking to/being around each other bc they have a great dynamic 

In conclusion: please read this book!!

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no one:

me: here’s a flow chart of 41 lgbtq+ book recommendations, have fun!

disclaimer: this is a very non-comprehensive list since I’m only including books that I’ve read

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The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

This book follows the lives of two transgender teens in the U.K. who are trying to be themselves without being ridiculed. The way the author chose to have one main character at the very beginning of their transition and the other much further along helps to get to very different characters and emotions from the two throughout the book.