SJPL Picks: LGBTQ+ Reads for Middle GradesLike this list

40 items

• Tales From Beyond the Rainbow

  Wood, Pete Jordi,

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  These are the fairy tales that history forgot--or concealed. Ten tales in which gender is fluid and where queer stories can have a happy ending.

• The Queen Bees of Tybee County

  Chu, Kyle Casey,

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  Chinese American Derrick explores his queer identity by competing in a small-town beauty pageant where he shares his new love of drag with his family and friends.

• Ollie in Between

  Callans, Jess,

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  Puberty, AKA the ultimate biological predator, is driving a wedge between soon-to-be 13 year old Ollie Thompson and their lifelong friends. Too much of a girl for their neighborhood hockey team, but not girly enough for their boy-crazed BFF, Ollie…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A World Worth Saving

  Lukoff, Kyle,

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  After coming out as trans, fourteen-year-old A is forced to attend weekly Save Our Sons and Daughters meetings, where he uncovers the terrifying truth that the group is run by a demon feeding on their pain and is part of a larger, darker force…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mountain Upside Down

  Ryan, Sara,

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  Thirteen-year-old Alex Eager navigates the challenges of a long-distance relationship, an increasingly forgetful grandmother, and a town's referendum on library funding, all while trying to find her place.

• It's All or Nothing, Vale

  Arango, Andrea Beatriz

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  No one knows hard work and dedication like Valentina Camacho. And Vale's thing is fencing. She's the top athlete at her fencing gym. Or she was . . . until the accident. After months away, Vale is finally cleared to fence again, but it's much harder…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Family Week

  Moon, Sarah, 1982-

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  Four best friends spend Family Week together at an annual gathering of LGBTQ+ families in Provincetown, MA--the largest of its kind across the world--in this middle grade coming-of-age story that celebrates identity, acceptance, and found family.

• The Curse of Eelgrass Bog

  Averling, Mary,

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  Nothing about Kess Pedrock's life is normal. Not her home (she lives in her family's Unnatural History Museum), not her interests (hunting for megafauna fossils and skeletons), and not her best friend (a talking demon's head in a jar named Shrunken…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Murray Out of Water

  Tracy, Taylor,

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  Perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead, Natalie Lloyd, and Jasmine Warga, this beautiful novel in verse explores one girl's struggle to regain her magic after a hurricane forces her to move away from her beloved ocean that, she believes, has given her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf

  Moulton, Deke,

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  Benji Zeb is good at keeping secrets. No one knows how badly he is drowning in his studies, not only for school but also his upcoming bar mitzvah. But the biggest secret of all? He and his entire family are werewolves, using the wolf sanctuary as…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lunar Boy

  Wibowo, Jessica,

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  A must-have heartwarming coming-of-age graphic novel about a young boy from the moon who discovers a home in the most unlikely places.

• Gooseberry

  Gow, Robin,

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  Twelve-year-old nonbinary B forms a connection with an anxious stray dog, Gooseberry, prompting them to pursue their dream of becoming a dog trainer while navigating the complexities of trust and building a family in their newest foster home.

• The Truth About Triangles

  Leali, Michael,

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  A heartfelt contemporary middle grade novel perfect for fans of Front Desk , following Luca Salvatore, a young gay Italian American trying to save his family’s pizza restaurant and a life that feels like it’s falling apart after he learns that his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Emma and the Love Spell

  Ireland, Meredith,

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  Twelve-year-old Korean American Emma uses her fickle witchy powers to keep her best friend's parents together so they do not move away.

• Noah Frye Gets Crushed

  Horne, Maggie,

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  In this cute and queer contemporary middle grade comedy about friendship, first crushes, and first kisses, twelve-year-old Noah Frye comes up with a foolproof plan to teach herself how to have a crush on a boy to fit in better with her friends—only…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Linus and Etta Could Use a Win

  Huntoon, Caroline,

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  A hot-headed cynic befriends the new kid--a shy trans boy--when she takes on a bet to get him elected student body president

• Winnie Nash Is Not Your Sunshine

  Melleby, Nicole,

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  Winnie Nash, who has been keeping her sexual orientation a secret, spends the summer with her grandma in New Jersey as she struggles with her family's expectations while yearning to embrace her true self and attend the Pride Parade in New York City.

• Tegan and Sara

  Junior High

  Quin, Tegan, 1980-

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  Before Tegan and Sara took the music world by storm, the Quins were just two identical twins trying to find their place in a new home and new school. From first crushes to the perils of puberty, surviving junior high is something the sisters plan to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dear Mothman

  Gow, Robin,

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  After the death of his best friend and the only other trans boy at school, Noah starts writing letters expressing his feelings to the humanoid creature Mothman and risks everything when he treks into the woods to prove Mothman's existence.

• The Song of Us

  Fussner, Kate,

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  Love at first sight isn't a myth. For seventh graders Olivia and Eden, it's fate. Olivia is a capital-P Poet, and Eden thinks she wants to be a musician one day, but for now she's just the new girl. And then Eden shows up to Poetry Club and…Read moreRead more of this annotation