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Summer Learning: Read with PRIDE

June is Pride Month!!! Gain a better understanding and appreciation of LGBTQ2IA+ issues, enjoy a greater diversity in the cast of characters, and honor the spirit of Pride Month through these summer reads focused on or related to the LGBTQ2IA+ community. This is a multigenerational booklist that features selections for Pre-Readers (0-5), Readers (5-10), Pre-Teens (10-12), Teens (12-17), and Adults (18+). Selected by SJPL Staff.

San José Public Library

49 items

  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. Marley is a little nonbinary kid with big anxieties. Crowds? Pass. Loud noises? No, thanks. When their Zaza is up for an award at Pride, they want to go to the parade for the first time with their beloved…
    BookConcord, MA : Barefoot Books, 2024. — J PICTURE BOOK Retener
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. Join a queer family as they celebrate Black Pride in Washington, D.C. From painting posters to walking in a Pride Parade with neighbors to watching fireworks, this special day is packed with fun.
    BookNew York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2024. — J PICTURE BOOK Wells
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. The nonbinary experience is brightly illustrated as we follow our main character through their typical day. The story's bouncy and fun refrain reminds all readers of gender-neutral pronouns and affirms the…
    BookNew York : Henry Holt and Company, 2023. — J PICTURE BOOK Wild
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. After Milly discovers a Pride flag in Grandad's attic, this adorable pair are motivated by the past to start a Pride parade in their small town. Activism and celebration go hand in hand as the town gathers to…
    BookNew York, NY : Little Bee Books, [2023] — J PICTURE BOOK Woodgate
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. When her mother goes on a business trip, a little girl, who loves to sit between Mama and Mommy at the table, misses her a lot and feels empty until Mommy finally comes home, filling the void with love.
    BookSomerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, 2022. — J PICTURE BOOK Lacour
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. Drag queens sing verses of this popular song that encourages everyone to express their fabulousness by singing, posing, and twirling along.
    BookPhiladelphia : RP Kids, 2022. — J PICTURE BOOK LilMissH
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. On the night before Pride, families everywhere are preparing to partake. As one family packs snacks and makes signs, an older sibling shares the importance of the march with the newest member of the family.
    BookSomerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, 2022. — J PICTURE BOOK McClinti
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. A girl recounts her first time marching with her two moms at a Pride Parade.
    BookNew York : Dial Books for Young Readers, 2022. — J PICTURE BOOK Neilson
  • For Pre-Readers and Readers. Evan, Sam, and Finn fish, climb trees, and play astronauts together, but when Sam wants to have long hair and wear dresses, Evan is confused until he learns what it means to be transgender.
    BookChicago, Illinois : Albert Whitman & Company, 2021. — J PICTURE BOOK RhodesCo
  • For Readers. Four individuals of dual male and female spirit bring their healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii, where they are beloved for their gentle ways and miraculous cures and where they imbue four giant boulders with their powers.
    BookNew York : Kokila, 2022. — J 398.2 WongKalu
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. Perfect for fans of The Marrow Thieves, Hatchet and The City of Ember, H.E. Edgmon's middle grade debut offers a bittersweet tale of hope and survival, a modern classic for the climate change generation. Expertly…
    BookNew York : Feiwel & Friends, 2024. — J FICTION Edgmon
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. 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…
    BookNew York, NY : Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2024. — J FICTION Tracy
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. Lunar Boy is a must-have heartwarming queer coming-of-age graphic novel about a young boy from the moon who discovers a home in the most unlikely places, from debut twin creators Jes and Cin Wibowo.
    BookNew York : Harper Alley, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2024. — J FICTION Lunar
  • The Swifts

    a Dictionary of Scoundrels

    Lincoln, Beth,
    For Readers and Pre-Teens. Taking the classic manor house whodunit for a wild ride, Lincoln mixes hidden rooms and agendas, a sprawling family with unusual naming practices, gender identity discoveries, high comedy and low punning, murder,…
    BookNew York : Dutton Children's Books an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2023. — J FICTION Lincoln
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. After a bit of a rocky start at Camp QUILTBAG, an inclusive retreat for queer and trans kids, Abigail and Kai make a pact to help each other find their footing, all while navigating crushes, their queer…
    BookNew York, New York : Algonquin Young Readers, 2023. — J FICTION Melleby
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. In an alternate San Antonio, there have been no known cases of vampirism since a group of masked vampire hunters called the Vanquishers wiped out the last horde of the undead twenty years ago, but twelve-year-old…
    BookNew York : Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2022. — J FICTION Bayron
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. Moon—12, Black, nonbinary—is despondent, and that fact inspires every aspect of this metaphysical exploration of the effects of depression. Written in the first person, the novel buries readers in Moon’s forlorn…
    BookNew York : Scholastic Press, 2022. — J FICTION Callende
  • For Readers and Pre-Teens. A 12-year-old nonbinary knight trapped in Helston's rigid hierarchy where girls learn magic and boys train as knights, Callie meets others like them and together they must first defeat the bigotry within the…
    BookNew York : Labyrinth Road, [2022]. — J FICTION SymesSmi
  • For Pre-Teens. 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…
    BookNew York : Algonquin Young Readers, 2024. — J FICTION Melleby
  • For Pre-Teens. Simon, an eleven-year-old coming to terms with his gender identity, is convinced that his grandmother's house is haunted.
    BookNew York : Little, Brown and Company, 2023. — J FICTION Thompson