LGBTQ+ Pride: Books for Teens

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Ancrum, K.

Hollis Brown is stuck. Born to a blue-collar American Dream, Hollis lives in a rotting small town where no one can afford to leave. Hollis's only bright spots are his two best friends, cool girls Annie and Yulia, and the thrill of fighting his classmates. As if his circumstances couldn't get worse, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger named Walt results in a frightening trap. After unknowingly making a deal at the crossroads, Hollis finds himself losing control of his body and mind, falling victim to possession. Walt, the ghost making a home inside him, has a deep and violent history rooted in the town Hollis grew up in and he has unfinished business to take care of. As Walt and Hollis begin working together to put Walt's spirit to rest, an unspeakable bond forms between them, and the boys begin falling for one another in unexpected ways. But it's only a matter of time before Hollis's best friends begin to notice that something about Hollis isn't quite...right. With the threat of a long-overdue exorcism looming before them, will Walt and Hollis be able to protect their love and undo the curse that turned their town from a garden of possibility into a place where dreams go to die?

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Adler, Dahlia

Told in alternating timelines, Jewish seventeen-year-old Natalya spends one summer in New York with her dad, trying to muster the courage to talk to her girl crush, and the other in Los Angeles with her estranged mom, going for a guy she never saw coming.

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Bashardoust, Melissa

Soraya, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch, has lived eighteen years in the shadows but as her twin brother's wedding approaches, she faces choices with unimaginable consequences.

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Capetta, A. R.

Anyone who has hiked through time knows the town of Pocket. It's the place travelers first reach after they stumble away from their hometime, passing through on their way to any other when. To Calisto, Pocket is home. They love their grandmother's shop, which is filled with clothes from every era that are used to make costumes for time travelers. Calisto has no intention of traveling--it's too dangerous. For Fawkes, traveling is life. He put on time boots when he was young and has been stumbling through eras ever since. When he floats into Pocket, Calisto meets him for the first time, though Fawkes has seen Calisto--in glimpses of what hasn't happened yet. He's also seen the villains chasing them both. Now Calisto and Fawkes must rush--from Shakespeare's London to ancient Crete to California on the eve of a millennium--to save Pocket, and travelers, from being erased.

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Hammond, Mel

Lucy imagines college as more than a chance to party with other drama nerds and be roommates with her best friend Callie. College will be her fresh start. For the first time, she'll be able to introduce herself as Lucy to people she hasn't gone to school with since kindergarten. Plus, she happens to live an hour away from one of the most prestigious theater programs in the country.

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Kisner, Logan-Ashley

Erin and Max are two transgender teens trying to get to California. Max is desperate to finally transition, and Erin is longing to understand why she's on this trip to begin with. But when they find themselves stranded in the middle of the woods in a small Kentucky town, they realize they have much bigger problems. The locals need a female sacrifice for the monster that lives in the woods--according to them, the sun won't come up again until the monster eats a girl... and it only eats what it kills. Fighting back is futile; no one selected as the offering has ever survived the night. When the two strangers show up, the locals believe they have the perfect candidate. The irony of the situation is almost too much to fathom. The thing is, the locals don't know who they just trapped as their sacrifice. They don't know Erin's and Max's secrets, which could be a death sentence on a good day. And the monster that lives in their woods has never faced prey who have already fought so hard to live.

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Kobabe, Maia

An evidence-based graphic guide for people interested in chest-binding as a form of gender-affirming care.

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La Sala, Ryan

Seventeen-year-old Ollie fights to survive a deadly summer on an island off the coast of Maine after it is placed under quarantine due to a supernatural plague rising from the sea.

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Levithan, David

A thoughtful, poignant look at the AIDS crisis in the United States that includes primary source interviews, history, medical research, and cultural touchpoints. The AIDS crisis in America is complex and composed of countless individual stories of grief, love, and advocacy. Its history shows the power of youth activism, how creativity and community can be vehicles for social change, and how bigotry and misinformation led to inequality in care. 

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Lukens, F. T.

Fifteen-year-old Cam Reynolds, a human at a paranormal high school, discovers his rare ability to see the future when he has a vision of a murder, prompting him and his friends to work together to stop the killer before time runs out.

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Manansala, Mia P.

When a high school tarot reader's latest client goes missing after a troubling reading, she must apply everything she has learned from her private investigator mother to solve a case of her own.

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Norris, Alex

Isn't it wonderful when love strikes? We connect with someone beautiful and interesting and suddenly--feelings. But what to do when that first crush levels you? When sparks fly and then fizzle? Or when love just . . . hurts? Aimed at both young people who are just starting out in their love lives and those with more experience seeking a fresh perspective, How to Love is a funny, wise, and unique full-color guide to relationships of all shapes and sizes by a popular web comic creator. Chatty and confessional, humorous and heartfelt, and inclusive of all genders and sexualities, this graphic handbook pairs a classic Q&A format with Alex Norris's bright, accessible, and unmistakably clever meta comic style. Certain to resonate with teens and adults, this one-of-a-kind guide offers valuable insights on everything from first love to self-love and love ever after.

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Ostertag, Lee Knox

High school senior Magdalena Herrera already has adult responsibilities and a deadly secret hidden in the dark of the basement, one that drains her of energy and leaves her bleeding--until the return of her childhood friend, Nessa, forces her to face her secrets.

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Reyes, Sonido

Sixteen-year-old Mexican American Yami Flores starts Catholic school, determined to keep her brother out of trouble and keep herself closeted, but her priorities shift when Yami discovers that her openly gay classmate Bo is also annoyingly cute.

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Topping, Kimm

A collection of short biographies featuring young LGBTQ+ leaders working to make their world more inclusive.

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Ukazu, Ngozi

Eric Bittle may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It is nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There's checking (anything that hinders the player with possession of the puck, ranging from a stick check all the way to a physical sweep). And then, there is Jack-- his very attractive but moody captain.

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Underhill, Edward

Arden isn't excited about moving. Los Angeles was an easy place to fit in and find a supportive queer community. But Winifred, Michigan? That sounds like a much more difficult place to exist. Pasadena, California, is the perfect city for Gabe's reinvention. Everyone knew everything about him in small-town Shelby, Illinois. Gabe, who wants to be out and proud, can't wait to relocate. When Arden and Gabe randomly meet in the lobby of a motel in Nebraska, it feels like fate. Both are huge fans of the band Damaged Pixie Dream Boi, and both are trans. Clearly, the universe is trying to tell them something. Right? But after an incredible evening of hanging out, the pair part ways only knowing the other's first name. And as both boys struggle to adjust to their new homes, their thoughts keep being drawn back to their time together. Is one perfect night--just a few hours--enough to bring Arden and Gabe back to each other?

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Voris, Jenna

After being sentenced to a week of church camp as punishment, Riley Ackerman decides to commit all seven deadly sins while there.

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Winston, Robert A.

Some people join chess club, some people play football. Jack Shannon runs a secret blackjack ring in his private school's basement. What else is the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul supposed to do? Everything starts falling apart when Jack's mom is arrested for their family's ties to organized crime. His sister Beth thinks this is the Shannon family's chance to finally go straight, but Jack knows that something's not right. His mom was sold out, and he knows by whom: Peter Carlevaro: rival casino owner and jilted lover. Gross. Jack hatches a plan to find out what Carlevaro's holding over his mom's head, but he can't do it alone. He recruits his closest friends--the asexual support group he met through fandom forums. Now all he has to do is infiltrate a high-stakes gambling club and dodge dark family secrets, while hopelessly navigating what it means to be in love while asexual. Easy, right? 

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Zhao, Ann

Aromantic and asexual students Sophie and Jo, engaged in an online feud as the creators of popular relationship advice accounts "Dear Wendy" and "Sincerely, Wanda," unwittingly become real-life friends and navigate their shared aroace identities as they face the challenges of college life.

Summaries provided by DPL's catalog unless otherwise noted. Click on each title to view more information.