The Emergence of LGBTQ+ YA Fiction (and suggestions)

Books Referenced in this Episode

Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly - first YA novel, published in 1942
Spring Fire by Marijane Meaker (pen name Vin Packer), "Lesian pulp fiction" published 1952
I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip by John Donovan - first gay YA novel, published in 1969
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Gardner - first lesbian love story wiht a happy ending, published 1982
Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block - first positive potrayal of gay character, 1989
Ruby by Rosa Guy - first YA novel with LG teen of color, 1976
From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacquelyn Woodson, LGBTQ characters of color, 1995
"Hello" I Lied by M.E. Kerr, first protagonist indetifying as bisexual, 1997
Luna by Julie Anne Peters - first YA lit w/ trans character, 2004
The Pride Pack by R.J. Hamilton, first LGBTQ series, 1995, * not mentioned in episode
Other books worthy of mention:
Ash by Malinda Lo, bisexuality, variation on Cinderella Story, published 2009
Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills, novel with main character who is transitioning, 2012
Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark, novel with main character who is transitioning, 2013
My picks:
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater, 2017
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by JOhn Green and David Leviatan, 2010
Ask the Passenger by A.S. King, 2012
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and Carry On (the HP fan fiction series)
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, 2014
The Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin
* Correction: You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson is a great book, but about a person of color, not LGBTQ+. I meant to say Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron another retelling of the fairy tale, but with a black lesian main character.
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender, Middle Grade Fiction, 2021

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

A Boy’s Own Story by Edmund White

Sorted by Jackson Brown