Children's books with an LGBTQ theme: Recently received
This guide lists children's books and young adult literature in Cubberley Education Library by or about lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender or queer people.
Recently received
Where sleeping girls lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Publication Date: 2024Ages 14 and up; Gr.10 and up.
After being home-schooled, Sade Hussein is starting her third year of high school at the prestigious Alfred Nobel Academy boarding school. Misfortune has been a constant companion throughout her life, but even she doesn't expect her new roommate, Elizabeth, to disappear after Sade's first night. Or for people to think she had something to do with it. With rumors swirling around her, Sade catches the attention of the girls known as the Unholy Trinity. Between learning more about them--especially Persephone, who Sade is inexplicably drawn to--and playing catchup in class, Sade already has so much on her plate.The deep dark by Molly Knox Ostertag
Publication Date: 2024Ages 14 and up; Gr.9-12.
Everyone has secrets. Mags's has teeth. Magdalena Herrera is about to graduate high school, but she already feels like an adult with serious responsibilities: caring for her ailing grandmother; working a part-time job; clandestine makeouts with a girl who has a boyfriend. And then there's her secret, which pulls her into the basement each night, drains her of energy, and leaves her bleeding.Night owls by A. R. Vishny
Publication Date: 2024Ages 13 and up; Gr.8 and up; Sydney Taylor book award, winner 2025.
In this thrilling paranormal YA romance debut steeped in folklore, two estries--owl-shifting female vampires from Jewish tradition--face New York's monstrous underworld to save the girl one of them loves with help from the boy one of them fears before they are, all of them, lost forever.Compound fracture by Andrew Joseph White
Publication Date: 2024Ages 14 and up; Gr.9-12; Printz award, honor 2025.
A queer Appalachian thriller that pulls no punches--following a trans autistic teen who's drawn into the generational struggle between the rural poor and those who exploit them. On the night Miles Abernathy--sixteen-year-old socialist and proud West Virginian--comes out as trans to his parents, he sneaks off to a party, carrying evidence that may finally turn the tide of the blood feud plaguing Twist Creek: Photos that prove the county's Sheriff Davies was responsible for the so-called "accident" that injured his dad, killed others, and crushed their grassroots efforts to unseat him.Under this red rock by Mindy McGinnis
Publication Date: 2024Ages 14 and up; Gr.9-12.
Neely's monsters don't always follow her rules, so when the little girl under her bed, the man in her closet, and the disembodied voice that shadows her every move become louder, she knows she's in trouble. With a history of mental illness in her family and the suicide of her older brother heavy on her mind, Neely takes a job as a tour guide in the one place her monsters can't follow--the caverns. There . . . she meets Mila. Mila is everything Neely isn't--beautiful, strong, and confident. As the two become closer, Neely's innocent crush grows into something more.Flamboyants: the queer Harlem renaissance I wish I'd known by George M. Johnson; Charly Palmer (Ill.
Publication Date: 2024Ages 14-18; Gr.10-12.
In Flamboyants, George M. Johnson celebrates writers, performers, and activists from 1920s Black America whose sexualities have been obscured throughout history. Through 14 essays, Johnson reveals how American culture has been shaped by icons who are both Black and Queer - and whose stories deserve to be celebrated in their entirety.Road Home by Rex Ogle
Publication Date: 2024Ages 14-18; Gr.9 and up.
When Rex was outed the summer after he graduated high school, his father gave him a choice: he could stay at home, find a girlfriend, and attend church twice a week, or he could be gay--and leave. Rex left, driving toward the only other gay man he knew and a toxic relationship that would ultimately leave him homeless and desperate on the streets of New Orleans.Icarus by K. Ancrum
Publication Date: 2024Ages 13 and up; Gr.8 and up.
Icarus Gallagher is a thief. He steals priceless art and replaces it with his father's impeccable forgeries. For years, one man--the wealthy Mr. Black--has been their target in revenge for his role in the death of Icarus's mother. To keep their secret, Icarus adheres to his own strict rules to keep people, and feelings, at bay: Don't let anyone close. Don't let anyone touch you. And, above all, don't get caught. Until one night, he does. Not by Mr. Black but by his mysterious son, Helios, now living under house arrest in the Black mansion. Instead of turning Icarus in, Helios bargains for something even more dangerous--a friendship that breaks every single one of Icarus's rules.Gwen & Art are not in love by Lex Croucher
Publication Date: 2023Age 14 and up; Gr.10 and up.
It's been hundreds of years since King Arthur's reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other. They're forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen's childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.Sleep like death by Kalynn Bayron
Publication Date: 2024Ages 13-17; Gr.7 and up.
Princess Eve was raised with one purpose: to destroy the Knight. Far too many of subjects of Queen's Bridge have been devastated by this evil sorcerer's trickery. Eve's own unique magic--the ability to conjure weapons from nature--makes her a worthy adversary. As she approaches her seventeenth birthday, Eve is ready to battle. But her mother, Queen Regina, has been acting bizarrely, talking to a strange mirror alone every night. Then a young man claiming to be the Knight's messenger appears and shares a shocking truth about Eve's past.So this is ever after by F. T. Lukens
Publication Date: 2022Lexile measure 640; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Arek hadn't thought much about what would happen after he completed the prophecy that said he was destined to save the Kingdom of Ere from its evil ruler. So now that he's finally managed to (somewhat clumsily) behead the evil king (turns out magical swords yanked from bogs don't come pre-sharpened), he and his rag-tag group of quest companions are at a bit of a loss for what to do next. As a temporary safeguard, Arek's best friend and mage, Matt, convinces him to assume the throne until the true heir can be rescued from her tower. Except that she's dead. Now Arek is stuck as king, a role that comes with a magical catch: choose a spouse by your eighteenth birthday, or wither away into nothing. With his eighteenth birthday only three months away, and only Matt in on the secret, Arek embarks on a desperate bid to find a spouse to save his life--starting with his quest companions. But his attempts at wooing his friends go painfully and hilariously wrong...until he discovers that love might have been in front of him all along.Queerceañera by Alex Crespo
Publication Date: 2024Ages 13-17; Gr.8 and up;.
This irresistible and hilarious rom-com from acclaimed author Alex Crespo is a whirlwind of telenovela-level drama and hijinks when Joaquin Zoido finds himself fake-dating his childhood crush and newly minted date to his queerceañera.
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- Last Updated: Apr 22, 2025 12:14 PM
- URL: https://guides.library.stanford.edu/LGBTQchildrensbooks
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