LGBTQIA+ Books for Children and Teens, Second Edition

by Kathleen Breitenbach, Liz Deskins

Librarians, teachers, and other professionals who work with children and teens will discover a range of LGBTQIA+ titles in this resource, alongside guidance on fostering spaces that are safe, warm, and welcoming for all young readers.
Books for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, asexual, and intersex readers and their allies continue to thrive and evolve in reflection of the variety of families and individual identities today. Deemed "an essential purchase" in a starred review by School Library Journal, this matchless guide returns in an updated edition. The authors highlight the best in LGBTQIA+ lit for young people while also addressing urgent topics such as the rise in book challenges. Offering library workers and teachers the information and tools they need to build a diverse, inclusive collection and confidently share it with the patrons they support, this resource:

*provides dozens of annotated book entries, complete with author and illustrator, publisher, date of publication, descriptions of each book’s LGBTQIA+ representation, and helpful prompts to foster discussion;
surveys the current censorship push against books with LGBTQIA+ topics, themes, and characters, discussing its effect on young people and how to deal with objections and book challenges head on;

*includes interviews with noted authors that explain not only why they write for children, but what they feel librarians and teachers should understand when working with queer children and their classmates;
spotlights picture books for young children that depict kids, parents, and families with a variety of gender and sexual dynamics;
introduces books for middle-grade readers, focusing on titles with young people who are questioning and finding themselves while searching for where they belong;

*shares books for teens that range from stories touching on mental health and other issues that develop as youth start high school to others that explore housing insecurity and other concerns that impact older teens; and
shares ideas for programming and marketing, advice on outreach to stakeholders, and best practices for supporting LGBTQIA+ students.

176 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Kathleen]

I'm obviously going to be biased because I worked very hard on this book (and all the years on queer kidlit book committees, which led to my involvement in this project), but I think this is going to be a fantastic resource for teachers and librarians, and I can't wait to see what other people think.

[Kait W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed how many titles were offered in this book and got a lot of great recommendations from it. It also had identity markers for any representation that was specified which was useful. A few discussion questions should’ve been reworked to respect the identities they were inviting conversation about better, but overall a good resource.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Annotated bibliography of important books for school library collections broken down by young readers, middle grade readers, younger teens, and older teens ending with a short chapter on how teachers and librarians can support LGBTQIA+ students. Includes an extensive glossary of LGBTQIA+ terms.

[Julie Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great well written resource. I especially like that the recommendations are broken down into multiple age groups. The Decoding the Alphabet graphic is very useful.