Teen Queer Reads
A Monthly Book Club for Queer & Allied Youth (ages 12-18).
The first Wednesday of each month from 6:00 to 7:30 PM in the SAL Room.
Queer Reads is an LGBTQ-friendly book club for kids 12-18. It’s a safe place to share thoughts around books we are reading and to talk about ideas and issues.
Please stop by the youth desk for a copy of this months book.
Dates:
April 3rd, May 1st, June 5th
April Book and Date:
Different Kinds of Fruit
by Kyle Lukoff
Wednesday, April 3rd
In this funny and hugely heartfelt novel from a National Book Award finalist, a sixth-grader’s life is turned upside down when she learns her dad is trans.
Annabelle Blake fully expects this school year to be the same as every other: same teachers, same classmates, same, same, same. So she’s elated to discover there’s a new kid in town. To Annabelle, Bailey is a breath of fresh air. She loves hearing about their life in Seattle, meeting their loquacious (and kinda corny) parents, and hanging out at their massive house. And it doesn’t hurt that Bailey has a cute smile, nice hands (how can someone even have nice hands?) and smells really good.
Suddenly sixth grade is anything but the same. And when her irascible father shares that he and Bailey have something big–and surprising–in common, Annabelle begins to see herself, and her family, in a whole new light. At the same time she starts to realize that her community, which she always thought of as home, might not be as welcoming as she had thought. Together Annabelle, Bailey, and their families discover how these categories that seem to mean so much—boy, girl, gay, straight, fruit, vegetable—aren’t so clear-cut after all.
May Book and Date:
Tegan and Sara: Junior High (Tegan and Sara, 1)
by Tegan Quin (Author), Sara Quin (Author), Tillie Walden (Illustrator)
Wednesday, May 1st
From indie-pop twin-sister duo Tegan and Sara comes their bestselling contemporary middle grade graphic novel about growing up, coming out, and finding yourself through music and sisterhood―perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier’s Sisters and Sweet Valley Twins.
Before Tegan and Sara took the music world by storm, the Quins were just two identical twins trying to find their place in a new home and new school. From first crushes to the perils of puberty, surviving junior high is something the sisters plan to face side by side, just like they’ve always faced things. But growing up also means growing apart, as Tegan and Sara make different friends and take separate paths to understanding their queerness. For the first time ever, they ask who one sister is without the other.
Set in the present day, this effervescent blend of fiction and autobiography, with artwork from Eisner Award–winner Tillie Walden, offers a glimpse at the twin sisters before they became indie-pop icons, exploring their shifting relationship, their own experiences coming out, and the first steps of their musical journey.
A prequel of sorts to the authors’ bestselling adult memoir High School, now an 8-episode Freevee television series!
June Book and Date:
Melissa (previously published as GEORGE)
by Alex Gino
Wednesday, June 5th
BE WHO YOU ARE.
When people look at Melissa, they think they see a boy named George. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl.
Melissa thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web. Melissa really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part… because she’s a boy.
With the help of her best friend, Kelly, Melissa comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte — but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.