LGBTI+

Chloe Green has survived almost four years in her ultra-conservative high school, focused on the one thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her fiercest rival is Shara Wheeler – it-girl, prom queen, practically perfect. But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe – and vanishes.

Rowan Ellis has written a frank, inclusive and kind guide to discovering your sexuality and dealing with the good and bad stuff that comes with it. She takes on the role of the cool older sister who tells you everything you want to know, while also giving you the tools to keep yourself safe. The book provides a glossary of terms associated with the LGBTQ+ community, looks at issues such as mental health, homophobia, and consent and also celebrates people who have made a difference to the lives of queer people.

Kisses for Jet is a graphic novel set in the Netherlands in 1999. Jet, sixteen, is sent to live in a boarding house when their parents move abroad to (mysteriously) take care of the Millennium Bug.

We Are the Rainbow! is a thoughtful, warm, and engaging board book discussing the values attached to the colours of the Pride flag as they relate to children anywhere on spectrums of identity including orientation, gender, race, and ability. The language is simple, and runs with a constant undercurrent that the reader is an important and special individual, full of potential to make the world a kind and beautiful place to live.

My Own Way, written and illustrated in the original Portuguese by Joana Estrela, and translated and adapted by the poet Jay Hulme, is a great way to introduce the concept of gender to children. With brightly coloured illustrations in a direct, clear style, the poem shows children that they are the ones who get to decide who they are – and that includes their gender and its expression. In simple language, the book teaches children to critically think about the world and about the things they assume about who others are.

In the acknowledgements of this stunning work, arguably the most important and impressive gay teenage novel ever published in Britain, Patrick Ness cites two influences: Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and Judy Blume’s Forever. He utilises the structure of the former and Blume’s empathetic frankness, making both very much his own. The novel is also informed, perhaps, by elements of authorial experience: Adam Thorn, like his creator, is a gay American from an evangelical background.

Elliot McHugh is a young woman just starting out in college. This novel is about her freshman year, and the struggles she has, both academically and with her personal relationships. This book is fast paced, often funny, written in colloquial and informal language. Elliot is a bisexual girl, living with a diagnosis of ADHD, and her college life is rather chaotic and eventful.

Set in Northern Ireland, Kelly McCaughrain’s début novel is a charming and quirky love story with important things to say about identity and belonging. Finch ‘Franconi’ Sullivan, along with his twin sister Birdie, is half of the star trapeze act in his parents’ circus. When he’s not in the air, Finch is either being bullied or trying to avoid making friends with Hector, the clumsy new boy in school who trades maths tutoring for juggling lessons.