All of a sudden I'm reading with a mission. Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual, (Is there any Queer YA?), Fiction or Non-Fiction. I'm reading and annotating with a mission like I've never had before. Reading all this LGBTQ Young Adult prompted me to compile lists, naturally I turned to the wealth of booklists on the web, specifically public library websites.
What most all of the booklists I found have in common is a tendency to group together books with all kinds of themes: gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, as opposed to creating separate lists for each of them.
New York Public Library:
Skokie, Illinois Public Library:
Patchogie-Medford (NY) Public Library:
The Librarian in me might first think it's irrelevant to distinguish. LGBTQ in some order has been a constant, collective acronym since the days of LGB, before the T and the Q. Or the Librarian in me would say as readers and advocates or readers we ought to strive to encourage reading about everyone's experiences.
But the thing is, when you're a thirteen year old girl just beginning to question her sexual identity, you want to find characters and stories that you identify with personally. Unlike readers in general who often read in order to identify with a main character who isn't like themselves. That's less so the case with those younger readers who seek out LGBTQ literature that might provide them with a framework for an identity or an example of coming out or a potential future lifestyle.
Which is why I love, love, love San Francisco's Young Adult Library's GLBTQ page:
http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000679501
It looks cool, they use book covers but most importantly, they break up their teen booklist according to sexual, gender or political identity. I do wish they'd annotated their book list, as we're fortunately today to have a wide spectrum between books of the I'm-Coming-Out variety and the Now-That-I'm-Out variety and I'd imagine most readers would appreciate a little elaboration. Plus, if there are any younger readers reluctant to ask a librarian for book recommendations and rely on a book list or the internet for direction, these would be them.
And yes, to answer my own question, according to the San Francisco Public Library's GLBTQ Experience page there's quite a few Young Adult books with queer themes.
Thank you San Francisco, for affirming my thoughts on this subject.
But the thing is, when you're a thirteen year old girl just beginning to question her sexual identity, you want to find characters and stories that you identify with personally. Unlike readers in general who often read in order to identify with a main character who isn't like themselves. That's less so the case with those younger readers who seek out LGBTQ literature that might provide them with a framework for an identity or an example of coming out or a potential future lifestyle.
Which is why I love, love, love San Francisco's Young Adult Library's GLBTQ page:
http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000679501
It looks cool, they use book covers but most importantly, they break up their teen booklist according to sexual, gender or political identity. I do wish they'd annotated their book list, as we're fortunately today to have a wide spectrum between books of the I'm-Coming-Out variety and the Now-That-I'm-Out variety and I'd imagine most readers would appreciate a little elaboration. Plus, if there are any younger readers reluctant to ask a librarian for book recommendations and rely on a book list or the internet for direction, these would be them.
And yes, to answer my own question, according to the San Francisco Public Library's GLBTQ Experience page there's quite a few Young Adult books with queer themes.
Thank you San Francisco, for affirming my thoughts on this subject.
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