Representation matters. Seeing ourselves in pop culture, society, and literature is so important to our mental well being, the sense of feeling seen, and the need for connection in society. Here is a curated list of LGBTQIA+ books from the manager of Second Star to the Right Bookstore who created the “Gay It Forward” program in the Denver Metro Area.

Drama
by Raina Telgemeier

Drama
by Raina Telgemeier
9780545326995, 0545326990
Pub Date: 9/1/12
Ages 10 to 14, Grades 5 to 9
$10.99 USD

Summary: 
From Raina Telgemeier, the #1 New York Times bestselling, multiple Eisner Award-winning author of Smile and Sisters! Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school’s production of Moon over Mississippi, she can’t really sing. Instead she’s the set designer for the drama department’s stage crew, and this year she’s determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. But how can she, when she doesn’t know much about carpentry, ticket sa…


The Witch Boy
by Molly Knox Ostertag

The Witch Boy
by Molly Knox Ostertag
9781338089516, 133808951X
Pub Date: 10/31/17
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$12.99 USD

Summary: 
From the illustrator of the web comic Strong Female Protagonist comes a debut middle-grade graphic novel about family, identity, courage — and magic.In thirteen-year-old Aster’s family, all the girls are raised to be witches, while boys grow up to be shapeshifters. Anyone who dares cross those lines is exiled. Unfortunately for Aster, he still hasn’t shifted . . . and he’s still fascinated by witchery, no matter how forbidden it might be.When a mysterious danger threatens the other boy…



Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World
by Ashley Herring Blake

Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World
by Ashley Herring Blake
9780316515467, 0316515469
Pub Date: 3/6/18
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$16.99 USD

Summary:
In the wake of a destructive tornado, one girl develops feelings for another in this stunning, tender novel about emerging identity, perfect for fans of The Thing About Jellyfish. When a tornado rips through town, twelve-year-old Ivy Aberdeen’s house is destroyed and her family of five is displaced. Ivy feels invisible and ignored in the aftermath of the storm–and what’s worse, her notebook filled with secret drawings of girls holding hands has gone missing. Mysteriously, Ivy’s drawings …


Felix Yz
by Lisa Bunker

Felix Yz
by Lisa Bunker
9780425288511, 042528851X
Pub Date: 6/5/18
Ages 10 to 14, Grades 5 to 9
$8.99 USD


Summary: 
“If it wasn’t for the fused-with-Zyx thing, I suppose I would just be normal—whatever that means.”
When Felix Yz was three years old, a hyperintelligent fourth dimensional being became fused inside him after one of his father’s science experiments went terribly wrong. The creature is friendly, but Felix—now thirteen—won’t be able to grow to adulthood while they’re still melded together. So a risky Procedure is planned to separate them . . . but it may end up killing them both instead.


Kiss Number 8
by Ellen T. Crenshaw, Colleen AF Venable

Kiss Number 8
by Ellen T. Crenshaw, Colleen AF Venable
9781250196934, 1250196930
Pub Date: 3/12/19
Ages 14 to 18
$24.99 USD

Summary:
Mads is pretty happy with her life. She goes to church with her family, and minor league baseball games with her dad. She goofs off with her best friend Cat, and has thus far managed to avoid getting kissed by Adam, the boy next door. It’s everything she hoped high school would be… until all of a sudden, it’s not. Her dad is hiding something big—so big it could tear her family apart. And that’s just the beginning of her problems: Mads is starting to figure out that she doesn’t want to k…


Drum Roll, Please
by Lisa Jenn Bigelow

Drum Roll, Please
by Lisa Jenn Bigelow
9780062791153, 006279115X
Pub Date: 5/14/19
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$7.99 USD

Summary:
Melly only joined the school band because her best friend, Olivia, begged her to. But to her surprise, quiet Melly loves playing the drums. It’s the only time she doesn’t feel like a mouse. Now she and Olivia are about to spend the next two weeks at Camp Rockaway, jamming under the stars in the Michigan woods. But this summer brings big changes that throw Melly’s life completely out of sync: her parents split up, her best friend ditches her, and Melly finds herself unexpectedly falling f…


Zenobia July
by Lisa Bunker

Zenobia July
by Lisa Bunker
9780451479402, 0451479408
Pub Date: 5/21/19
Ages 10 And Up, Grades 5 And Up
$17.99 USD

Summary: 
The critically acclaimed author of Felix Yz crafts a bold, heartfelt story about a trans girl solving a cyber mystery and coming into her own. Zenobia July is starting a new life. She used to live in Arizona with her father; now she’s in Maine with her aunts. She used to spend most of her time behind a computer screen, improving her impressive coding and hacking skills; now she’s coming out of her shell and discovering a community of friends at Monarch Middle School. People used to tell…



Hurricane Child (Scholastic Gold)
by Kacen Callender

Hurricane Child (Scholastic Gold)
by Kacen Callender
9781338129311, 1338129317
Pub Date: 10/1/19
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$7.99 USD

Summary:

Prepare to be swept up by this exquisite novel that reminds us that grief and love can open the world in mystical ways. Winner of the Stonewall Book AwardWinner of the Lambda Literary AwardCaroline Murphy is a Hurricane Child. Being born during a hurricane is unlucky, and 12-year-old Caroline has had her share of bad luck lately. She’s hated and bullied by everyone in her small school on St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, a spirit only she can see won’t stop following her, and — worst…


Snapdragon
by Kat Leyh

Snapdragon
by Kat Leyh
9781250171115, 1250171113
Pub Date: 2/4/20
Ages 10 to 14
$12.99 USD

Summary: 
Snap’s town has a witch. And when Snap’s dog goes missing, the first place she looks is the witch’s house. She finds her dog there, recovering from being hit by a car, in the care of a woman named Jacks. She is a crocks-wearing, internet-savvy older woman whos collects roadkill, put their spirits to rest, and cleans and sells their articulated skeletons online. They make a deal: If Jacks teaches Snap how to take care of a crate of orphaned baby opossums that Snap rescued, Snap will assis…



King and the Dragonflies
by Kacen Callender

King and the Dragonflies
by Kacen Callender
9781338129335, 1338129333
Pub Date: 2/4/20
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$17.99 USD


Summary:

Winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature!

Winner of the 2020 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction and Poetry!

In a small but turbulent Louisiana town, one boy’s grief takes him beyond the bayous of his backyard, to learn that there is no right way to be yourself.

FOUR STARRED REVIEWS!


Middle School's a Drag, You Better Werk!
by Greg Howard

Middle School’s a Drag, You Better Werk!
by Greg Howard
9780525517528, 0525517529
Pub Date: 2/11/20
Ages 10 And Up, Grades 5 And Up
$16.99 USD

Summary: 
In this heartfelt and hilarious new novel from Greg Howard, an enterprising boy starts his own junior talent agency and signs a thirteen-year-old aspiring drag queen as his first client. Twelve-year-old Mikey Pruitt—president, founder, and CEO of Anything, Inc.—has always been an entrepreneur at heart. Inspired by his grandfather Pap Pruitt, who successfully ran all sorts of businesses from a car wash to a roadside peanut stand, Mikey is still looking for his million-dollar idea. Unfortu…



The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James
by Ashley Herring Blake

The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James
by Ashley Herring Blake
9780316515542, 031651554X
Pub Date: 3/24/20
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$7.99 USD
Summary:

Twelve-year-old Sunny St. James navigates heart surgery, reconnecting with her lost mother, first kisses, and emerging feelings for another girl in this stunning, heartfelt novel.

When Sunny St. James receives a new heart, she decides to set off on a “New Life Plan”: 1) do awesome amazing things she could never do before, 2) find a new best friend, and 3) kiss a boy for the first time.

Her “New Life Plan” seems to be racing forward, but when she meets her new best friend Quinn, Sunny ques…


The Ship We Built
by Lexie Bean

The Ship We Built
by Lexie Bean
9780525554837, 0525554831
Pub Date: 5/26/20
Ages 10 to 14, Grades 5 to 9
$16.99 USD

Summary: 
Tender and wise, The Ship We Built is about the bravery it takes to stand up for yourself—even to those you love—and the power of finding someone who treasures you for everything you are.

Sometimes I have trouble filling out tests when the name part feels like a test too…. When I write letters, I love that you have to read all of my thoughts and stories before I say any name at all. You have to make it to the very end to know.

Rowan has too many secrets to write down in the pages of a…


Cattywampus
by Ash Van Otterloo

Cattywampus
by Ash Van Otterloo
9781338561593, 1338561596
Pub Date: 8/4/20
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$17.99 USD

Summary:

The magical story of a hex that goes haywire, and the power of friendship to set things right!In the town of Howler’s Hollow, conjuring magic is strictly off-limits. Only nothing makes Delpha McGill’s skin crawl more than rules. So when she finds her family’s secret book of hexes, she’s itching to use it to banish her mama’s money troubles. She just has to keep it quieter than a church mouse — not exactly Delpha’s specialty. Trouble is, Katybird Hearn is hankering to get her hands on th…


Beetle & the Hollowbones
by Aliza Layne

Beetle & the Hollowbones
by Aliza Layne
9781534441545, 1534441549
Pub Date: 8/4/20
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$12.99 USD

Summary: A Stonewall Honor Book

An enchanting, riotous, and playfully illustrated debut graphic novel following a young goblin trying to save her best friend from the haunted mall—perfect for fans of Steven Universe and Adventure Time.

In the eerie town of ‘Allows, some people get to be magical sorceresses, while other people have their spirits trapped in the mall for all ghastly eternity.

Then there’s twelve-year-old goblin-witch Beetle, who’s caught in between. She’d rather skip being homeschoole…


Jo
by Kathleen Gros

Jo
by Kathleen Gros
9780062875969, 0062875965
Pub Date: 9/22/20
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$12.99 USD

Summary: 
Jo March has always loved making up stories for her sisters, Meg, Beth, and Amy. But when eighth grade starts, Jo decides it’s time to get serious about her writing and starts a blog to kick-start this journey. Then Freddie, a girl on the school newspaper, asks Jo to join as a staff writer. This could be the perfect chance to see if she’s got what it takes to be a hard-hitting journalist. But even with Freddie cheering her on, writing news stories is a lot harder than she imagined.

That’…


Spin with Me
by Ami Polonsky

Spin with Me
by Ami Polonsky
9780374313500, 0374313504
Pub Date: 2/16/21
Ages 8 to 12
$16.99 USD

Summary:
In this elegant dual narrative, Essie is a thirteen-year-old girl feeling glum about starting a new school after her professor dad takes a temporary teaching position in a different town. She has 110 days here and can’t wait for them to end. Then she meets Ollie: delicate, blue eyes, short hair, easy smile. At first, Essie thinks she has a typical crush on a beautiful boy. But as her crush blossoms, she soon realizes that Ollie is not a boy or a girl, but gender non-binary.

Meanwhile, O…


The Deepest Breath
by Meg Grehan

The Deepest Breath
by Meg Grehan
9780358354758, 0358354757
Pub Date: 2/16/21
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$16.99 USD


Summary:

An accessible and beautifully written middle grade novel-in-verse by award-winning Irish author Meg Grehan about Stevie, a young girl reckoning with anxiety about the many things she has yet to understand—including her feelings about her friend Chloe. Perfect for fans of Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, Star Crossed, and George.

11-year-old Stevie is an avid reader and she knows a lot of things about a lot of things. But these are the things she’d like to know the most…


Girl Haven
by Lilah Sturges, Meaghan Carter

Girl Haven
by Lilah Sturges, Meaghan Carter
9781620108659, 1620108658
Pub Date: 2/16/21
Ages 10 And Up, Grades 5 to 8
$14.99 USD

Summary: 
Full of wonder, humor, and heart, Girl Haven is the newest original story from the author of Lumberjanes.

Three years ago, Ash’s mom left home and never returned, leaving behind a husband and child and a shed full of mystical curiosities related to the all-girl fantasy world she’d created as a child—Koretris. One day Ash invites a new group of friends from Pride Club over, and they try one of the spells to enter Koretris. To their amazement, they’re all transported to a magical realm fil…


Middletown
by Sarah Moon

Middletown
by Sarah Moon
9781646140428, 1646140427
Pub Date: 4/6/21
Ages 14 And Up, Grades 9 to 17
$18.99 USD

Summary: 
Thirteen-year-old Eli likes baggy clothes, baseball caps, and one girl in particular. Her seventeenyear- old sister Anna is more traditionally feminine; she loves boys and staying out late. They are sisters, and they are also the only family each can count on. Their dad has long been out of the picture, and their mom lives at the mercy of her next drink. When their mom lands herself in enforced rehab, Anna and Eli are left to fend for themselves. With no legal guardian to keep them out…



Thornlight
by Claire Legrand

Thornlight
by Claire Legrand
9780062696663, 0062696661
Pub Date: 4/20/21
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$16.99 USD

Summary:
Centuries and centuries ago, the Vale was split in two in a war between witches. Ever since, an evil darkness has been climbing, climbing, climbing out of the Break, infecting everything it touches. The people of the Vale fight it with discs made of lightning—and with an ancient spell. Brier Skystone is the youngest, most talented lightning harvester the Vale’s ever seen. Her twin sister, Thorn, is a sensitive artist who’s braver than even she knows. And young Queen Celestyna Hightower…


Thanks a Lot, Universe
by Chad Lucas

Thanks a Lot, Universe
by Chad Lucas
9781419751028, 1419751026
Pub Date: 5/11/21
Ages 10 to 14, Grades 5 to 9
$16.99 USD
Summary:
 A moving middle-grade debut for anyone who’s ever felt like they don’t belong

Brian has always been anxious, whether at home, or in class, or on the basketball court. His dad tries to get him to stand up for himself and his mom helps as much as she can, but after he and his brother are placed in foster care, Brian starts having panic attacks. And he doesn’t know if things will ever be “normal” again… Ezra’s always been popular. He’s friends with most of the kids on his basketball te…



How to Become a Planet
by Nicole Melleby

How to Become a Planet
by Nicole Melleby
9781643750361, 1643750364
Pub Date: 5/25/21
Ages 9 to 12, Grades 4 to 7
$16.95 USD


Summary:
 
For Pluto, summer has always started with a trip to the planetarium. It’s the launch to her favorite season, which also includes visits to the boardwalk arcade, working in her mom’s pizzeria, and her best friend Meredith’s birthday party. But this summer, none of that feels possible.

A month before the end of the school year, Pluto’s frightened mom broke down Pluto’s bedroom door. What came next were doctor’s appointments, a diagnosis of depression, and a big black hole that still sits…


Both Can Be True
by Jules Machias

Both Can Be True
by Jules Machias
9780063053892, 0063053896
Pub Date: 6/8/21
Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7
$16.99 USD

Summary: 
Ash is no stranger to feeling like an outcast. For someone who cycles through genders, it’s a daily struggle to feel in control of how people perceive you. Some days Ash is undoubtedly girl, but other times, 100 percent guy. Daniel lacks control too—of his emotions. He’s been told he’s overly sensitive more times than he can count. He can’t help the way he is, and he sure wishes someone would accept him for it.

So when Daniel’s big heart leads him to rescue a dog that’s about to be eutha…


Almost Flying
by Jake Maia Arlow

Almost Flying
by Jake Maia Arlow
9780593112939, 0593112938
Pub Date: 6/8/21
Ages 10 to 14, Grades 5 to 9
$17.99 USD

Summary: 

In this unabashedly queer middle grade debut, a week-long amusement park road trip becomes a true roller coaster of emotion when Dalia realizes she has more-than-friend feelings for her new bestie.

Would-be amusement park aficionado Dalia only has two items on her summer bucket list: (1) finally ride a roller coaster and (2) figure out how to make a new best friend. But when her dad suddenly announces that he’s engaged, Dalia’s schemes come to a screeching halt. With Dalia’s future steps…