June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month, and it’s more imperative than ever to support queer authors amid the barrage of book bans and challenges. However, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend: significantly fewer children’s books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes are being published compared to just a few years ago. As book bans and anti-queer legislation impact schools and libraries, book sales numbers drop, which is exactly what publishers look at when choosing books to publish. This hits children’s publishing especially hard, since kids, of course, are not usually the ones buying books. Yet, some excellent books have managed to fight their way to being published. These five new LGBTQ+ middle grade novels are wonderful reads for Pride Month and beyond.
A Song for You & I by K. O’NeillO’Neil’s latest graphic novel is set in a world reminiscent of A Wizard of Earthsea. A young pegasus-riding ranger-in-training has nearly completed their schooling and will soon be able to carve their name on the arches leading inside the school. However, the name everyone calls them doesn’t feel right. Their final assignment is insultingly easy: To help an injured, violin-playing sheepherder complete his tasks. But the assignment turns out to be just what their heart needs. This is such a lovely, sweet, and gentle middle grade fantasy. |
A World Worth Saving by Kyle LukoffThis powerful middle grade novel, infused with Jewish mythology, centers a trans teen, A, whose parents force him to attend anti-trans parent/child group meetings. While miserable at the meetings, A does make friends with fellow trans tweens. When one goes missing, A runs away with a fellow group member to try to find their friend, a golem accompanying them. But bigger things are at play than one missing friend. |
The Flicker by H.E. EdgmonI love this dystopian middle grade set in the ruins of Appalachia. The Flicker refers to a solar flare that burned just about everything — and everyone. Millie and Rose are step-siblings who survived, raising their baby sibling together despite being at one another’s throats. However, their food stores are dwindling, and the two can’t agree on where to go. Millie wants to find her Indigenous grandmother in South Carolina. Rose wants to find a mysterious sanctuary that broadcasts cryptic messages on the radio. While on the dark side, the story is still full of hope, and there are so many great discussions about gender and being trans. |
Splinter & Ash by Marieke NijkampThis is one of my favorite recent middle grade fantasy novels; 8-12 year-old me would’ve devoured it again and again! The novel rotates between two characters. Ash is a disabled princess, returning home from an aunt’s estate to help her kingdom. Splinter dreams of becoming a knight like her brother, and feels like neither a boy nor a girl, though she does use she/her pronouns. Ash decides to sponsor Splinter as her personal squire after Splinter saves her life, but only boys have become knights before. |
Camp Twisted Pine by Ciera BurchThis is a spooky (but not too scary) middle grade horror about the Jersey Devil. Naomi’s parents are getting divorced, and they decide to send her and her twin younger brothers to a summer camp as they work things out, something Naomi very much does NOT want. She immediately notices something wrong at the camp. There’s too much kudzu, which shouldn’t be there at all. Then, campers start disappearing. Meanwhile, she develops a crush on another girl camper, who is Deaf. To figure out what’s happening and how to get the other kids back, Naomi will need to push against her anxiety and communicate with her fellow campers. |
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