LGBTQ teens will see more of themselves in books this summer.
In its BNTEEN Blog, Barnes and Noble's released its list of 22 most anticipated summer reads for LGBTQ young adults. The books that made the cut span multiple genres and include many colorful characters.
Among the top 22 reads are M-E Girard’s Girl Mans Up, about a girl who looks like a guy and is just fine with that, and Eric Devine’s Look Past, about a transgender teenager who receives death threats after his girlfriend is murdered.
For those who love a good old-fashioned coming out story, there’s Rafi Mittlefehldt’s It Looks Like This. It’s about a 14-year-old boy in the suburbs of Virginia grappling with his sexuality in a conservative town.
“He has a very church-going family. He develops a crush on this kid in school who to his astonishment, starts to like him back. And then everything goes to hell because people find out about it,” said Mittlefehldt.
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Mittlefehldt, a Houston native who lives in Brooklyn with his husband, said it’s important for LGBTQ teens to have diverse stories about being LGBTQ.
“[Like] a simple romance story where being who they are doesn’t create any conflict — it’s just part of the story. At the same time, I think it’s important to have stories where things don’t go well and [homophobia] is shown to be something that needs to be addressed.”
See the complete list of BNTEEN Blog’s 22 most anticipated summer reads for LGBTQ young adults.