For Pride month this June, Scholastic announced its titles that celebrate LGBTQ+ voices, stories and experiences for readers of all ages. This year’s books range from affirming middle‑grade reads to powerful YA novels intended to reflect the diversity, resilience, and creativity of the LGBTQ+ community, and the importance of representation on the page.
This year’s titles include:
Fruitcake: A Graphic Novel (out now) by Rex Ogle. Eighth grade isn’t off to a great start. Everyone but Rex seems to be coupling up, and he’s starting to feel like an outsider… until he meets Charlotte. She’s fearless, smart, pretty, and she likes him back. But there’s someone else Rex can’t stop thinking about.
Drew is Rex’s childhood best friend, so when he kisses Rex, new feelings begin to stir. Though at school, Drew acts like he doesn’t even know Rex, making those feelings turn really confusing really fast. Rex wants to be more like his friend, Nina, and not care what others think, but being himself seems impossible. When did middle school get so confusing?
Like We Were in Paris (out now) by Stephan Lee. Ben Lim is so excited for his French Club’s trip to the most romantic city in the world: Paris. Ben’s even made a to-do list of all the things he wants to accomplish but things go wrong the first night when Ben finds himself locked out of the youth hostel…until morning. Also locked out? Tyler Travers, the most popular and handsome boy in school.
The two of them roam Paris and stumbling upon the glittering Eiffel Tower, a drag show in the Marais, and even a moped ride.
They couldn’t be more different, but Ben fights his growing attraction to Tyler.
Opting Out (out now) by Maia Kobabe and Swati “Lucky” Srikumar. Saachi is a storyteller. At school, she’s surrounded by kids she’s known forever — including her best friend, Lyla, who shares Saachi’s love of fantasy novels and creating new worlds.
But as seventh grade starts, kids are changing. Suddenly, it matters who you like and if you can find a boyfriend or girlfriend. Saachi’s not interested in any of that boy/girl stuff.
Saachi also doesn’t love all the ways her body is changing. What if she doesn’t feel like a girl — or like a boy, either? In a world where there is so much either/or, Saachi is going to need to find her own options . . . and create her own story.
The Names We Buried (release date June 2) by Mia Siegert. Jaden’s 17th birthday was meant to be monumental. As a surprise, his dad and Jaden’s boyfriend, Andy, arranged to take him to the courthouse to get his name changed to reflect his gender. But the clerk accuses Jaden’s dad of forging Jaden’s original birth certificate, and due to his criminal past, he’s arrested.
Heartbroken but suspicious, Jaden takes a DNA test and makes a shocking discovery: he’s not biologically related to his dad but also identifies him as a perfect genetic match for a couple who have spent the last 17 years searching for their kidnapped child.
Their kidnapped daughter.
Coming Out Perfect No. 1: A Graphic Novel (out on July 7) by Richard Mercado. When Kevin’s parents ignore his attempts to come out of the closet, he devises a plan to become more like Raymond, the popular gay kid at his high school. After all, if Kevin can do everything perfectly, too, then people will have to pay attention to him.
But life under Raymond’s wing isn’t easy: a dress code, new things Kevin can and can’t do, and even abandoning his old “uncool” friends. Perfection comes at a cost, and Kevin must decide whether it’s worth the sacrifice.
The Unpoetic Life of August Grey (release date Oct. 20) by Max Fischer. This titlecenters on grief, first love, and the joy of becoming who you are. For seventeen-year-old August Grey, life in his small Nebraska town hasn’t been the same ever since his best friend Waylon died.
When August earns a spot at a prestigious summer writing program in New York, the city brings its own challenges: a strained reunion with an estranged father, life write without Waylon, and the arrival of Levi, August’s old crush.
As August wrestles with grief, secrets and the tentative spark of new love, he must decide if he can finally embrace his queer identity and the joy of being himself.
–Rich Lopez