Selection Criteria: How Did I Choose These Books?

What Books Will You Find, And Why Are They Here?

One of the sneaky curses of the lack of Good Queer Teen Fiction is that desperate readers often include books that... don't really belong. Books with a lesbian friend who never gets to date anyone 'onscreen', a brief fling with another girl while drunk before moving on, a future setting in which 'everyone is bisexual' (hurray!) but our main characters only ever date the opposite sex (sigh), a character suddenly announcing they're queer despite contradictory previous history and not playing much role in the plot, a gay ex-boyfriend in a story then then ignores him and follows the girl ...

And so, I could not trust existing booklists. Instead, I had to either read the book myself (I've read a few of them, but by no means all - yet!), or read as many reviews as possible until I felt very sure that it was okay to include a book.


The books had to :

1) a) feature a main character who was somewhere on the queer spectrum, or

b), in some cases, be all about someone queer who was not the viewpoint character (e.g. a kid dealing with their mother coming out, or 

c), when there really wasn't anything else to include, feature a significant secondary character (e.g. for asexuality).

2) and that character's sexuality/identity must be obvious, and not just an informed ability (e.g. asexual characters have to do more than 'not kiss someone' but express a non-interest in kissing, bisexual characters should show interest in both genders, not just be described as potentially bisexual).

3) be positive towards the sexuality and identity it was about.

4) actually be worth reading. Fortunately, most of the GLBTQ books are at least decent and frequently outstanding. There was a small handful that had such terrible reviews that they were not included.

5) A stand alone book, or the first in a series (unless the books are best read separately, only the first (or most queer friendly) book in a series will be listed). 

6) Suitable for readers between the ages of ten and eighteen (excluding the resources for parents and educators). Obviously some books will be accessible to younger readers and appreciated by older readers, but the average reading audience should be teenagers. This does eliminate some perfectly good adult books, and in some cases I have used my own judgement as to whether a book fits in the YA category or not.

Ages ranges are based on 1) reading levels given by publishers, 2) comments made by reviewers and 3) the ages of the protagonists, in that order.

Suggestions for any titles I have missed will be accepted gladly and considered for the lists. Corrections on any books listed incorrectly will be equally appreciated.