The Many Files, by Christian Burch (2006). Shy Keats Dalinger learns from his unconventional male "nanny" to be more self-confident and outgoing while the "nanny" becomes more and more a part of the family.
The Order of the Poison Oak, by Brent Hartinger (2005). Tired of being the school freak, gay 16-year-old Russel tries to escape as a summer camp counselor in a rural summer camp only to be attracted to the same counselor as his bisexual friend Min.
Totally Joe, by James Howe (2005). In 13-year-old Joe's biography assignment — the story of his life from A to Z — he bares his soul about his parents, teachers, friends and enemies. He also shares his coming out.
Absolutely, Positively Not, by David Larochelle (2005). Fifteen-year-old Steven conscientiously collects photos of girls in bikinis and dates his female classmates in this humorous attempt to fit into his Minnesota high school. In the process, he finds out some surprising things about the people around him — and himself.
Girl Nearly 16, Absolute Torture, by Sue Limb (2005). Forced to leave her boyfriend and visit with her father for two weeks, 15-year-old Jess finally learns the reason her father left her mother.
Between Mom and Jo, by Julie Anne Peters (2006). Fourteen-year-old Nick has a great life with his two moms until they split up and he's caught in the middle with no support.
Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, by Shyam Selvadurai (2005). Fourteen-year-old Amrith finds his life in Sri Lanka turned upside down when his Canadian cousin visits and Amrith falls in love with him.
What If Someone I know Is Gay: Answers to Questions about What It Means to be Gay and Lesbian, by Eric Marcus (2007). This radically updated resource covers basics and not-so-basic in a question-and-answer format.
No easy answers: Bayard Rustin and the civil rights movement, by Calvin Craig Miller (2005) [Portraits of Black Americans Series]. Although a leader in the U.S. civil rights movement, Rustin's arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for a homosexual encounter were used to discredit his work.
When I Knew, edited by Robert Trachtenberg, illustrated by Tom Bachtell (2005). More than 80 contributors briefly describe their self-discovery "eureka moment" regarding their sexual orientation in this fun magazine-style book.
Wanted, Alvarado, T. I. (2006). 190p. Bounty hunter Ladybird "Bird" Blacker has too much to deal with, from a pacifist partner to a 6'7"-tall business rival who wears a scowl you couldn't scrape off with a chisel — and then her little sister comes to town.
Vintage: A Ghost Story, by Steve Berman (2007). Rejected by his parents because he's gay and sent to live with his aunt, a teen is haunted by a handsome boy — in more ways than one — and only black magic will help.
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You, by Peter Cameron (2007). Holden Caulfield, meet James Sveck, a white, middle-class New Yorker who disdains his peers and most of the adults in his life, except for the gay man who manages his mother's art gallery.
My Side of the Story, Will Davis (2007). Only 16, cheeky Jarold, a.k.a. Jazz, hits the gay bars to escape the misery of his life.
Hear Us Out!: Lesbian and Gay Stories of Struggle, Progress, and Hope, 1950 to the Present, by Nancy Garden (2007). Fact and fiction show the struggles for LGBT teens in America during the past five decades.
Hello, Groin, by Beth Goobie (2006). Wanting to be normal, 16-year-old Dylan Kowolski tries to hide her lesbianism and develop sexual feelings for her boyfriend. At the same time, she has a passionate crush on her best female friend.
Wild Dogs, by Helen Humphreys (2005). Alice, in love with a wildlife biologist, gathers at the forest's edge with the biologist and four other people. Their goal is to save dogs that have become feral.
Becoming Chloe, Catherine Ryde Hyde (2006). Attempting to protect Wanda (aka Chloe), another homeless teenager, 17-year-old Jordan finds the brutality and beauty in life on their road trip across the country.
Wide Awake, by Levithan, David (2006). In a future American when gay Jewish Abraham Stein is elected president, lovers Jimmy and Duncan join the throngs of people traveling to Topeka to protest the governor's threat to change votes.
Hero, by Perry Moore (2007). Thom Creed, the son of superheroes, has to hide the fact that he's gay if he's going to fit into the League — but he finds more problems than that facing him.
Crashing America, by Katia Noyes (2005). Afraid that she will kill herself at age 18 as her mother did, 17-year-old Girl (formerly Gretchen) flees San Francisco on a road trip to the Midwest, searching for a place where she belongs.
Far from Xanadu, Julie Anne Peters (2005). Mike Szabo — ace softball player, weightlifter, a.k.a. Mary Elizabeth — has enough trouble surviving in her small town before a new girl, Xanadu, turns Mike's life upside down.
grl2grl, by Julie Anne Peters (2007). The young women in this collection of ten short stories are at different levels of self-discovery, searching for satisfying relationships.
Gotham Central: Half a Life, by Greg Rucka (2005). Police detective Renee Montoya's secret lesbian life, which she must keep from not only her co-workers but also her family, puts her in great danger when she is implicated in a murder and her main defender is the psychopathic criminal Two-Face.
Getting It, by Alex Sanchez (2006). Hoping to impress a sexy female classmate, 15-year-old Carlos secretly hires gay student Sal to give him an image makeover in exchange for Carlos's helping to form a Gay-Straight Alliance at their Texas high school.
Freak Show, by James St. James (2007). Outrageously over-the-top teen drag queen Billy Bloom, a new student at the very conservative Dwight D. Eisenhower Academy, finds that life is not easy for him among the rich white students with their brutal homophobia.
The Center of the World, by Andreas Steinhofel, translated by Alisa Jaffa (2005). Seventeen-year-old Phil navigates his complicated family dynamics and his first sexual relationship in a lyrical novel first published in Germany.
Breathing Underwater, by Lu Vickers (2007). In 1970s Florida, it's literally sink or swim for 12-year-old Lily who struggles for self-acceptance while dealing with her mother's mental illness.
Parrotfish, by Ellen Wittlinger (2007). When Angela, who has never felt comfortable as a girl, finally comes out as transgendered and begins life as a boy, she isn't prepared for everyone's reactions.
The Gay and Lesbian Guide to College Life, by John Baez and others (2007). College life for GLBTQ students — financing, the right school, being out or not, dealing with GLBTQphobia, and more — is the focus of this guide for both students and those who love and care about them.
Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers, by Chris Beam (2007). Four transgendered girls share their world with a volunteer in a Los Angeles school for gay and transgender students.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel (2006). Bechdel reveals her childhood experiences with a closeted gay father and her coming out as a lesbian in this powerful graphic-style memoir.
Queen of the Oddballs and Other True Stories From a Life Unaccording to Plan, by Hillary Carlip (2006). This hilarious offbeat memoir chronicles the escapades of an unconventional girl surrounded by artists and rockstars in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Heart Has Its Reasons: Young Adult Literature with Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2004, Michael Cart and Christine A. Jenkins (2006). This overview of young adult GLBTQ fiction 1970 to 2004 includes lists of books for teens.
The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing, edited by David Levithan and Billy Merrill (2006). This collection of essays and poetry from a wide diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered teens shows the complexity of today's GLBTQ youths.
Hear Me Out: True Stories of Teens Educating and Confronting Homophobia, published by Planned Parenthood of Toronto (2005). Twenty teens from a variety of social, economic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds give personal accounts of gay, lesbian, queer, transgender, transsexual and questioning young-adult experiences.
Out Law: What LGBT Youth Should Know about Their Legal Rights, by Lisa Keen [Queer Action/Queer Ideas Series] (2007). LGBT young adults can make a difference.
The Whole World Was Watching: Living in the Light of Matthew Shepard, by Romaine Patterson, with Patrick Hinds (2005). After young gay Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered in Laramie (WY), the author of this book formed a group of "angels" who surrounded the bigoted Fred Phelps of Topeka (KS) when he and a small group picketed outside the killer's trial with such signs as "Matthew in Hell." This is the autobiography of the young woman who conceived and carried out this idea.
America's Boy: A Memoir, Wade Rouse (2006). Growing up in southwestern Missouri in the 1970s and hopelessly out of step with the redneck masculinity surrounding him, Wade tries to hide the fact that he is gay by overeating.