LibGuides: Rainbow List 2021- LGBTQ+ for Teens: Home

About the Rainbow Book List

The Rainbow Book List, now in its 14th year, is an annual annotated bibliography consisting of quality LGBTQIA+ literature intended for readers from birth to age 18. This resource guide is meant to assist librarians, educators, parents, and others to ensure that everyone from babies and children to tweens and teens have access to selecting quality books with significant content regarding inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and all that extends throughout the Rainbow spectrum.

The Rainbow Book List is brought to you by the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association.

For the full RAINBOW BOOK LIST

LibGuide Creator

Heather Cunningham

Summaries

All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
Call Number: TEEN 92 Johnson
In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.
Camp by L. C. Rosen
Call Number: TEEN Ros
At Camp Outland, a camp for LGBTQIA teens, sixteen-year-old Randall "Del" Kapplehoff's plan to have Hudson Aaronson-Lim fall in love with him succeeds, but both are hiding their true selves.
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Call Number: TEEN Tho
Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school's bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.
The Circus Rose by Betsy Cornwell
Call Number: TEEN Cor
A retelling of Snow White and Rose Red in which teenage twins Ivory and Rosie battle evil religious extremists to save their loves and their circus family.
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger; Rovina Cai (Illustrator)
Call Number: TEEN Lit
Elatsoe--Ellie for short--lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals--most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered.
I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee
Call Number: TEEN Lee
Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn't dance. Wear bright colors. Shouldn't call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she's about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her.
Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia; Anna-Marie McLemore
Call Number: TEEN Mej
A teen who secretly arrived with the meteor that gave her small hometown its name discovers that she is turning back into stardust and teams up with her best friend in an effort to secure her human existence by entering a local beauty pageant that has always been won by thin, blonde, white girls.
War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi
Call Number: TEEN Ony
In 2172, when much of the world is unlivable, sisters Onyii and Ify dream of escaping war-torn Nigeria and finding a better future together but are, instead, torn apart.
When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey
Call Number: TEEN Gai
When Alexis accidentally kills a classmate on prom night using magic, her best friends Roya, Iris, Paulie, Marcelina, and Maryam join in using their powers to try to set things right.
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
Call Number: TEEN Joh
Liz Lighty has always done her best to avoid the spotlight in her small, wealthy, and prom-obsessed midwestern high school, after all, her family is black and rather poor, especially since her mother died. But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz's plans come crashing down . . . until she's reminded of her school's scholarship for prom king and queen.

Rainbow List 2021- LGBTQ+ for Teens: Home

Top 10 Titles!

About the Rainbow Book List

LibGuide Creator

Summaries