Booklists for Educators

Explore Our Booklists for Youth:

Pride for Middle Graders

The Best at It
by Maulik Pancholy

Twelve-year-old Rahul, an Indian-American boy growing up in small-town Indiana, struggles to come to terms with his identity, including that he may be gay.

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Zenobia July
by Lisa Bunker

Zenobia wrestles with the challenges of a new school, a new family, a hateful internet troll, and presenting her true gender for the first time.

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Drum Roll, Please
by Lisa Jenn Bigelow

Summer brings big changes for Melly: her parents split up, her best friend ditches her, and she finds herself unexpectedly falling for another girl at camp.

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Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World
by Ashley Herring Blake

Twelve-year-old Ivy Aberdeen's house is destroyed in a tornado, and in the aftermath of the storm, she begins to develop feelings for another girl at school. Ages 10-14.

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One True Way
by Shannon Hitchcock

When Allison Drake met Samantha, she felt she’d found a friend. As their friendship grows it begins to evolve into a deeper emotion, and in North Carolina in 1977, it is not easy to discover that you might be gay. Ages 10-14.

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George
by Alex Gino

Knowing herself to be a girl despite her outwardly male appearance, George is denied a female role in the class play before teaming up with a friend to reveal her true self. Ages 10-14.

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Lily and Dunkin
by Donna Gephart

In a poignant tale, a transgender girl and a boy struggling with bipolar disorder forge a friendship based on their respective experiences as outsiders trying to fit in. Ages 10-14.

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The Other Boy
by M.G. Hennessey; illustrated by Sfé R. Monster

Shane hides his transgender identity, but when a classmate threatens to expose him, he starts a journey toward acceptance. Ages 10-14.

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Hurricane Child
by Kheryn Callender

Born on Water Island in the Virgin Islands during a hurricane, which is considered bad luck, twelve-year-old Caroline falls in love with another girl--and together they set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother. Ages 9-12.