group discussion

I need to do a book talk on LGBTQ books for the teen audience. I would prefer to rely on pretty contemporary titles that are well written.

Some of my personal favorites are:

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger

Any ideas?

J-Lynn: I have not done a lot of reading in this area, but as a long-time bookseller, and someone interested in children's literature, the following books have often come up in conversations:

Tale of Two Summers, Brian Sloan
Rainbow Boys, Alex Sanchez
Rainbow High, Alex Sanchez
Rainbow Road, Alex Sanchez

Annie on My Mind, Nancy Garden (somewhat older)
Keeping You a Secret, Julie Anne Peters
Dare Truth or Promise, Paula Boock
Empress of the World, Sara Ryan

The Geography Club, Brent Hartinger
The Order of the Poison Oak, Brent Hartinger
Split Screen, Brent Hartinger

Luna, Julie Anne Peters (transgender)
Far from Xanadu, Julie Anne Peters

Hope that helps!

I'm a bit of an addict for young adult literature particularly with a gay bent. If you check my profile you will see shelves titled teen-fiction and gay.

Sort either of those on my ratings and you should get quite a list of books to check out.

Brent Hartinger and Alex Sanches are both good authors that craft well written stories.

Mark Roeder has a large number of books dealing with gay youth in the midwest. His style is a bit less schooled but he has some die hard fans and his characters are engrossing.

Ron Donaghe and Mark Kendrick are somwhere in the middle as to wordsmithing but they tell compelling stories.

I have a GLTBQ shelf of 17 YA books (BOY MEETS BOY is one that I love, too). Maybe my shelf will give you some ideas. They all have brief reviews, but let me know if you have any questions. Two of the books are also on my "favorite booktalks" shelf, but they're the oldest titles on the list.

Deliver Us from Evie, by M.E. Kerr

Am I Blue? assorted authors

Melanin Sun, by Jacqueline Woodson

What Happened to Lani Garver, by Carol Plum- Ucci

The Drowning of Stephan Jones, by Bette Greene

Most books by Francescia Lia Block