56 LGBT related young adult novels

Absolutely, Positively Not, also known as Absolutely, Positively Not Gay is the first book by author David LaRochelle. The book centers on a 16-year-old homosexual boy, who struggles with his sexual feelings.

Annie On My Mind is a 1982 novel by Nancy Garden about the romantic relationship between two 17-year-old New York City girls, Annie and Liza.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a coming-of-age young adult novel by American author Benjamin Alire Sáenz which was first published February 21, 2012. Set in El Paso, Texas in 1987, the novel follows two Mexican-American teenagers, Aristotle "Ari" Mendoza and Dante Quintana, their friendship, and their struggles with racial and ethnic identity, sexuality, and family relationships. Since its publication, the novel has received near-universal critical acclaim and numerous accolades.

The Arizona Kid is a 1988 novel by Ron Koertge about a summer 16-year-old Billy spends living with his gay uncle and working with race horses.

Ash is a young adult fantasy lesbian novel by Malinda Lo first published in 2009. It is a reworking of the Cinderella fairy tale that reimagines the title character, Ash, as a lesbian teenager. The novel centers around the familiar story of Cinderella, her father recently remarried, and lamenting the misery of her new life with stepsisters and a step mother. The twist arrives when Ash falls in love with the King's respected Huntress Kaisa, after she has made a commitment to dark fairy prince Sidhean

Baby Be-Bop is the fifth book in the Dangerous Angels series by Francesca Lia Block. It was first published during September 1995 through HarperCollins Publishers. Baby Be-Bop takes place prior to the events in Weetzie Bat and follows Weetzie's best friend, Dirk McDonald.

Being Emily is a 2012 novel. It is the first young adult novel to tell the story of a transgender girl from her perspective. In the story, Emily begins to come out during her junior year of high school, first to her girlfriend Claire and then, with the help of an understanding therapist, to her family.

Between Mom and Jo is an American young adult novel by Julie Anne Peters, published in 2006.

Boy Meets Boy is a young adult novel by David Levithan, published in 2003. Set in a gay-friendly small town in America, it describes a few weeks in the lives of a group of high school students. The story follows the standard romantic trope usually known as "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl" except that the main characters are both boys, the narrator Paul and newcomer Noah. The novel won a Lambda Literary Award in 2003.

Boyfriends with Girlfriends is a 2011 young adult novel by Alex Sánchez. The book was published by Simon & Schuster and deals with the pressures of teens coming to terms with their sexuality and of coming of age. Sanchez began working on the novel after receiving e-mails from teens that were being criticized by both their straight and homosexual peers for being bisexual. Boyfriends with Girlfriends has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and was a 2012 ALA Rainbow Bridge List novel.

The Boys on the Rock is a short debut novel by John Fox which details the coming out and falling in love of a gay sixteen-year-old swimmer, nomine Billy Connors, who narrates the story in the first person. It is notable as perhaps the first novel ever to blend politics with the travails of a gay adolescent.

Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is the third young adult novel written by Rainbow Rowell, published in 2015. The story follows the final year of magical schooling for Simon Snow, the "Chosen One" of the Magical world, prophesied to defeat the Insidious Humdrum, an evil force that has been wreaking havoc on the World of Mages for years. The novel is told through several narrative voices, including that of Simon, his roommate/enemy Baz, his best friend Penelope, and his ex-girlfriend Agatha.

Dance on My Grave: a life and a death in four parts, one hundred and seventeen bits, six running reports and two press clippings, with a few jokes, a puzzle or three, some footnotes and a fiasco now and then to help the story along is a 1982 young adult novel by British author Aidan Chambers. It is the second book in the Dance Sequence series.

Drama is a graphic novel written by Raina Telgemeier, an American cartoonist, which centers on the story of Callie, a middle schooler and theater-lover who works in her school's drama production crew. While navigating seventh grade, Callie deals with tween hardship, including confusing crushes, budding friendships, and typical middle school drama. It is a coming-of-age story that explores themes of friendship, teamwork, inclusion, and determination through Callie and her relationship with the people around her.

Empress of the World is a young adult novel by Sara Ryan. It was published in 2001. Its sequel, The Rules for Hearts, was published in April 2007. It won the 2002 Oregon Book Award for Young Readers Literature.

Finding H.F. is a 2001 young adult novel by Julia Watts, published by Alyson Books. It won the Lambda Literary Award for Children's/Young Adult fiction that same year. Set in the Deep South, it describes the experience of being a lesbian teen in the Bible Belt.

Forgive Me If I've Told You This Before is a Young Adult LGBT coming of age story written by Karelia Stetz-Waters. The book is set in a 1992 rural Oregon town during the middle of the campaign against homosexual equal rights known as the 1992 Oregon Ballot Measure 9. The book was first published on October 9, 2014 by Ooligan Press. Parts of the book are based on an unpublished memoir by Stetz-Waters.

Geography Club is a 2003 young adult novel by American author Brent Hartinger. It is the first book in The Russel Middlebrook Series. The novel follows a group of high school students who feel like outsiders, some because of their sexual orientations. The narrator, Russel Middlebrook, then finds himself helping his friend Min to form an after school club for the students, so that they can hang out together for support.

Girl Made of Stars is a 2018 Young adult fiction novel by Ashley Herring Blake that was published May 15, 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Girl Made of Stars is Blake's fourth novel. The novel focus on Mara, a student from Pebblebrook high school, who finds herself in a tense situation after her twin brother, Owen, is accused of sexual assault by his girlfriend, Hannah. Consequently, Mara's relationship with her brother deteriorates as she does not know who she should believe in this situation. In addition, Mara is crestfallen after splitting up with her long time girlfriend, Charlie, and attempts to reconcile with her after she broke up with her.

The God Box (2007), a novel by Alex Sánchez, focuses on the conflict and friendship between two Christian teenage boys, one openly gay and the other struggling to accept his sexuality. It was adapted into a play in 2009 which had its world premiere performance at Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton, CA.

The Grief Keeper is a science fiction novel for young adults written by Alexandra Villasante. The book was published in 2019 by Putnam and received the Lambda Literary Award in the following year.

Half-Life is a debut novel by Aaron Krach. Published in 2004 by Alyson Books, the novel was nominated for a Violet Quill Award and was among the 2004 Lambda Literary Award finalists. It discusses young love, coping with death and the issues facing gay youth.

For other uses, see Hard Love (disambiguation).

Hazel's Theory of Evolution is a young adult fiction novel that Lisa Jenn Bigelow wrote. In 2019 HarperCollins published the book, which received the Lambda Literary Award in 2020.

Hero is a 2007 Lambda-winning novel, and the only novel by openly gay film producer and novelist Perry Moore. The fantasy novel is about a teenage superhero, Thom Creed, who must deal with his ex-superhero father's disgrace, his own sexuality, and a murderer stalking the world's heroes.

I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip is a young adult novel by John Donovan, first published in 1969. It was one of the first mainstream teen novels to deal with homosexuality. It was reissued in September 2010 by Flux, an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide. The novel tells the story of Davy Ross, a lonely boy who becomes close friends with a male classmate at his new school. The friendship later turns sexual, eventually causing Davy to struggle with feelings of guilt.

I'll Give You the Sun is a young adult novel by author Jandy Nelson. Published in September 2014, it is Nelson's second novel. Nelson won several awards for this novel, including the 2015 Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. In June 2015, Warner Bros. optioned the movie rights and Natalie Krinsky signed on to write the script. Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan were said to be producing the movie.

In Mike We Trust is a young adult gay novel by P. E. Ryan first published in 2009. It depicts a teenage gay boy who falls under the sway of his con artist uncle. The boy struggles with his sexual orientation as well as the need for honesty when his beloved role model asks him to lie.

Keeping You a Secret is a young adult novel by Julie Anne Peters. It was first published in hardback in 2003, and later in paperback in 2005. This novel deals with mature themes. It is about a young girl discovering her sexuality and what it is like to experience homophobia. What starts out as a confusing "girl crush" becomes a discovery of Holland's true feelings and coping with the concept of attraction to a member of her own sex. Other characters in the novel discover her crush and employ various means of physical and emotional abuse and violence, displaying strong homophobic behaviors.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me is a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell. It follows Frederica "Freddy" Riley throughout her struggles with her on-again, off-again relationship with the eponymous Laura Dean. The novel was first published by First Second Books on May 7, 2019. A young adult and lesbian teen novel, Laura Dean includes themes about teenage lesbian and queer sexuality.

Leah on the Offbeat is a 2018 young adult novel by American author Becky Albertalli. It is the direct sequel to her 2015 debut novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and the third novel in the "Simon-verse", the shared universe in which Albertalli's books take place and which also includes 2017's The Upside of Unrequited. The audiobook was read by actress Shannon Purser.

Love, Creekwood is a young adult novella by American author Becky Albertalli, released on June 30, 2020. The book follows Leah on the Offbeat (2018), and serves as an epilogue to it and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (2015).

Luna is a young adult novel, by Julie Anne Peters, and was first published in 2004.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a coming-of-age teen novel by Emily M. Danforth published in 2012. The novel's protagonist is Cameron Post, a 12-year-old Montana girl who is discovering her own homosexuality. After her parents die in a car crash, she lives with her conservative aunt and her grandmother. When the romantic relationship she develops with her best friend is discovered she is sent to a conversion camp.

My Heartbeat is a 2002 novel by Garret Freymann-Weyr, about a fourteen-year-old girl who discovers that her brother and his best friend, James, who she has been in love with for years, could be a couple. It was named a Printz Honor book in 2003.

The Other is the 40th book in the Animorphs series, ghostwritten by Gina Gascone. It is narrated by Marco.

Rage: A Love Story is a young adult novel by Julie Anne Peters. It was first published in hardback in 2009. The story follows Johanna who falls in love with Reeve who has suffered much abuse in her life. When their relationship struggles, Reeve begins to physically abuse Johanna who stays with her girlfriend despite the violence. The cover is a reference to the famous pop art image by Robert Indiana.

Rainbow Boys is the first novel in a trilogy by Alex Sánchez, focusing on the issues gay and questioning youth face as they come of age. This book is followed by Rainbow High and Rainbow Road.

Rainbow High is the second novel in a trilogy by Alex Sánchez, focusing on the issues gay and questioning youth face as they come of age. This book is the sequel to Rainbow Boys and followed by Rainbow Road.

Shine is a 2011 young adult mystery novel by Lauren Myracle. The book was published on May 1, 2011, and follows a teenage girl investigating a hate crime involving the beating and near-death of her best friend in a small, North Carolina town. Shine won the 2012 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award and is on the ALA's "YALSA Reader’s Choice" and "Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults" lists for 2012.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is a 2015 young adult novel and the debut book by American author Becky Albertalli. The coming-of-age story focuses on its titular protagonist Simon Spier, a closeted gay high-school aged boy who is forced to come out after a blackmailer discovers Simon's e-mails written to another closeted classmate with whom he has fallen in love.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You is a young adult novel by Peter Cameron. James Sveck, the protagonist, tells the reader about his life, including the reasons he became a "Missing Misfit" and is seeing a psychiatrist.

Something Like Summer is a 2011 novel by Jay Bell, and the first installment in the Something Like... series. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 2017. The novel centers around the life of Benjamin Bentley, a 17 year-old from Houston, Texas, and his tumultuous relationship with two love interests over the span of several years.

Sprout is a young adult gay novel by American author Dale Peck first published in May 2009. The novel depicts an openly gay teenage boy who moves to Kansas after his mother dies from cancer. While he struggles with harassment at school and two potential boyfriends, he has to decide if he will hide his sexual orientation in order to win a statewide essay-writing contest. An act of betrayal leads to the book's climax.

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them is an American young adult fiction book by Junauda Petrus. It was released on September 17, 2019 by Dutton Books, and tells the story of two teenage girls who build a relationship, as one acclimates to life in Minneapolis after moving from Trinidad, and the other battles an illness. The Stars and the Blackness Between Them received a Coretta Scott King Honor Award.

Stranger Than Fanfiction is a young adult novel written by author Christopher Paul Colfer. It was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on February 28, 2017, and is Colfer's second young adult novel. Stranger Than Fanfiction explores themes of race, friendship, and fame, as well as LGBT themes. It has received widespread press coverage and numerous reviews, and has been featured on several awards lists.

Sugar Rush is Julie Burchill's first novel aimed at teenagers, published in 2004. It charts the progress of Kim Lewis as she is forced to leave her posh high school and attend the infamous local comprehensive, Ravendene. This coincides with a fight with her best friend, Zoe "Saint" Clements, leading to her making friends with Ravendene's "Top Girl": Maria "Sugar" Sweet. Eventually, Kim falls for Sugar, Sugar falls into bed with Kim, and the friendship takes on an ever more intense nature that eventually turns tragic.

They Both Die at the End is a young adult novel written by American author Adam Silvera and published on September 5, 2017 by HarperTeen. It is Silvera's third novel and focuses on two teenage boys, Mateo and Rufus, who discover that they only have one day left to live.

For the song of the same name written by Andy Prieboy, see ...Upon My Wicked Son

The Vast Fields of Ordinary is a young adult gay novel by American author Nick Burd first published in 2009. The novel depicts the summer after high school graduation for a closeted suburban teenage boy, his openly lesbian new best friend, and the two boys he is interested in dating. The Vast Fields of Ordinary is Burd's debut novel.

Weetzie Bat is the debut novel of Francesca Lia Block, published by HarperCollins in 1989. It inaugurated her Dangerous Angels series for young adults.

What They Always Tell Us is the first novel by Martin Wilson, focusing on the relationship between two high school age brothers as one begins to embrace his homosexuality. The book was a finalist in the Children's/Young Adult category at the 2009 Lambda Literary Awards, but lost to Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg. What They Always Tell Us was also chosen for the ALA's 2009 Rainbow List.

When Everything Feels Like the Movies is the debut young adult novel by Raziel Reid. The novel is narrated by the protagonist, Jude Rothesay, from a first-person perspective, and details his experiences and difficulties over a few days as a gay teenager in school. Reid was inspired by the events leading up to the 2008 murder of Larry King in Oxnard, California, as he perceived parallels between his life and King's life.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a novel by John Green and David Levithan, published in April 2010 by Dutton Juvenile. The book's narrative is divided evenly between two boys named Will Grayson, with Green having written all of the chapters for one and Levithan having written the chapters for the other, presented in an alternating chapter fashion. One boy is referred to with a capitalized letter at the start of his name, while the other is referred to in all lower case letters. The novel debuted on The New York Times children's best-seller list after its release and remained there for three weeks. It was the first LGBT-themed young adult novel to make it to that list.

The World of Normal Boys, published in 2001, is the debut novel of K.M. Soehnlein. The coming-of-age story centers on 13-year-old Robin MacKenzie, who discovers that he is unlike most other adolescent males. The book became a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and won the Lambda Literary Award.

The Year of Freaking Out is a 1997 Australian young adult novel by Sarah Walker about 17-year-old Kim, her relationship with her childhood friend Matthew and her passionate friendship with the new girl at school, Rachel.