All Boys Aren't Blue - A Memoir-Manifesto for Teens by journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson

All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. 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.
Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

Kirkus Reviews gave this book a starred review, calling it, "A critical, captivating, merciful mirror for growing up black and queer today." Add your review of "All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto" in comments!

An interview with InQluded founder and editor-in-chief medina

I'm excited about InQluded, and about helping shine the spotlight on this platform and empowerment project for Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Youth. Here's the interview, and some images from the InQluded literary magazine...

Lee: Hi medina, so I’ve figured out that a lot of what I write are stories that would have changed my life had I read them when I was a teen. Is that what InQluded magazine is for you? What impact would it have had on your younger self if they could have read an issue?

medina: Hi, Lee! Oh, that absolutely makes sense. Representation is powerful.

I think that we as queer/LGBTQIA+ people are oftentimes playing catch up and yearning to live the lives we wish we could have lived fully before there was this kind of representation.

Hmm..I don’t know if inQluded is that for me. To be honest, I’ve never thought about that. My thought process for creating inQluded was: what do QTBIPOC kids deserve right now, and how can I help give that to them? I see what is happening right now in our political climate, I pay attention to what people younger than me are advocating for, passionate, about, etc. And so, I continue to create programming for inQluded to better serve the population we engage with daily. I’m always very much focused in the now and thinking intentionally about how what I do now can make a positive impact tomorrow. Do good as you go, ya know?

If inQluded existed back when I was growing up -- then -- I’d like to think the whole world would be altered, too. So, what would be my deepest hope would be that what I felt as a queer Latinx person growing up in Maine would have a positive ripple effect across the world. People my age would feel like they mattered. Like they belonged. Like they didn’t need to be ashamed for being queer...

...for being themselves.

They wouldn’t have felt scared all the time. To feel that, if they accidentally revealed that part of themselves that they would be friendless, unworthy of love or worse.

Parents, teachers, and adults in your life that you confide in can tell you how life is better with you in it, they can tell you how beautiful you are, but at a young age our need to be accepted by our own peers usually outweighs what adults are saying (even if it’s true). And really, I think the root of wanting to be accepted by peers is about trying to find community. So, to have a magazine for/by young people as a young teen, would have been life altering. I would have felt community, acceptance, connectedness and less fear.

If I had inQluded back then, I would probably be writing different stories today. I often describe writing for me as happy/sad; as devastatingly beautiful. I would love to not have to pull from this deep part of me that feels pain, sadness, rejection and alienation all the time. It’s emotionally tiring. I’d love to write a very fluffy story about fluffy fluffy fluffiness. I don’t feel I have that luxury, not yet, and probably never.

If I had inQluded back then, inQluded may not exist today. Because we already would have been inQluded.

Lee: Tell us about starting inQluded.

medina: This is what I know: Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people ages 10-24. LGBTQIA+ youth seriously contemplate suicide almost THREE TIMES the amount of heterosexual youth. This doesn’t take into account queer youth of color.

When we know the facts - how can we go on without doing something? How can we ever be the same?

I believe that our experiences lead us to things. Our experiences prepare us for things.

What do you think, Lee?

Lee: Hell, Yeah!

medina: Yeah, so, I think I’ve spent my whole life preparing to start inQluded.

I’ve always been someone who has found great joy from learning, listening, understanding and advocating for others. I am devoted to empowering and fostering a safe environment amongst youth through the arts. The arts are an integral part of the global conversation and has the powerful ability to engage all levels of society to promote change! I believe it is crucial to give youth at the intersection of vulnerable identities a platform on which to tell their own authentic stories.

Before I started my MFA program I was working as a youth advocate at a homeless drop in-center and though it was not part of my job description to create any programming, I couldn’t get it out of my head that our clients needed to be doing something creative. I’d get dozens of books donated, art supplies donated and watch how the atmosphere shifted. Art. Heartwork.

I immediately pitched to my supervisor that I wanted to facilitate a weekly writing program. After 9 weeks, it was finally approved. We went on to host an open mic and get the ball rolling to create a zine. I actually left before I could see if they created a zine because I began to slowly realize that I needed to go back to school and get my MFA in creative writing. My clients I worked with inspired me to do so. It was veryyyyyy Freedom Writers. Wish you could have seen it!

So, long story long, I applied to my MFA program and to The New School’s new Impact Entreprenuership Fellowship and pitched my venture: inQluded.

Lee: So cool! You’ve done four digital issues so far? Where can people go to get them?

medina: Yes! We just released our fourth digital issue. We dropped our first digital issue last June. All of our issues are designed by Isaiah Frisbie. Issue one and four are illustrated by Daylen. Issue Two’s cover was illustrated by Matthew Penado and Issue Three was illustrated by Marina Labarthe del Solar.

Issue One: The theme for issue one (pride issue) was “chosen family” but we named the issue: Welcome Home. In the face of indifference, discrimination, hatred or rejection, many of us must recreate and rebuild a community, a family. A family that is loving and accepting of exactly who we are. One that is loving and accepting of who we are. According to a 2018 report by the Human Rights Campaign, only 24 percent of LGBTQ youth feel they can “definitely be themselves at home.” Our self-created families and communities become what we call home.

Issue Two: Here to Stay. Here to stay was our letter to the world, a declaration that strongly resists, reclaims and transcends revolution. We will not be forgotten. We will not be erased. We are here to stay.

Issue Three: Break Borders and Binaries. This issue highlights the narratives of QTIBIPOC migrants, refugees, and folks from the diaspora. In centering borders with this issue, we strive to recognize how critical it is to question the ways in which borders are used to police the lives of marginalized folks while simultaneously recognizing how these same borders also shape cultures and identities. You’ll discover work that combats, questions, engages, or transcends these borders and binaries.

Issue Four: Love Lives Here. As QTBIPOC young people, it’s imperative that we have a space where we can express ourselves freely. It is imperative that we have an opportunity to create art that is joyful and loving. The way we love may be different from the way someone else loves, but that doesn’t mean that our love is wrong. Love can never be wrong. I know that I am tired of the singular narratives and stereotypes that persist outside of our community: that our stories are only ones of sadness and trauma. We are more than that. We deserve a love story. This is our love story

All of our issues live on gumroad.com/inqluded.

Lee: Is your vision to have InQluded be more than the magazine?

medina: Part of our mission is bringing access to QTBIPOC communities and helping navigate the publishing world. Many of us experience social exclusion because of who we are. So, we built a space where we are inQluded. We will continue to amplify the voices of youth through inclusiveness, compassion, understanding and artistic expression. I believe inQluding emerging and diverse voices will ultimately empower our communities.

Media for young people is a critical factor in the development of young people; it helps create our perception of people and validates the experiences of young people. Everyone deserves to see themselves in the media. Without these stories, children will end up internalizing society’s prejudices and biases and not feel validated or seen.

Our community that makes inQluded is the vision I will follow. I’ll borrow inQluded’s vision and listen and continue to implement events or programming that honors inQluded.

Lee: You’re gearing up for a mentor program - tell us about that.

medina: SO EXCITING. I’d be happy to! The mentorship is a perfect example of how we take ideas from our community seriously and do our best to implement them into sustainable programming.

We'll match established QTBIPOC authors & illustrators with unpublished and/or unagented QTBIPOC writers & illustrators.

A break down of the inQluded QTBIPOC Writing and Illustrators Mentorship Program:

This program is for queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, youth of color
Mentors must be over the age of 18 (there is no age limit)
Must identify as queer or trans and BIPOC
The program will launch in February 2020 and run for five months, with one-hour meetings per month (you do not have to meet in person)

Lee: If someone reading this is interested in being a mentor, what do they need to know/do?

medina: Know that 1. I’m so thrilled you’re interested. Thank you for considering being a mentor.

This mentorship is less traditional, in that, we can be flexible with timing. We’d rather have a beautiful pair and have to wait for a mentor to be available then to give a mentee someone who may not be the best match. So, please know that we can work with you -- you don’t need to start mentoring tomorrow.

The commitment is for five months and one hour a month. This is the form: http://bit.ly/inqludedmentorapp

Mentor apps are due January 27th, 2020.

Lee: You’re doing your own writing while at the same time prioritizing raising the voices of others. Can you speak to that balance?

medina: Working on inQluded fuels me with inspiration and motivation. As for my own writing, I’d like to think my job as a writer is to always raise the voices of others. I think some of the best writing is when you forget about the writer or author and are affected by that piece of work so much that it embodies you and changes you. I’m a vessel. I’m the messenger.

Lee: What haven’t I asked that you want to share with our readers?

medina: If you’re in NYC, please follow us @inqluded everywhere and keep track of our events! We are doing an open-mic series at Bluestockings in March and June. We have a creative writing workshop at Word Up Books in February and so many more in-person events!

Lee: Should we tell everyone about the cool thing we’ve cooked up?

medina: I thought you’d never ask?

Lee: inQluded will be running a piece from one of their issues as a Valentine’s Day gift to readers here at I’m Here. I’m Queer. What The Hell Do I Read?! I’m so excited about that!

medina: Yay!

Lee: Thanks so much, medina! You’ve given me another reason to look forward to Valentine’s Day.

medina: Thank you so much for chatting with me. :)


Check out the InQluded website and first four issues here.

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,

Lee

Today is Trans Day of Resilience 2019 - Celebrate With Trans Art and Poetry "to Uplift Black Trans Power and Liberation!"

This is really wonderful! Re-naming the "Transgender Day of Remembrance" to the "Trans Day of Resilience" is smart and important - words have power!

From the press release:

Led by Forward Together, a national women of color-led organization, whose mission is to unite communities to win rights, recognition and resources for all families, the TDOR art project acknowledges how violence disproportionately impacts trans people of color. The art project simultaneously uses visual art and poetry to uplift trans power and resilience. Trans artists and poets of color are telling their own stories of resistance, hope and liberation.

“Forward Together is honored to present this project to the world for the sixth year in a row,” said Micah Bazant, Forward Together Artist in Residence. “At a time when white supremacy and anti-trans oppression are killing trans women of color, we offer this art to share our vision of trans freedom. Trans communities of color have always existed and have always used art to survive. As the government tries to erase trans people from laws and policies, art and culture are especially critical. There is no way to erase the beauty and power of trans resistance.”

Some highlights:

I'm cheering for Black Trans power and liberation!

View and read more of the art and poetry here.

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

The Best At It - A Middle Grade novel about a Brown, Gay, and Anxious Boy Dealing With Seventh Grade in Small Town Indiana

The Best at It By Maulik Pancholy

Rahul Kapoor is heading into seventh grade in a small town in Indiana. The start of middle school is making him feel increasingly anxious, so his favorite person in the whole world, his grandfather, Bhai, gives him some well-meaning advice: Find one thing you’re really good at and become the BEST at it.

Those four little words sear themselves into Rahul’s brain. While he’s not quite sure what that special thing is, he is convinced that once he finds it, bullies like Brent Mason will stop torturing him at school. And he won’t be worried about staring too long at his classmate Justin Emery. With his best friend, Chelsea, by his side, Rahul is ready to crush this challenge.... But what if he discovers he isn’t the best at anything?

Interviewed in CBC Diversity's October 2019 newsletter about this, his debut middle grade novel, Maulik said:

“I read so many books as a kid, but I never, ever saw brown or gay characters in the stories I read. I could have used that kind of representation. It would have been very validating, very powerful, as a child to have been able to see my own experience reflected back in a book. So, a big inspiration was the fact that I believe there’s a need for diverse books for young people that address intersectionality. Kids are so much more than one thing. I happened to be brown and gay and dealing with some anxiety…and I hope that sharing my story offers “mirrors and windows and sliding glass doors” to so many young people.”

The novel has received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly and Booklist, and is a Junior Library Guild selection. Add your review of "The Best at It" in comments!

Hurricane Child - Caroline, a 12 Year Old Black Girl on St. Thomas crushes on another girl, while being stalked by a spirit and trying to find her missing mother

Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender a.k.a. Kacen Callender

Caroline Murphy is a Hurricane Child.

Being born during a hurricane is unlucky, and twelve-year-old Caroline has had her share of bad luck lately. She's hated and bullied by everyone in her small school on St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, a spirit only she can see won't stop following her, and -- worst of all -- Caroline's mother left home one day and never came back.

But when a new student named Kalinda arrives, Caroline's luck begins to turn around. Kalinda, a solemn girl from Barbados with a special smile for everyone, becomes Caroline's first and only friend -- and the person for whom Caroline has begun to develop a crush.

Now, Caroline must find the strength to confront her feelings for Kalinda, brave the spirit stalking her through the islands, and face the reason her mother abandoned her. Together, Caroline and Kalinda must set out in a hurricane to find Caroline's missing mother -- before Caroline loses her forever.

This middle grade book received starred reviews from Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist! Add your review of "Hurricane Child" in comments!

Little & Lion - A Bi, Black, and Jewish Teen Girl's Summer, and Romance, in a novel packed with intersectional diversity

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert

When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she isn’t sure if she’ll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (along with her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support.

But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new . . . the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel’s disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself—or worse.

Brandy said in an interview in the September 1, 2017 Little Brown School & Library eNewsletter, "Novels are fiction, but we know they can act as windows–a glimpse into the lives of people who look or act or believe differently than us." And "books that serve as windows foster empathy... I hope there will be a day in the near future when people don't find it unusual or unrealistic to read about a girl who just happens to be black, bisexual, and Jewish."

Here! Here! Well said, Brandy.

Add your review of "Little & Lion" in comments!

Maybe we need a new flag for this Fourth of July

I'm feeling a bit less proud of the USA these days, what with our President (for now) Trump always choosing the most selfish, the most bratty, the most prejudiced path forward on seemingly everything.

Then, my friend Karol told me about how Philadelphia Pride came up with a new rainbow pride flag for their observance this year, adding two new stripes to recognize people of color... and they didn't put them at the bottom! People of color (finally) have top billing:

The new Gay Pride Flag

As a white gay man who tries to be an ally for everyone else who is other-ed, I love this!

And it got me thinking. In this political climate where the statement "Black Lives Matter" – a response to the multiple, ongoing killings of innocent people of color by police – is seen as an insult to fragile white people, where a fragile ego-ed white president of privilege can't see that anyone's life matters besides his own family and friends, maybe we need a new flag for our country.

A flag for the resistance.

A flag I can cheer for this Fourth of July, when I'm not feeling much like cheering for my country that feels like it has gone off the rails...

A flag for LGBTQ people, and people of color, for disabled people, and for the 99%, for journalists, and for activists, for environmentalists, and for immigrants, for everyone who is being other-ed, and for awesome straight white people who care about others and are our allies, we are the majority. And this is a democracy. And we will make this right!

Proudly may it wave.

As President Obama (remember those good old days?) likes to quote Martin Luther King, Jr., "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” And at this moment in history, President (for now) Trump is refracting that arc, trying to force it back towards injustice... But he won't be President forever. (Can we impeach this guy already?) And then we will get this country back on the rails. And we can all help bend that arc once again towards justice. We will get there.

This new flag is a reminder of that. To me. And maybe, to you, too.

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

The Paths Of Marriage - 3 generations of Indian and Indian-American women struggle with a granddaughter's coming out and keeping their family from coming apart.

The Paths of Marriage by Mala Kumar

Lakshmi, a bright student who grew up in poverty, marries and immigrates to the United States from India to provide a better life for herself and her family. Clinging to her cultural realities, she forces her American daughter, Pooja, into an arranged marriage, creating a rift of resentment. Pooja's daughter, Deepa, is an out lesbian to everyone but her family. The woman Deepa loves presents an ultimatum—come out to Pooja or break up—and Deepa is forced to confront her greatest fear.
From the harsh slums of Chennai to the bustle of New York City, it's a cathartic generational collision to try to come together as a family.

It's also worth checking out this article by the author where she explains her own coming out as an Indian-American "brown, gay girl." The article made me nearly cry - twice! Her mother's response to her coming out, and her father's eventual understanding that only came about from reading Mala's book – this book.

Add your review of "The Paths of Marriage" in comments!

The Porcupine of Truth - A Road Trip involving family history, gay history, the girlfriend the hero can't have (because she's into girls) and a missing grandfather

The Porcupine of Truth by Bill Konigsberg

Start at the hot girl.

Carson Smith isn't thrilled to be spending the summer with his estranged dad in Billings, Montana. But then he meets Aisha Stinson, the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. And the smartest. And the funniest. They connect like he never has with anyone...

Also she's a lesbian. So there's that.

Turn left at the missing grandpa.

Carson's dad is still bitter about the disappearance of his dad more than thirty years earlier. When Carson and Aisha discover a box full of cards from his grandfather, some of them recent, they realize the old man is still out there somewhere.

What are two bored teenagers in the middle of nowhere to do?

Proceed for 1,293 miles.

So Carson and Aisha begin a journey with no destination, to find a man who wanted to be lost, in an unreliable Dodge Neon, with one very prickly mascot. And what comes next is an extraordinary, enlightening, hilarious, inspiring, complete and utter mindblower of a road trip that will transform both their lives.

You have arrived at the Porcupine of Truth.

Add your review of "The Porcupine of Truth" in comments!

A Hero At The End Of The World - A Queer Romance Fantasy Adventure

A Hero At The End Of the World by Erin Claiborne

Seventeen-year-old Ewan Mao knows one thing for certain: according to prophecy, it's his destiny to kill the evil tyrant whose dark reign has terrorized Britain for as long as he can remember. Although he's just a normal boy, deep down Ewan is confident that he has exactly what it takes to be a hero. But when Ewan's big moment comes and his best friend, the clever and talented Oliver Abrams, defeats the villain for him, Ewan's bright future crumbles before his eyes.

Five years later, while Ewan is living at home and working a minimum-wage job, Oliver has a job as an Unusual in the government's Serious Magical Crimes Agency, the life he and Ewan always dreamed of. A routine investigation leads him and his partner, Sophie Stuart, to uncover a dangerous and powerful cult... one that seems to have drawn his former best friend into a plot to end the world.

Note that there's both a "het and LGBT" romance and the book features "two protagonists of colour."

Interestingly, this novel was funded by a successful kickstarter campaign, designed to get three novels written by authors of fan fiction published. My thanks to blog reader Julie for the recommendation! Julie "enjoyed every second of this novel" and described it as "kind of Douglas Adams meets Neil Gaiman in a Harry Potter-esq story staring a queer protagonist (Ewan Mao)"

Add your review of "A Hero At The End Of The World" in comments!

Fifty Yards And Holding - A Street Gang Leader and High School Sports Star Fall In Love (Gay Teen Love, That is!)

Fifty Yards And Holding by David-Matthew Barnes

Victor Alvarez is in serious trouble. Now seventeen and flunking out of high school, he’s been chosen as the leader of the violent street gang he’s been a member of since he was thirteen. Riley Brewer has just broken a state record as the star of their high school baseball team. When Riley and Victor meet by chance, a connection begins to grow. When friendship turns to love, both young men realize their reputations contradict who they really are. Once their secret relationship is discovered, Victor realizes their lives are at risk. Refusing to hide in order to survive, Riley vows that only death can keep him apart from Victor.

Add your review of "Fifty Yards And Holding" in comments!

He Said, She Said - Newbery-Winner Kwame Alexander's YA boy-girl romance with a lesbian best friend

He Said, She Said by Kwame Alexander

"You've heard that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, right? Well, forget that planetary ish –- Omar and Claudia are from different solar systems. Meet Brooklyn transplant Omar "T-Diddy" Smalls: West Charleston High's football god and full-blown playa. He's got a ton of twitter followers, is U Miami bound, and cannot wait to hit South Beach... and hit on every shorty in a bikini.

Then there's Claudia Clarke: headed for Harvard, straight-A student, school newspaper editor, and all-around goody two-shoes. She cares more about the staggering teen pregnancy rate than about hooking up with so-called fly homies and posting her biz on Facebook.

Omar and Claudia are thrown together when they unexpectedly lead (with a little help from Facebook and Twitter) the biggest social protest this side of the Mississippi. The stakes are high, the romance is hot, and when these worlds collide, sparks will FLY! Believe that!

Claudia's best girl-friend Blu is into girls, and while it's not what the story is about, it comes up a few times. I found about about this YA novel in a conversation with the author (who had just won the Newbery for his middle grade novel, The Crossover), where I asked him if he was planning on including any LGBTQ characters or themes in upcoming work. He said he already had!

Add your review of "He Said, She Said" in comments!

Lies We Tell Ourselves - Lesbian High School Romance and Desegregation in 1959 Virginia

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

1959 Virginia.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.”

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

...And how they feel moves from focusing on the different colors of their skin to feelings of romance!

Add your review of "Lies We Tell Ourselves" in comments!

Degranon - Sci Fi Adventure with Gay Teens who are Twins and People Of Color

Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure By Duane Simolke

On the planet Valchondria, no illness exists, gay marriage is legal, and everyone is a person of color. However, a group called “the Maintainers” carefully monitors everyone’s speech, actions, and weight; the Maintainers also force so-called “colorsighted” people to hide their ability to see in color.

The brilliant scientist Taldra loves her twin gay sons and thinks of them as the hope for Valchondria’s future, but one of them becomes entangled in the cult of Degranon, and the other becomes stranded on the other side of a doorway through time. Can they find their way home and help Taldra save their world?

This book was published by the author. Add your review of "Degranon" in comments!

Gender 101 Episode 32 Redux: Nenu and Frankie on Being Gender Queer AND Persons of Color

Benji (a.k.a. Lucy) continues our discussions on gender, asking Nenu and Frankie to share about being both Gender Queer and People of Color.



What amazing latin@s!

Check out the original posting here.

Namaste,
Lee

The Fight: A Teen Rallies Against Her School District's 'Neutrality' Policy -- A Policy that Keeps Her High School Homophobic

The Fight: Surviving Southside by Elizabeth Karre

When Bella witnesses an anti-gay attack in the school - and a teacher who doesn't intervene - she decides to join the school's GSA. But then she discovers it's an 'unofficial' club, since no teacher will get involved. She digs deeper, and discovers the district's "neutrality" policy - a policy that had ended up being anything but neutral. Can she and fellow GSAer Zoe rally their community against it?

Add to that a girl in school, June, that Bella just might be crushing on...

"The Fight" is part of the Surviving Southside series,

a 12-book set of high-interest YA urban novels that's written at a fourth-grade reading level, specifically designed for reluctant and striving readers, including those who read below grade level or are ESL/ELL students. All of the stories feature diverse characters who go to school at Southside High. As in any teen life, getting through the day is no picnic, whether you're the star quarterback or the quiet artist.

Add your review of "The Fight" in comments. You can check out the Kirkus review of the book here.

GSA Mondays: Love The Skin You're In...

love, Love, LOVE this video of Lupita Nyong'o and Elmo...



Enjoy, and discuss!

Namaste,
Lee

Archenemy - Teen Girl Soccer and Unrequited Love

Archenemy by Paul Hoblin

As a defender for the Fraser High girls soccer team, biracial Addie used to be ready for anything. There was no play she couldn't shut down. But now the biggest threat on the field is one of her teammates . . . who is also Addie's former best friend. When Eva Riley moved to town, she and Addie became super close.

They even came out to each other, about liking girls... But when Eva wanted to be more than "just friends," Addie put soccer first instead.

Suddenly Eva's sending Addie mean notes. Then she's screwing up Addie's plays. After a while, Addie's not sure she even wants her friend back. She has to worry about other things--like keeping her spot on the team after Eva's latest act of sabotage.

This book is part of the author's six volume "Counterattack" series. Add your review of "Archenemy" in comments!

Tina's Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary - A Graphic Novel About An Indian-American Teen With A Small Subplot That Has A Gay Character

Tina's Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyap, illustrated by Mari Araki

Tina M., sophomore, is a wry observer of the cliques and mores of Yarborough Academy, and of the foibles of her Southern California intellectual Indian family. She's on a first-name basis with Jean-Paul Sartre, the result of an English honors class assignment to keep an "existential diary."

From Tina getting dumped by her smart-girl ally to a kiss on the mouth (Tina's mouth, but not technically her first kiss) from a cute skateboarder, this graphic novel follow's Tina's path towards 11th grade and maybe... enlightenment.

There's so little representation of 1) Americans of Indian descent in teen fiction, 2) LGBTQ teen characters who are also people of color 3) those two things in a teen graphic novel, that I'm including this book here on the blog, though you shouldn't expect it to have major LGBTQ content. Having said that, there is a gay character in this, I'm happy about it, and I'm happy to let you all know about it.

Add your review of "Tina's Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary" in comments!

Awakening - Sci Fi that includes a Gay Character of Color!

Awakening by Karen Sandler

Once a Chadi sector GEN girl terrified of her first Assignment, Kayla is now a member of the Kinship, a secret organization of GENs, lowborns, and trueborns. Kayla travels on Kinship business with the lowborn woman, Risa, sometimes joined by Risa's wife as they collect information to further the cause of GEN emancipation.

Despite Kayla’s relative freedom, she is still a slave to the trueborn ruling class. She rarely sees the trueborn Devak, and any relationship between them is still strictly forbidden.

Kayla longs to be truly free, but other priorities have gotten in the way. A paradoxically deadly new virus has swept through GEN sectors—a disease only GENs catch. And GEN warrens and warehouses are being bombed, with only a scrawled clue: F.H.E. Freedom, Humanity, Equality.

Meanwhile, Devak's friend, Junjie, gets caught up with people and actions that are spiraling out of control. But he can't turn his back, not when he has such strong feelings for a mysterious boy he's only spoken to, but has never seen.

With the virus and the bombings decimating the GEN community, freedom and love are put on the back burner. Kayla and her friends must find a way to stop the killing . . . before it’s too late.

Junjie is of Chinese ancestry, and the book features multiple main characters of color.  Add your review of "Awakening" in comments!