As we turn the final pages of 2019, we’re excited for all the new stories and adventures that 2020 will bring! If you’re planning out your reading list for the new year, here’s a few LGBTQ+ Young Adult books to be on the lookout for:
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
This is possibly, (to Callender’s knowledge), one of the first Young Adult novels to feature a queer, black, transgender protagonist. “Felix Love has never been in love — and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many — Black, queer, and transgender — to ever get his own happily-ever-after.” How does this lead to a catfish situation, a quasi–love-triangle, and self-discovery? We’re just going to have to wait until it’s published in spring 2020! Callender is a Stonewall and Lambda Award–winning author and such an honest storyteller. Their second Middle Grade book, King and the Dragonflies will also be published next year on February 4.
The Ghosts We Keep by Mason Deaver
A book about grief, rejection, fear, and dealing with PTSD, this story follows Liam Cooper, a closeted non-binary kid whose life comes “crashing to a halt when [their] twin brother is killed in a tragic accident. Suddenly Liam sees their brother’s face in the mirror, and they have to contend with being half of a whole.” The novel will be much darker than their first novel, I Wish You All the Best, and it comes from Deaver’s own experience of losing their father the same way Liam loses their brother.
When You Get the Chance by Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson
Described by Ryan as a “super queer, super Canadian, road-trip-to-Toronto-Pride YA novel,” this story follows “cousins Mark [from the East coast of Canada, written by Ryan] and Talia [from the West coast of Canada, written by Stevenson] on a road trip to Pride in Toronto as they search for love and adventure and uncover family secrets along the way.” You may know Ryan as the author of many YA books such as the thrilling murder mystery novel Keep This to Yourself, and Stevenson is the author of a large list of books including the Stonewall Honor book Pride: Celebrating Diversity and Community.
There’s nothing like a good road trip novel and we can’t wait for this book’s spring release, just in time for 2020 Pride!
This is just a tiny number of the ever-growing list of amazing LGBTQ+ novels being published in 2020.