Ship It--"Maybe I'm not straight or bi or anything. Maybe I'm just me."

Title: Ship It

Author: Britta Lundin


LGBTQ+ Representation: Main character is queer. A supporting character is queer and a homoromantic pansexual.


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Claire is a sixteen-year-old obsessed with Demon Heart. Her fanfiction shipping the show's two male leads is super popular online. But when Claire questions  lead actor, Forest, about his character being gay, he laughs her off, revealing his homophobia. When the Q&A goes viral, Claire is invited to tour with the show cast to Comic-Cons to help repair the show's now homophobic image. She then meets another fangirl, Tess, and Claire questions her own sexuality.


What I think: First of all, Claire is me in high school. Honestly, Claire is me now--I get obsessed with books, movies, and TV shows. I love cosplay and conventions, and if the Internet had been around when I was a middle-schooler, I would have written countless fanfics, and to quote myself from an earlier review:

I am a geek. Full stop. I can quote from a bunch of fandoms and also have a mind full of useless trivia, about such topics as Sweet Valley High, The Baby-sitters Club, Star Wars original trilogy, The Twilight Zone, Outlander, Muppets, and about a billion middle grades and YA novels and plays.

What was Stonewall? and The Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets."On that hot summer night, to the cops' surprise, the people at Stonewall fought back."And they fought back hard."

Titles: What was Stonewall? and The Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets

Authors: Nico Medina and Gayle E. Pitman


LGBTQ+ Representation: Both books describe the Stonewall riots and the Pride movement, so all the letters are represented.


What they're about (in 75 words or fewer): What was Stonewall? begins with a glossary of LGBTQ+ terms, gives a brief history of the gay rights movement prior to the Stonewall riots, describes the uprising at Stonewall, and explains major obstacles and successes of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The Stonewall Riots provides a more detailed version of the events, told through 50 primary documents, photographs, artifacts, and eyewitness testimonies. Gay rights activists are introduced in both books.


What I think: I wanted to read these books because I wanted to see how the riots were explained to children (ages 6-14, approximately) but also because I knew only a few facts about the Stonewall riots, namely:

• They occurred in June of 1969
• Marsha P. Johnson "threw the first brick" 
• No one died (!)
• Drag queens protested the cops in the form of a Radio City Rockettes-style kick line
• The protests lead to the first Pride March in NYC

The Red Scrolls of Magic--"A warrior chosen by angels and a well-dressed demon's child, in love and intent on adventure through Europe. What could go wrong?"

Title: The Red Scrolls of Magic

Authors: Wesley Chu and Cassandra Clare


LGBTQ+ Representation: One main character is gay and the other bisexual. Secondary characters are lesbians and another secondary character is asexual and aromantic.


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Now that Valentine is defeated, Magnus is excited to take his boyfriend, Alec, on a trip around the world. However, their plans are interrupted when Magnus discovers that a demon-worshipping cult (which he supposedly founded?) is intent on wreaking havoc throughout the world. With the help of another warlock, Shinyun Jung, Magnus and Alec work together to stop the cult.


What I think (in 250 words or fewer): I have been waiting for years for this book and was so excited to read it! It did not disappoint.

During the part of Mortal Instruments in which this story is set, I was not a fan of Alec and knew that soon, he and Magnus would [spoiler deleted]. I knew that in order for the story to be true to the series, Alec has to be a bit annoying and immature. However, away from the pressures of the New York Institute, Alec is a bit relaxed and therefore NOT as uptight as he was at this point in the books, and it works beautifully.

Nate Expectations--"Sometimes you do have to say goodbye to someone before you can say hello to yourself. To your Nate."

Title: Nate Expectations (sequel to Better Nate Than Ever and Five, Six, Seven, Nate!)

Author: Tim Federle


LGBTQ+ Representation: Main character and a couple of supporting characters are gay


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Nate's Broadway show closes, and Jordan moves on to another acting job without him, and Nate has to return home to his biggest challenge yet: high school. Surprisingly, Nate is not bullied as much as he had been before he left. As an English class project, Nate (with help from BFF Libby) is directing a musical version of Great Expectations. Will it be a success . . . and could a new romance be in his future?


First, a story: One of the many reasons I love Nate is because in high school, I was Libby and my friend Nathan was, well, Nate. We sang Broadway show songs for hours together while driving around in circles in Indianapolis; we drove to all the Sam Goody music stores in the surrounding area to make sure that we could BOTH buy the CDs to whatever show we were obsessed with at the time (The Secret Garden, Tommy, Phantom, Les Mis, Rent, Kiss of the Spider Woman, La Cage Aux Folles, Jesus Christ Superstar and How to Succeed in Business are the ones I can remember offhand).

Dumplin' and Puddin'--"All of the best things in my life have started with a Dolly Parton song"

Titles: Dumplin' and Puddin'

Author: Julie Murphy


LGBTQ+ Representation: Minor characters are drag queens in m/m relationship. Supporting character is a lesbian; another supporting character comes out as asexual.

What each book is about (in 75 words or fewer):

Dumplin'--Willowdean has always felt confident in her plus-size body but experiences some insecurity when the cute private school jock, Bo, becomes attracted to her. Will can't understand why Bo likes her. In order to regain her confidence, Will (and a group of other girls) decides to enter the Miss Clover City beauty pageant, which is run by her former-beauty-queen mother. Will is determined to prove that beauty comes in all sizes.

Puddin'--In order to please her parents, Millie goes to fat camp every summer. But this summer, she is determined to stick up for herself and attend journalism camp instead. Meanwhile, Callie is the mean-girl dance team member, next in line for captain, with the hot boyfriend. When Millie and Callie end up having to work together at Millie's uncle's gym, they form a surprising friendship.


What I think: I decided to review these books together for a couple of reasons. First of all, they are companion novels, written by the fabulous Julie Murphy. Each book can stand alone, but many of the same characters appear in both stories. Second, many of the same topics and themes are addressed in both stories making them easy to write about together. Finally, Dumplin' the movie premiered on Netflix months ago. I still haven't seen it since I have no one who is willing to loan me their Netflix password 😉, but I have obviously read the book. Everyone on my Facebook and Twitter who raved about the movie got this reply from me:

Dumplin' is a great YA book; I highly recommend it. The companion book, Puddin,' is EVEN BETTER than Dumplin.' Seriously, read them both.