It’s time for an LGBTQ-themed Teen book display. It’s got hearts, glitter, rad people, and lots of books from the Stonebook Book Awards and Rainbow Book lists.
Yeah, I got a bit sloppy/lazy with the lettering after all that cutting and pasting. Still, I think it’s a pretty sweet little display. Can you find Anna Paquin and Brooklyn author Jacqueline Woodson in this picture?
You can see Orlando Cruz out to kick your ass, Zachary Quinto who scares the crap out of me on American Horror Story, the glam Justin Vivian Bond, Ellen and Portia, and Anderson Cooper, who has eyes like the sea.
Malinda Lo, author of Ash and other YA novels.
Here we have Wanda Sykes, Frank Ocean, my girl Beth Ditto, James St. James (author of one of my favorite YA books, Freak Show), and Jane Lynch (who I will forever think of as a cocktail waitress on an oil barge).
The cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race, getting up, looking sickening, and making them eat it.
Honey Boo Boo Child’s Uncle Poodle (“Ain’t nothing wrong with being a little bit gay), Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Neil Patrick Harris, and Carrie Brownstein, the woman who my boyfriend will be leaving me for shortly.
Hard Times of RJ Berger Actor Paul Iocono and Actor Jim Parsons.
Andrew Rannells, RuPaul (in drag and out), and Lana Wachowski.
Andy Cohen who has eyebrows for days, David Levithan, author of everything that’s good in the world, and George Takei, king of the internet.
Ricky Martin and Amanda Lepore. I don’t know much about clothes, but her hair looks FIERCE.
Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger and It Gets Better.
The Year They Burned the Books (maybe it’s time for an updated cover on that sucker) and Boyfriends with Girlfriends.
Thanks to all the Twitterbrarians (Tweetbrarians?) that helped me come up with this idea and compile a list of people to include in the display.
What are your favorite books that speak to the LGBTQ experience?
~Love and Libraries, Ingrid
I think this is a fantastic idea! Well done! Do you have any advice on attracting more readers? I am a recent MLIS grad looking for work and recently started a blog to help my search. Thanks!
Readers of your blog, do you mean? Well, I don’t have *tons* of readers (though I do love the ones I have). My advice: be honest. Write about what you love and are interested in/curious about. Everything else will come across as disingenuous.
Congrats on your MLIS! And feel free to share a link to your blog here.
Good luck with your job search. Stay strong!
Thanks for the advice! My blog is talesandtreats.blogspot.com. I’m just coming back from a year long hiatus and am starting to blog about more library related topics.
I love this!
Thank you!
Have you read Pink by Lili Wilkinson? It’s great!
It’s on our LGBTQ pathfinder, but no, I haven’t. But if you recommend it, I’m all over it.
Just a wonderful story about a girl exploring her sexuality amidst the world of theater in Australia so it pretty much already defines amazing. I flew through it! It was stellar. Just stellar.
I don’t know if “am I blue” is still in print, but back in the day (late 90s) that book helped me immensely!
It’s on our LGBTQ pathfinder. We have a few copies!
I. Love. This. Display.
A few of my YA faves:
“Beauty Queens” by Libba Bray
“Gemeni Bites” by Patrick Ryan
“Huntress” by Malinda Lo
“It Gets Better” ed. by Dan Savage and Terry Miller
“Jumpstart the World” by Catherine Ryan Hyde
“Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy” by Bil Wright
“She Loves You, She Loves You Not” by Julie Anne Peters
“With or Without You” by Brian Farrey
“Sparks” by S.J. Adams
“The Miseducation of Cameron Post” by Emily Danforth
“Tessa Masterson Will Go To Prom” by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin
“The Difference Between You and Me” by Madeline George
“Every Day” by David Levithan
“Adaptation” by Malinda Lo
“My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan” by Seth Rudetsky
“Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” by Benjamin Alire Saenz
“I Am J” by Cris Beam
“A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend” by Emily Horner
“Gone Gone Gone” by Hannah Moskowitz
“Ask the Passengers” by A.S. King
Love me some gay books
And please do me a favor. Don’t ever stop being awesome. Because you’re a hero.
You’re way, way to sweet. And while I’ve read some of the books on your list, you’ve reminded me that I’ve got a LOT of reading to do. Thanks!
Don’t feel bad. I read almost exclusively in this genre. One more to add – “October Mourning” by Leslea Newman. Ultra powerful.
And I unfortunately know a lot of librarians who regularly go un-recognized/under-appreciated, so I felt obligated to let you know you are quite awesome. You seem to be a great librarian, and a librarian for all the right reasons, and hopefully lots of people tell you that professionally. If not, at least your blog readers see it. That’s all
That lovely comment couldn’t have come at a better time. Thank you!
Love, love, love it. It gives me a reason to like something related to Valentine’s Day. Way to go!
Valentine’s Day brings my favorite holiday: Feb. 15/Cheap Discounted Valentine’s Candy Day.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily danforth (purposely un-capitalized which is great). Of course, emily is a friend of mine and we’re from the same town where the book takes place – but it’s a great read about a young girl, suddenly orphaned, and her feelings toward first her best friend, then another girl, and finally her journey through a “gay recovery” school.
My TBR list is getting so long!
[...] I found some other displays for February that I loved, like this one from The Magpie Librarian that features LGBTQ titles. [...]