New Books for Kids & Teens To Celebrate Pride Month
In honor of Pride Month, we're spotlighting these recently published books for kids and teens that center LGBTQ+ characters and themes and promote acceptance and equality. Included are also nonfiction titles about the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and the activists who fought for them.
Join the Library in celebrating Pride Month throughout June with book recommendations, free online events, illuminating resources, and much more—for all ages!
Picture Books
Bathe the Cat
by Alice B. McGinty; illustrated by David Roberts
Bathe the floor? Sweep the dishes? This riotous romp of a picture book follows a frantic family as they try to get some chores done—with no help from the family cat, who keeps scrambling the list of chores with hilarious effects.
Grandad's Pride
by Harry Woodgate
After Milly discovers a pride flag in Grandad's attic, this adorable pair are motivated by the past to start a pride parade in their small town. Activism and celebration go hand in hand as the town gathers to help "build a world where everyone is proud to be themselves."
Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle
by Nina LaCour; illustrated by Kaylani Juanita
When her mother goes on a business trip, a little girl, who loves to sit between Mama and Mommy at the table, misses her a lot and feels empty until Mommy finally comes home, filling the void with love.
A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington
by Carole Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders; illustrated by Byron McCray
Every movement has its unsung heroes: individuals who work in the background without praise or accolades, who toil and struggle without notice. One of those unsung heroes was at the center of some of the most important decisions and events of the Civil Rights Movement. That hero was a quiet man, a gay African American man. He was Bayard Rustin.
Middle Grade Books
Answers in the Pages
by David Levithan
When his mother rallies other parents to pull the book he’s reading from the district curriculum because it depicts a relationship between two boys, Donovan must speak up and stand out to stop this book from being banned.
A Child's Introduction to Pride: The Inspirational History and Culture of the LGBTQIA+ Community
by Sarah Prager; illustrated by Caitlin O'Dwyer
A Child’s Introduction to Pride is full of remarkable stories of groundbreaking events and inspirational people, featuring profiles of dozens of queer icons from various time periods and walks of life.
Ellen Outside the Lines
by A.J. Bass
When a school trip to Barcelona to reconnect with her best friend doesn’t go as planned, Ellen, a neurodivergent 13-year-old, must expand her horizons as she makes new friends and learns to let go of old ones.
In the Key of Us
by Mariama J. Lockington
Brought together during summer music camp where they are the only two Black girls, Andi and Zora slowly begin to connect and soon come to realize what has been missing from their lives—each other.
Mamo
by Sas Milledge
Orla O’Reilly, the youngest in a long line of hedge witches, is compelled to return home after the death of her grandmother, Mamo. In the wake of her Mamo’s passing, seas are impossible to fish, crops have soured, even Jo Manalo’s attic is taken over by a poltergeist! And to make matter worse it appears that the cause is Mamo, or her mislaid bones that is. Can Orla shoulder the responsibility of quieting her Mamo’s spirit, saving her hometown, and will she have to step up as the new witch of Haresden like Mamo always wanted?
The Visitors
by Greg Howard
When a group of kids explore a deserted, haunted plantation they befriend a young ghost and together uncover the dark secret of his past that led to his mysterious death.
Teen Books
I Asked the Moon
by Paul A. Rayes
Etienne and Thad have been acquaintances since elementary school, nothing more. But now as their friendship develops into a timid and budding romance, the two must come to terms with defining their relationship—and facing the bigoted opinions of their friends and Thad's family.
The Edge of Being
by James Brandon
While on a road trip with his boyfriend to find the father he’s never met, Isaac Griffin meets an unusual girl named Max, and together they retrace his father’s steps during a major event in history leading up to the Stonewall Riots.
Forget Me Not
by Alyson Derrick
Fifteen-year-old Stevie and Nora's plan to abandon their conservative small town for California so they can be together is shattered when a terrible fall steals every trace of Stevie's relationship with Nora from her memory.
Friday I'm In Love
by Camryn Garrett
Deciding to throw herself an epic coming out party with singing, dancing and rainbow cake, 16-year-old Mahalia Harris finds herself buried in a mountain of bills, unfinished schoolwork and enough drama that could end her party before it even begins.
How to Excavate a Heart
by Jake Maia Arlow
Snowy weather and fish fossils help bring together two Jewish college freshmen spending winter break in Washington, D.C.
If I Can Give You That
by Michael Gray Bulla
Gael reluctantly attends a support group for LGBTQIA+ teens, but his life—his mother's bouts of depression, his estranged father, and navigating a conservative high school—is a lot to unload on strangers. Then he meets easygoing Declan who makes him want to open up. After tragedy strikes, Gael must decide if he can risk letting the walls around his heart down and fully opening up to those who care for him.
A Million To One
by Adiba Jaigirdar
United in one goal?—stealing the Rubaiyat, a jewel-encrusted book aboard the RMS Titanic—four girls find careless mistakes, old grudges and new romance putting them, and their mission, in grave danger when tragedy strikes.
The Restless Dark
by Erica Waters
The Cloudkiss Killer is dead. Now a true-crime podcast is hosting a contest to find his bones. Lucy was almost the serial killers final victim. Carolina is a true-crime fan who fears her own rage. Maggie is a psychology student with a little too much tohide. But there are more than bones hiding in the shadows...sometimes the darkness inside is more frightening than anything the dead leave behind.
Sawkill Girls
by Claire Legrand
A lovelorn newcomer, a grief-stricken pariah and a privileged liar intersect on the island of Sawkill Rock, where they become unlikely defenders against an insidious monster that has been preying upon the girls in their community for decades.
We Deserve Monuments
by Jas Hammonds
Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she's uprooted and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother. While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved. As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath and Avery has to decide what’s more important: Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?
Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.