The Diverse Families bookshelf was created and funded through numerous grants. Due to lack of additional grants and the loss of key personnel, the project has come to an end. We have tremendously enjoyed creating this database and hope that it can help bring readers and books together.
Browse by LGBTQ:
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Carry On
Rainbow Rowell
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen. That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right. Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here--it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up. Carry On is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.
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Caterpillars Can’t Swim
Liane Shaw
Two boys look to the water for escape, but for very different reasons. For sixteen-year-old Ryan, the water is where he finds his freedom. Ever since childhood, when he realized that he would never walk like other people, he has loved the water where gravity is no longer his enemy. But he never imagined he would become his small town's hero by saving a schoolmate from drowning. Jack is also attracted to the water, but for him it's the promise of permanent escape. Disappearing altogether seems better than living through one more day of high school where he is dogged by rumors about his sexuality. He's terrified that coming out will alienate him from everyone in town - and crush his adoring mother. Ryan saves Jack's life, but he also keeps his secret. Their bond leads to a grudging friendship, and an unexpected road-trip to Comic Con with Ryan's best friend Cody, the captain of the swim team. The unlikely trio ends up subverting preconceptions and prejudices of their own and of those around them.
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Cathy Williams, Buffalo Soldier
Sharon K. Solomon
Cathy Williams was the first documented woman to enlist in the United States Army. By disguising herself as a man after the Civil War, she joined the Buffalo Soldiers in protecting the expanding Western states. Cathy's efforts as a soldier earned her an adequate salary and a small place in history.
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Celebrating Families
Rosemarie Hausherr
Presents brief descriptions of many different kinds of families, both traditional and non-traditional.
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Cemetery Boys
Aiden Thomas
Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school's bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.
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Chaotic Good
Whitney Gardner
Cameron wants only to complete her costume portfolio in peace, but when a trip to the local comic shop results in a hostile reception from a male employee, she returns disguised as a boy at her twin brother's suggestion and finds herself drafted into a D & D campaign.
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Check, Please!: Book One, #Hockey
Ngozi Ukazu
Eric Bittle may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It is nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There's checking (anything that hinders the player with possession of the puck, ranging from a stick check all the way to a physical sweep). And then, there is Jack-- his very attractive but moody captain.
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Chulito
Charles Rice-González
Set against a vibrant South Bronx neighborhood and the youth culture of Manhattan, Chulito is a coming-of-age. coming out love story of a sexy Latino man and the colorful characters that populate his block.
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Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World
Janet Cameron
Welcome to the spring of 1987 and the world of Stephen Shulevitz who, with three months of high school to go in the small town of Riverside, Nova Scotia, has just realized he's fallen in love with exactly the wrong person. As Stephen navigates his last few months before college dealing with his overly dependent mother; his distant, pot-smoking father; and his dysfunctional best friends Lana and Mark; he must decide between love and childhood friendship and between the person he is and the person he can be.
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Coda
Emma Trevayne
Ever since he was a young boy, music has coursed through the veins of eighteen-year-old Anthem; the Corp has certainly seen to that. By encoding music with addictive and mind-altering elements, the Corp holds control over all citizens, particularly conduits like Anthem, whose life energy feeds the main power in the Grid. Anthem finds hope and comfort in the twin siblings he cares for, even as he watches the life drain slowly and painfully from his father. Escape is found in his underground rock band, where music sounds free, clear, and unencoded deep in an abandoned basement. But when a band member dies suspiciously from a tracking overdose, Anthem knows that his time has suddenly become limited. Revolution all but sings in the air, and Anthem cannot help but answer the call with the chords of choice and free will. But will the girl he loves help or hinder him? Emma Trevayne's dystopian debut novel is a little punk, a little rock, and plenty page-turning.
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Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite
Lianne Simon
Jamie was born with a testis, an ovary, and a pixie face. After minor surgery and a few years on testosterone, his parents say he can be a boy, but he sees an elfin princess in the mirror. To become the man his parents expect, Jamie must leave behind a girl's hopes and dreams. At sixteen, the four-foot-eleven soprano moves from a sheltered home school to a boys' dorm at college. The elfin princess can live in the books Jameson reads and nobody has to find out he isn't like other boys. When a medical student tells Jamie he should have been raised female, Jamie sets out on a perilous journey to adulthood. The elfin princess can thrive, but will she risk losing her family and her education for a boy who may desert her, or a toddler she may never be allowed to adopt?
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Cookies and Cake & the Families we Make
Jennifer L. Egan
A book about exposure and acceptance of the diverse families that are part of our society: single parents, multiracial parents, two moms, two dads, one of each or even an unrelated guardian. Those families who may at first seem different are quite similar, because what really matters is the love and care they give to their children. The author uses the metaphor of the different cakes and cookies we can bake to help young readers respect, accept and welcome diversity.
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Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social, and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay in America
Mitchell r Gold and Mindy Drucker
A mental health crisis faces American teens right now--and it is one we can solve. Hundreds of thousands of gay teens face traumatic depression, fear, rejection, persecution, and isolation--usually alone. Studies show they are 190 percent more likely to use drugs or alcohol and four times more likely to attempt suicide. Homophobia and discrimination are at the heart of their pain. Love, support, and acceptance--all within our power to give--can save them.
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Crossing Lines
Paul Volponi
High school senior Adonis struggles to do the right thing when his fellow football players escalate their bullying of a new classmate, Alan, who is transgendered.
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Cubby and the Bears: Free as the Wind
Hal W. Lanse
Cubby never has to be afraid when his two dads are around. On a summer trip, Papa Bear and Daddy Bear help Cubby face one of his biggest fears. With loving guidance and two pairs of big arms to wrap him up and protect him, a frightening experience turns into a happy adventure for Cubby!
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Cut Both Ways
Carrie Mesrobian
Senior Will Caynes must face unsettling feelings for his best friend Angus after they share a drunken kiss, while also embarking on his first real relationship with sophomore Brandy--all as the burden of home-life troubles weigh heavily.
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Dad David, Baba Chris and Me
Ed Merchant
This brightly illustrated book for children aged 5-10 years old tells Ben’s story about his ordinary life. Ben was adopted by his gay parents – Dad David and Baba Chris – when he was four years old, and they live happily together in an ordinary house, on an ordinary street and do ordinary things.
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Daddy and Papa's Little Angels: Acceptance of All Kinds of People
Mystique Ann U'Nique
This children's book was inspired by Elton John's concern over his son Zachary having two homosexual dads. This book was written to promote love and compassion for homosexual families, those living with AIDS, and those who choose to have children via surrogacy. The author also wrote to encourage older people who choose to start families and to take away any stigmas.
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Daddy and Pop
Tina Rella
Daddy and Pop is the heartwarming story of Jessie, a little girl with two fathers. Jessie doesn't realize that her family isn't 'typical' until a girl in her class asks about her mom. Jessie's Daddy and Pop tell her about the amazing journey they took to have her, by using an egg donor and a surrogate, in this fun-filled musical book!
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Daddy Makes the Best Spaghetti
Anna Grossnickle Hines
Not only does Corey's father make the best spaghetti, but he also dresses up as Bathman and acts like a silly dog with pajama legs for ears.
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Daddy's Roommate
Michael Willhoite
A young boy discusses his divorced father's new living situation, in which the father and his gay roommate share eating, doing chores, playing, loving, and living.
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Daddy's Wedding
Michael Willhoite
Nick tells about the wedding of his daddy to Frank, including the gathering of family and friends, the ceremony, the food, and the antics of Clancy.
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Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
Rachel Cohn
In a story told in the alternating voices of Dash and Lily, two sixteen-year-olds carry on a wintry scavenger hunt at Christmastime in New York, neither knowing quite what--or who--they will find.
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Daughter of the Burning City
Amanda Foody
Sixteen-year-old Sorina has spent most of her life within the smoldering borders of the Gomorrah Festival. Yet even among the many unusual members of the traveling circus-city, Sorina stands apart as the only illusion-worker born in hundreds of years. This rare talent allows her to create illusions that others can see, feel, and touch, with personalities all their own. Her creations are her family, and together they make up the cast of the festival's freak show. But no matter how lifelike they may seem, her illusions are still just that--illusions, and not truly real. Or so she has always believed--until one of them is murdered. Sorina must find the culprit and determine how they killed a person who doesn't exist. Her search leads her to the gossip-worker Luca, and their investigation sends them through a haze of political turmoil and forbidden romance into sinister corners of the festival. But as the killer continues to murder Sorina's illusions, she must get to the horrifying truth before all her loved ones disappear.
