Representation Matters: Middle Grade Fiction Picks
by Kit Ballenger
Okay You’re here, so you know -- Pride and Less Prejudice sends age-appropriate LGBTQ+ books to pre-k to third grade classrooms, offering the youngest readers a critical foundation in identity-affirming stories. When your readers hit upper elementary school, their need to see themselves on the page, or in the author bio, doesn’t diminish. Here are a handful of recently released fictional LGBTQ+ books for middle grade readers (generally considered to be 8 to 12-years-old), to help some kids expand their empathy and give others the reassurance of seeing themselves reflected in a story.
High Five for Glenn Burke, by Phil Bildner. A school assignment on a former MLB player gives Silas the confidence boost he needs to come out to his best friend, Zoey, and to his baseball coach. Silas’s zany, crowd-pleaser tendencies distract from his inner turmoil, but uncomfortable team dynamics and a complicated home life leave Silas worried he’ll be ostracized like baseball great (and inventor of the high five) Glenn Burke. Silas navigates each of his challenges in turn, leaving the reader ultimately reassured with messages of affirmation and support. As an added bonus, many adults in Silas’s life -- including his parents and a coach -- nicely model LGBTQ+ supportive language, no surprise from a compassionate author with an uncanny ability to connect with his audience. Brimming with enthusiastic nuggets about baseball history, this is a warmhearted and funny sports story with thoughtful elements of social justice, family stress and friendship.
Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea, by Ashley Herring Blake. After losing their Mum in an accident, Hazel, her younger sister, and their Mama embrace a nomadic lifestyle until settling in a small town in coastal Maine. There, a peer introduces Hazel to a local myth with a magical promise to transform Hazel’s grief, forcing Hazel to confront her own guilt as well as the ocean, which took her Mum and physically scarred Hazel. Honestly, I’m sure this book is terrific, but my kid ran off with the copy the minute we got it home from the bookstore. No middle grade LGBTQ+ book list would be complete without a book by Blake, whose previous two titles for this age group, The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James and Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, also offer tender, nuanced stories of girls finding the confidence to be true to their hearts.
Flight of the Puffin, by Ann Braden. Libby's unfettered creativity lands her in trouble both at school and at home. When Libby sends an artistic outpouring of compassion to a stranger she thinks might benefit from a boost, it sets off a cross-country chain reaction of affirmations that spark confidence-bolstering behavior among kids who, like Libby, have been struggling with their senses of self. Featuring short chapters from four children's perspectives, including one non-binary child, this book is a terrific fit for family or classroom read-alouds and an excellent prompt for conversations around themes of bullying, gender identity, grief and more.
King and the Dragonflies, by Kacen Callender. Convinced his older brother has been reincarnated as a dragonfly, twelve-year-old King escapes to the bayous near his Louisiana town in the hopes of reconnecting with the sibling he so admired. Complicating matters, King’s best friend, Sandy, had come out to King just before Khalid’s death, and the threat of their unaccepting families pressured King into rejecting Sandy and denying King’s his own identity. Now helping hide Sandy, to protect him, King navigates trenchant racism and homophobia while processing his grief for Khalid along with this complicated friendship. Exquisite language and gut-wrenching emotional reflection drive home the message that sometimes we simply have to be the best selves we can, even if imperfect.
The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told to his brother), by David Levithan. Aidan is gone. He up and vanished, without a trace, leaving younger brother Lucas and their parents thinking the worst. When he reappears almost a week later, Aidan confides to Lucas that he’d stepped through a dresser in their attic and into another world, Aveinieu. This is a story of sibling loyalty and a thoughtful take on our willingness to believe in the fantastic, and in the people we love. Aidan’s boyfriend appears casually, toward the end of the story, less a plot-point and more mere fact. Written by a legend in the KidLit community, let this book be a gentle reminder that not every story by an LGBTQ+ author or about an LGBTQ+ kid involves an identity “issue” to overcome. For a mystery with a strong LGBTQ+ main character and storyline, check out Kyle Lukoff’s Too Bright To See, in which a transgender boy unravels a ghostly haunting as he simultaneously gains understanding about his own identity. And, finally, if the premise of a queer Narnia-like world makes your middle school heart go pitter-pat, keep an eye out for Mark Oshiro’s The Insiders, out this fall, in which going into the closet brings together a group of students who find respite there from homophobic bullies at their schools.
Snapdragon, by Kat Leyh. People say there’s a witch in Snapdragon’s town, so Snap investigates the rumor for herself and finds a most unlikely friend in the process. With tinges of magic, a striking palette, and plot-lines with copious kid-appeal (Roadkill!), this vibrant graphic novel tackles issues like rural poverty, multigenerational friendships and gender identity with a casual, captivating honesty. It’s funny, and just a wee bit spooky, and should appeal to tweens who appreciate the offbeat. (Did I mention there’s roadkill?) If you’re looking for more witchy and wonderfully gay graphic stories, check out Beetle & the Hollowbones, by Aliza Layne, and the forthcoming Lilla the Accidental Witch, by Eleanor Crewes.
The Cardboard Kingdom #2: Roar of the Beast, by Chad Sell et al. If you missed the first installment of this series back in 2018, stop reading this blog post right now and go find a copy of The Cardboard Kingdom. Once you’ve finished that gem, you’ll understand why readers anxiously awaited the return of our favorite community of makers. In this second collection, there’s a monster and some teenage bullies on the loose in the Kingdom and the friends must band together to protect their neighborhood (and each other). Well-suited for the younger range of middle grade readers, the messages underlying this adventure affirm the power of creativity and the strength that comes from being true to yourself. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more inclusive cast of characters, with a wide range of ethnicities, cultures, races, and family structures represented in addition to the multiple LGBTQ+ identities sensitively rendered by a team of #OwnVoices creators.
Thankfully, these picks barely graze the surface when it comes to recent middle grade stories about LGBTQ+ characters, and represented here are only a handful of the authors -- most of whom write from experience -- working in this space. When it comes to finding good-fit book recommendations, my constant refrain for caregivers is to ‘know your reader.’ Knowing these stories -- such affirming, funny, and sensitively rendered stories -- are out there? That’ll make it all the easier to bolster your kids’ bookshelves, not to mention their self-esteem.
