(New) AAPI LGBTQIA+ Reads to Check Out!
Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month is almost over, and Pride Month is fast approaching. Below are ten (newer!) books with characters of both identities. Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min: Seventeen-year-old Santi Arboleda finally feels settled in his new life in Los Angeles with a growing found family and a relationship with musical prodigy Suwa--until Suwa is offered the chance to step into the spotlight that he has always denied himselfand they must finally face their dreams, their pasts, and their futures, whether together or apart. Chasing Pacquiao by Rod…
The Families We're Born Into & the Families We Create
In honor of LGTBQIA+ Pride and considering that Father’s Day also happens to be in the same month, here are some suggested readings that discuss families we are born into and families we create. These books expand an understanding of queer and trans life, which may to some seem lonely, isolated or disconnected from the concept of a family, and for those of us continuing to work through relationships with the families we are born into these books could provide insight into similar experiences or new ideas. In Our Work is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer and Trans…
Books with a Hook: For Mateys Who Love Our Flag Means Death
How did we luck into such deeply funny, sweet and dramatic queer-pirating adventure as Our Flag Means Death (OFMD)? Pirate movies and shows are known, by and large, for being neither sweet nor queer (not a lot of matey¹-cuddling in Black Sails, alas). And yet, for all of the de rigueur tropes–leather-clad pirates, pitched battles, swordfights, swashbuckling, treasure-hunting–OFMD sails past the commonplace gritty sea tale and glides into a rainbow sunset of love and friendship, where men have a chance at gentleness and women are people too. The show follows…
Celebrating Queer Joy During Pride
Celebrating Pride in 2021!
June is Pride Month and one way I celebrate each year, is by reading books written by and for LGBTQ+ folks (like myself!). Here are five teen books I've read and loved, and three I can't wait to check out! Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender: Felix Love has never been in love, painful irony that it is. He desperately wants to know why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. He is proud of his identity, but fears that he's one marginalization too many-- Black, queer, and transgender. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages--…
Kids Create: Pride Pom-Poms
June is Pride Month! If you are part of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LBGTQIA) community or an ally, show your pride with rainbow pom-poms! The History of the Rainbow Flag In the 1960s, before the creation of the rainbow pride flag, the LBGTQIA community represented themselves with a pink triangle, but this symbol had a dark history. Nazi Germany had forced the gay community to wear pink triangles in order to persecute them. One man, Gilbert Baker, wanted a new symbol, one where he could spread love instead of hate. It was a night dancing that Gilbert…
Celebrate Pride with These Poetry Collections!
Leigh, Collections Manager, Collections Manager
Here is a brief list of books from the last year-ish that transcend Pride Month, and presents a more nuanced, representative and resonant experience of queerness than what is often front and center this time of year. Homie by Danez Smith (Graywolf) These are poems for and about queer black community, friendship, and queer black poet elders. Crossfire: A Litany for Survival by Staceyann Chin (Haymarket) The first full-length collection of Chin’s poems spanning 21 years of work, with a subtitle that references Audre Lorde. NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes From the Field by Billy-Ray…
Read for Pride!
June is Pride Month, and what better way to celebrate than reading? Here are a few of our many lists of LGBT2SQIA+ titles created by BPL librarians and by teen members of BookMatch Teen. Let us know your favorite titles in the comments! BKLYN BookMatch Pride 2020 - YA BKLYN BookMatchTeen: LGBTQ+ Pride BKLYN BookMatchTeen: LGBTQ+ Fiction and Poetry BKLYN BookMatchTeen: LGBTQ+ for a fan of Black-ish and Billie Eilish Want your own personalized list? Fill out a BookMatch (for recs from BPL librarians) or BookMatch Teen form (for recs from fellow teens) online and we'll make you…