Category: Sensory disability

Hurricane Child

By Kacen Callendar

Being born during a hurricane is unlucky, and 12-year-old Caroline has had her share of bad luck lately. She’s hated and bullied by everyone in her small school on St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, a spirit only she can see won’t stop following her, and — worst of all — Caroline’s mother left home one day and never came back.

But when a new student named Kalinda arrives, Caroline’s luck begins to turn around. Kalinda, a solemn girl from Barbados with a special smile for everyone, becomes Caroline’s first and only friend — and the person for whom Caroline has begun to develop a crush.

Now, Caroline must find the strength to confront her feelings for Kalinda, brave the spirit stalking her through the islands, and face the reason her mother abandoned her. Together, Caroline and Kalinda must set out in a hurricane to find Caroline’s missing mother — before Caroline loses her forever.

Representation: sapphic MC and love interest; Deaf side character.

Harmonious Hearts 2018 – Stories from the Young Author Challenge

By Anne Regan

This anthology showcases up-and-coming writers of LGBTQ+ fiction aged 14 to 21. Selected from dozens of entrants, these young people are the winners of the Harmony Ink Young Author Challenge, and they represent the entire spectrum as well as a variety of fictional genres.

You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P!

By Alex Gino

Jilly thinks she’s figured out how life works. But when her sister Emma is born Deaf, she realizes how much she still has to learn.

A big fantasy reader, Jilly connects with another fan, Derek, who is a Deaf Black ASL user. She goes to Derek for advice but doesn’t always know the best way to ask for it and makes some mistakes along the way. Jilly has to step back to learn to be an ally, a sister, and a friend, understanding that life works in different ways for different people, and that being open to change can make you change in the best possible ways.

Representation:

Sexual orientation: Jilly’s aunts are lesbian.

Race: Derek and an aunt are Black.

Mooncakes

By Suzanne Walker

Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town.

One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home.

Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.

Representation: Tam is nonbinary, Nova is queer, Nova has lesbian/queer grandmothers. Both are Chinese-American and Nova is hard of hearing.

The Tea Dragon Festival (Tea Dragon #2)

By Katie O'Neill

Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but stumbling across a real dragon turns out to be a different matter entirely! Aedhan is a young dragon who was appointed to protect the village but fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago. With the aid of Rinn’s adventuring uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel, they investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep, but Rinn’s real challenge is to help Aedhan come to terms with feeling that he cannot get back the time he has lost.

Representation: Rinn’s uncles are gay; deaf side character; Rinn is potentially gender fluid or nonbinary.

The Backstagers and the Theater of the Ancients (Backstagers #2)

By Andy Mientus

After all the backstage ghost drama during Phantasm, things are quiet for the Backstagers of the St. Genesius School Drama Club. Too quiet. But when that quiet is filled by a mysterious voice that haunts the Backstagers day and night, they set off on a globetrotting adventure to discover the ancient secrets of the legendary artifacts of the theater. Can they solve the mystery in time to open their production of the rock musical Tammy? Each Backstager brings unique skills to the team: Mischievous Sasha is impossibly positive; no-nonsense Aziz makes sure everything runs smoothly; whiz-kid Beckett is a perfectionist through and through; flirtatious Hunter knows the backstage better than anyone; and sweet Jory can think his way through any problem. Effortlessly inclusive and full of adventure, The Backstagers and the Theater of the Ancients is sure to have readers calling, “Encore!” 

Representation: multiple gay characters. Deaf side character.

Ownvoices author: queer representation.

Blanca & Roja

By Anna-Marie McLemore

The del Cisne girls have never just been sisters; they’re also rivals, Blanca as obedient and graceful as Roja is vicious and manipulative. They know that, because of a generations-old spell, their family is bound to a bevy of swans deep in the woods. They know that, one day, the swans will pull them into a dangerous game that will leave one of them a girl, and trap the other in the body of a swan.

But when two local boys become drawn into the game, the swans’ spell intertwines with the strange and unpredictable magic lacing the woods, and all four of their fates depend on facing truths that could either save or destroy them. 

Representation: Latinx MCs; Blanca is queer; nonbinary love interest; lesbian side characters.

This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story

By Kacen Callendar

Nathan Bird doesn’t believe in happy endings.

Although he’s the ultimate film buff and an aspiring screenwriter, Nate’s seen the demise of too many relationships to believe that happy endings exist in real life.

Playing it safe to avoid a broken heart has been his MO ever since his father died and left his mom to unravel—but this strategy is not without fault. His best-friend-turned-girlfriend-turned-best-friend-again, Florence, is set on making sure Nate finds someone else. And in a twist that is rom-com-worthy, someone does come along: Oliver James Hernández, his childhood best friend.

After a painful mix-up when they were little, Nate finally has the chance to tell Ollie the truth about his feelings. But can Nate find the courage to pursue his own happily ever after? 

Representation: audibly impaired character; multiracial side character; Black MC; m/m romance; f/f side relationship.

Ownvoices: Black and queer representation.

That’s Not What Happened

By Kody Keplinger

Publisher’s description:

It’s been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah’s story–that she died proclaiming her faith.

But it’s not true.

I know because I was with her when she died. I didn’t say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah’s parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I’m not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did–and didn’t–happen that day.

Except Sarah’s martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don’t take kindly to what I’m trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what’s right. I don’t know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up . . .

Representation: asexual MC; Denny is Black and blind; Eden is a Latina lesbian.

The White Renegade

By Claudie Arseneault

Publisher’s Description:

Between bisexuality and albinism, Seraphin always felt like an outsider in his own town. He finally finds companionship in Alex, an agender and aromantic teenager who interns over the summer. With him he learns to trust himself and his instincts. It leads Seraphin to leave his town and join the army invading his country, but when his squad is ordered to raid his hometown, Seraphin finds his new life may come at the price of his old.

Genre: Science Fiction

Representation:
Gender:
Cis Boys: Seraphin
Agender: Alex

Sexual and Romantic Orientation:
Alex is bisexual and aromantic.  Seraphin is bisexual and biromantic.

Race/Ethnicity:
Seraphin is White
Alex is Black

Trigger Warnings: From the author, “Murder, abuse, firearms, fire, gunfights, casual misgendering, dead bodies.”

Additional Notes: Seraphin has albanism.

Ownvoices:  Aromantic