Black | Queer Books for Teens

Compulsion

By Marina Boone

After the death of her shut-in mother, Barrie Watson finally feels free. She travels to her aunt’s South Carolina home only to find herself trapped again by an ancient family curse, a gift that draws her to lost things, and ghosts of the past that won’t let her leave. Black, gay, drag queen supporting character.

Publisher’s Description

All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lives with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead—a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family’s twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Cis boy: Mark (cis male drag queen)

Sexual Orientation:
Gay/Queer: Mark

Romantic Orientation:
Homoromantic: Mark

Race/Ethnicity:
Black: Mark

Trigger warnings: alcoholism or substance abuse, death, cancer

Kensei

By Jeremy Zimmerman

Jamie Hattori is many things: half-black, half-Japanese, roller derby loving, lesbian, but she’s also a superhero. She talks to spirits and fights with a sword, but she has to keep her secret safe from her mom, all while trying to defeat her arch-nemesis.

Publisher’s Description

Jamie Hattori’s alter ego, the masked hero Kensei, has been doing pretty well protecting her neighborhood from petty villains with her martial arts skills, her father’s katana, and a little help from the local spirits. But things get rough when the spirits start flaking out, the Goddess of Discord throws a few cursed apples, and an online gossip site sics an angry football player on her. Then there’s her slipping grades, the vampire owls, and the cute roller derby chick looking for romance. And even worse, Jamie’s hero-hating mom is starting to get suspicious. Can Jamie defeat her mysterious nemesis without tearing her family apart? And more importantly, will she score her first kiss?

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Jamie

Sexual Orientation:
Lesbian/Queer: Jamie

Romantic Orientation:
Homoromantic: Jamie

Race/Ethnicity:
Multiracial (Japanese-Black): Jamie

Stranger (The Change #1)

By Rachel Manija Brown

The earth is changed, and so are the people. Sun flares caused mutations and powers in individuals, and Ross Juarez travels through Las Anclas holding a powerful artifact. People are coming for it, and it’s time to run.

27 Hours

By Tristina Wright

After humanity colonized a moon, indigenous creatures called chimeras rose up, and it has been a fight for survival since. A group of teens explore their home, finding dark secrets and dangerous facts.

Publisher’s Description:

“Rumor Mora fears two things: hellhounds too strong for him to kill, and failure. Jude Welton has two dreams: for humans to stop killing monsters, and for his strange abilities to vanish.

But in no reality should a boy raised to love monsters fall for a boy raised to kill them.

Nyx Llorca keeps two secrets: the moon speaks to her, and she’s in love with her best friend, Dahlia. Braeden Tennant wants two things: to get out from his mother’s shadow, and to unlearn his colony’s darkest secret.

To save everyone they love, they’ll both have to commit treason.

During one twenty-seven-hour night, these four runaways must stop the war between the colonies and the monsters from becoming a war of extinction, or the things they fear most will be all that’s left.”

Genre: Science Fiction

Representation:
Gender:
Cis boys: Rumor, Jude, Braeden
Cis girls: Nyx
Trans girl: Dahlia
There is a side character who uses they/them pronouns.

Sexual and Romantic Orientation
Rumor is bisexual.
Nyx is canon pansexual
Braeden is asexual and has two moms.

Race/Ethnicity:
Rumor is mixed Nigerian, Portuguese & Indian
Nyx has Cuban ancestry
Dahlia is Afro-Latinx
Jude and Braeden are white

Disability:
Nyx is Deaf and uses ASL; her abuela is also Deaf.

Own Voices: own voices for bisexuality

Additional Notes:
Colonialism. Read Aimal’s review of problematic racial and colonialist representation here.

Lumberjanes (series, based on the graphic novels)

By Mariko Tamaki

Based on the bestselling graphic novels, this ongoing series of middle-grade novels contains all-new adventures.

Publisher’s Description:

Welcome to Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types. The five scouts of Roanoke cabin—Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley—love their summers at camp. They get to hang out with their best friends, earn Lumberjane scout badges, annoy their no-nonsense counselor Jen . . . and go on supernatural adventures. That last one? A pretty normal occurrence at Miss Qiunzella’s, where the woods contain endless mysteries.

Genre: Fantasy, Graphic Novel

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: April, Molly, Mal, Ripley
Trans girls: Jo

Sexual Orientation:
Lesbian/Queer: Mal, Molly
April, Ripley and Jo’s sexual orientation is not explicitly addressed.

Romantic Orientation:
Not explicitly addressed.

Race/Ethnicity:
White: April, Molly, Rosie
Black: Jen
Latinx: Ripley
East Asian: Mal
Multiracial: Ripley (Irish/Mexican)
Not mentioned: Jo

Ownvoices: Author and Illustrator are queer and author is a person of color.

Kaleidoscope Song

By Fox Benwell

Neo loves music and loves Tale, who sings like no other. In South Africa, their love can be a dangerous thing, but Neo refuses to give up what she loves.

Publisher’s Description

South Africa is loud. Listen. Do you hear the song and dance of it? The chorus of Khayelitsha life? Every voice is different, its pitch and tone and intonation as distinct as the words we choose and how we wrap our mouths around them. But everybody has a voice, and everybody sings…

Fifteen year old Neo loves music, it punctuates her life and shapes the way she views the world. A life in radio is all she’s ever wanted.
When Umzi Radio broadcasts live in a nearby bar Neo can’t resist. She sneaks out to see them, and she falls in love, with music, and the night, but also with a girl: Tale has a voice like coffee poured into a bright steel mug, and she commands the stage.

It isn’t normal. Isn’t right. Neo knows that she’s supposed to go to school and get a real job and find a nice young boy to settle down with. It’s written everywhere – in childhood games, and playground questions, in the textbooks, in her parents’ faces. But Tale and music are underneath her skin, and try as she might, she can’t stop thinking about them.

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Neo, Tale

Sexual Orientation:
Lesbian/Queer: Neo, Tale

Romantic Orientation:
Homoromantic: Neo, Tale

Race/Ethnicity:
Black: Neo, Tale

Note: unhappy ending – death, rape/sexual assault, hate crime, murder

My Fairy Godmother Is A Drag Queen

By David Clawson

Chris is trying to pass under the radar in his family, until his step-sister starts dating eligible bachelor J.J. Kennerly. Chris and J.J. fall for each other fast, but it takes the help of a drag queen dressed like Diana Ross to bring Chris out of his shell.

Publisher’s Description:

Chris Bellows is just trying to get through high school and survive being the only stepchild in the social-climbing Fontaine family, whose recently diminished fortune hasn’t dimmed their desire to mingle with Upper East Side society. Chris sometimes feels more like a maid than part of the family. But when Chris’s stepsister Kimberly begins dating golden boy J. J. Kennerly, heir to a political dynasty, everything changes. Because Chris and J. J. fall in love . . . with each other.

With the help of a new friend, Coco Chanel Jones, Chris learns to be comfortable in his own skin, let himself fall in love and be loved, and discovers that maybe he was wrong about his step-family all along. All it takes is one fairy godmother dressed as Diana Ross to change the course of his life.

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Cis boys: Chris

Sexual Orientation:
Gay/Queer: Chris

Romantic Orientation:
Not explicitly addressed.

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Chris

Trigger Warnings: Mild transphobia/transmisia in the way Chris describes Coco. Homophobic/homomisic language

Additional Notes: The portrayal of Coco and the other drag queens has been described my many readers as offensive.

Stranger Than Fanfiction

By Chris Colfer

Four teen fans of the world famous actor Cash Carter jokingly invite him on a cross-country road trip– and he says yes. The five take off on a once-in-a-lifetime journey and learn a lot about him and each other.

Publisher’s Description:

Cash Carter is the young, world famous lead actor of the hit television Wiz Kids. When four fans jokingly invite him on a cross-country road trip, they are shocked that he actually takes them up on it. Chased by paparazzi and hounded by reporters, this unlikely crew takes off on a journey of a lifetime–but along the way they discover that the star they love has deep secrets he’s been keeping. What they come to learn about the life of the mysterious person they thought they knew will teach them about the power of empathy and the unbreakable bond of true friendship.

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Cis boys: Topher, Cash, Joey
Trans boys: Sam (Sam is not out at the start of the book. The author refers to Sam using he and him pronouns but the characters continue to misgender Sam.)
Cis girls: Mo

Sexual Orientation:
Gay: Joey (Joey is not out at the start of the book)
Heterosexual: Cash, Sam, Mo
Queer: Topher

Romantic Orientation:
Not explicitly addressed.

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Topher, Cash, Sam
Japanese: Mo
Black: Joey

Religion:
Christian: Joey

Trigger Warnings:
Alcohol/Substance abuse. Joey’s parents are very homophobic. Topher’s brother has cerebral palsy and is described as being somewhat of a burden to Topher. Cancer/Death. They come across a racist gas station owner in one chapter.

Ownvoices: Queer

The 57 Bus

By Dashka Slater

On the 57 bus, two strangers meet. Sasha goes by ‘they’, is a gifted student at a private school and white, while Richard lives in a crime ridden neighborhood and is black. A practical joke goes too far, and Richard is tried for a hate crim while Sasha has third degree burns. What follow is an examination of gender, race, the criminal justice system, and how these things intersect.

Publisher’s Description:

One teenager in a skirt.
One teenager with a lighter.
One moment that changes both of their lives forever.

If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight.

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Agender: Sasha
Cis boys: Richard

Sexual Orientation:
Queer: Sasha
Heterosexual: Richard

Romantic Orientation:
Not explicitly addressed.

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Sasha
Black: Richard

Trigger Warnings:
Hate crime. Richard lights Sasha’s skirt on fire because of their gender identity.

Additional Notes: This is narrative nonfiction based on a New York Times Magazine article by the author.