LGBTQ+ representation in young adult literature is still on the rise, and this year’s crop of YA books shows signs the industry may finally be diversifying. Along with stories of white, cisgender teens are tales in which transgender, nonbinary, and intersex youth are the heroes and queer people of color get the spotlight.
Below, we’ve listed 20 of 2020’s LGBTQ+ YA offerings — many of which are available for sale already — with protagonists including a trans brujx, a bisexual K-Pop aspirant, a bigender guardian angel, and characters for whom labels don’t really matter.
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
Journalist George Matthew Johnson reflects on gender identity, structural marginalization, Black joy, and other topics in this YA “memoir-manifesto” meant for queer men of color and the teens who want to support them. “I feel like we are a blueprint generation of ‘out’ Black queer people,” Johnson tells Teen Vogue. “We have always existed but had our stories rejected, hidden, or separated from our Blackness. I wrote this book for us. Those who never got to tell their story and those who need to know the real so they don’t make the same mistakes we did.”
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
In Thomas’ paranormal YA debut, Yadriel seeks to become a brujx to get his traditional Latinx family to accept his true gender… and inadvertently summons the ghost of his school’s resident bad boy. Thomas tells Teen Vogue it was important to acknowledge the struggles QTPOC face daily but also to give readers of that population a reprieve. “There’s also a lot of joy we experience because of our identities, and I wanted to show the good along with the bad,” they add. “Writing Yadriel’s story has given me more courage to embrace my identity, and humor has helped me through some rough times. My hope is my readers will see themselves in his story and feel inspired, too — and if they have a good laugh along the way, all the better!”
(Expected September 1)
Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
200 years after Cinderella met Prince Charming, the kingdom now requires teen girls to attend the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom choose their wives. Sixteen-year-old Sophia — who’s way more interested in tying the knot with her childhood best friend, Erin, than some random man — runs away from the ball and bumps into Constance, Cinderella’s last known descendant, who’s just as eager to topple the patriarchy.
(Expected July 7)
Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye
When popular teen Bryson Keller is dared to go out on a date with the first person to ask him out every Monday morning, Kai Sheridan shoots his shot. A dare’s a dare, so Bryson says yes. Even so, Kai knows this straight boy won’t be his happily-ever-after… or will he?
Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp
This Is Where It Ends author Marieke Nijkamp returns with a tale of five friends — including Ever, a nonbinary teen, and Finn, a trans boy — reuniting at a cabin for a game that turns deadly in this mystery, a book One of Us Is Lying author Karen M. McManus calls “thrilling in every sense of the word.”
(Expected September 15)
The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos
High school senior Sam realizes there are problems even witchcraft and wizardry can’t fix when he starts falling for James, another member of his small-town school’s magic club, just as James starts getting mired in a cult-like group of magickers.
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callendar
His last name is Love… but Felix, a Black, queer teen, hasn’t experienced it. Worse yet, an anonymous student is publicly posting his deadname and photos of him from before his transition. Surprisingly enough, Felix’s revenge scheme leads him to a love triangle, of sorts, in what HarperCollins calls an “honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.”
The Gay Agenda by Ashley Molesso and Chessie Needham
Assembled by the queer and trans power couple behind stationery company Ash + Chess, this lushly-illustrated “modern queer history and handbook” for readers old and young pays tribute to LGBTQ+ events and icons — from Stonewall to Pulse, from James Baldwin to Jodie Foster, from Emma Goldman to Laverne Cox.
The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar
When Flávia re-enters Nishat’s life, Nishat realizes that she has serious feelings for this childhood friend of hers — feelings that get complicated when both she and Flávia decide to start henna businesses for a school entrepreneurship competition — in this story billed as When Dimple Met Rishi meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.
I’ll Be the One by Lyla Lee
In this novel slated for an HBO Max adaptation, Skye Shin isn’t going to let anyone stop her from becoming a K-Pop star — not her disapproving mother, not the fatphobic music industry, and not even fellow reality show contestant (and fellow bisexual) Henry Cho… though he certainly is charming!
