
100 Must-Read LGBTQIA YA Books
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Welcome to a list of 100 must-read LGBTQIA YA books! Yes, these are all must-reads, and no, this is definitely NOT all the queer YA books that exist. For transparency’s sake, on this list there are: 32 books with lesbian characters, 33 books with bisexual+ characters, 30 with gay characters, 17 with trans characters, 5 with intersex characters, and 4 with asexual characters (yes, I know that doesn’t add up to 100 because some of the books have more than one LGBTQIA character in them!). I’ve marked the books with the letter of the rainbow alphabet that correspond to the content so you can know which one is which.
I’ve only included more than one book by the same author if they are really important and groundbreaking books. As far as I know, I’ve included all the YA books with intersex and asexual content that exist (in English, anyway). I’ve omitted some trans YA written by cis authors that has been flagged by trans readers as problematic but I aimed to include every trans YA written by a trans author.
One last thing: this list includes 36 books by and about people of color (there are additional ones that feature characters of color but are by white authors), all of which have an asterisk next to them so you can easily spot them. Those books were EXTRA hard to find. This is my call on the publishing industry to PLEASE consider intersectionality when publishing LGBTQIA books and to prioritize queer and trans authors of color telling their own stories!
This is a story about two Mexican-American teen guys falling in love that’s also about grief, loneliness, and being true to yourself. It has beautiful understated writing.
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz* (G)

- First Spring Grass Fire by Rae Spoon (T)
- The Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr* (L)
As a star basketball player in her last year of high school, Nancy Takahiro’s life is about to change forever. Faced with the college recruitment process and unsure of where her skill will take her, Nancy is not prepared for meeting Raina Webber, an African-American All-State shooting guard whose passion for basketball is matched only by her talent.
A lushly written magical realist story about standing up for who you are, When the Moon Was Ours has great complex representation of a teen trans guy and a trans woman, as well as POC (Latinas and Pakistani/Italian).
A fantasy novel filled with magic, Days of Blood & Starlight is actually the second book in the series, but it’s the first one when Liraz, who unfortunately isn’t the main character, is confirmed as asexual.
- Empress of the World by Sara Ryan (B)
- When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore* (T)

- Deliver Us from Evie by M.E. Kerr (L)
- Afuera: A Young Latino’s Journey by Marcelino Rosas* (G)
- Radical by E.M. Kokie (L)
- Skim by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki* (L)
- Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor (A)

- Lunaside by J.L. Douglas (LBA)
- Adaptation by Malinda Lo* (B)
- None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio (I)
One of the few YA books with an intersex main character, None of the Above is about Kristin, a teen girl who’s kind of living the dream with a college scholarship and a great boyfriend. But sleeping with her boyfriend for the first time brings her to the doctor, where she learns she’s intersex.
A groundbreaking YA novel about a trans girl by a trans woman author, If I Was Your Girl is about Amanda, the new girl in town trying to fit in and make friends. Her burgeoning relationship with Grant challenges her reserve to keep her trans status secret.
Being Emily is about a trans teen girl just coming out to her family and her girlfriend, neither of which are going super well. It’s not until she gets a new trans-positive therapist and meets a new trans friend that she really feels like she can be Emily.
15-year-old Aki Simon knows she’s bisexual, even if so far it’s been hypothetical. Along with her queer BFF Lori, Aki sets off on a summer trip where she meets the slightly older, more experienced Christa…
Joanna has always been an out and proud lesbian but when her family moves to a smaller conservative town in Georgia and her radio evangelist dad asks her to keep her sexuality on the down low, Joanna reluctantly agrees. When she meets an alluring girl named Mary, the sister of a new friend, it tests her reserve.
Renowned storyteller Ivan Coyote’s only book especially intended for young adults, this is a collection of true short stories for teens all over the queer and trans spectrum. Some stories are funny and heart-warming, some are tough and sad. All are very moving.
This time-traveling story features 15-year-old Jack who agrees to do an experimental treatment for epilepsy. The treatment somehow sends Jack into a whole new body—of a girl named Jacqueline—living in the early 20th century. Over time Jack starts to feel very torn between two epochs, two genders, and two lives.
The first book in the ghetto goddess series, Brew is about a mother and a daughter: Arjana, a black trans teen witch, and Bembe a mysterious infamous figure in the magical community.
Two Boys Kissing is a well-known gay YA for a reason, because of its unique structure: it’s the story of two boys trying to set a new Guinness world record for the longest kiss narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS.
This novel set in a richly described 80s Sri Lanka is a gay teen Amrith’s sexual awakening with a subplot about a school play of Othello. Jealousy is a major theme in Othello and it also rears its ugly head in Amrith’s story as he and all the girls in his town are enchanted with his visiting Canadian cousin.
Set in a home for children like the Narnia kids or Alice in Wonderland who slipped into fantasy worlds and had to come back to the real one, Every Heart a Doorway also has a plethora of queers including most notably an asexual character!
No list of queer YA would be complete without Julie Anne Peters. With a steady boyfriend, the position of Student Council President, and a chance to go to an Ivy League college, high school life is just fine for Holland Jaeger. But when Cece Goddard comes to school, everything changes. Cece and Holland have undeniable feelings for each other.
A verse novel about a genderqueer teen Brendan Chase, who seems to have it pretty easy. But on the inside, Brendan struggles to understand why his body feels so wrong. Is there even a name for guys like him? Guys who sometimes want to be girls?
Boy Meets Boy is adorable cheerful story set in a high school that is basically an LGBTQ+ utopia, with characters across the spectrum, including a drag queen star quarterback. At its essence, this is a gay romantic comedy in book form.
16-year-old Sana Kiyohara has too many secrets, one being how she might have a crush on her best friend and another being she knows her dad is having an affair. When Sana and her family move to California she begins to wonder if it’s finally time for some honesty, about her sexuality and her dad.
The last thing in the world Thom wants is to add to his father’s pain. He can’t bear to tell him that he’s been asked to join the League – the very organization of superheroes that spurned his dad. But the most painful secret of all is one Thom can barely face himself: he’s gay.
Ramona is sure of three things: she likes girls, she’s fiercely devoted to her family, and she knows she’s destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Eulogy, Mississippi. As Ramona falls back in love with swimming, her feelings for returned childhood friend Freddie begin to shift too, which is the last thing she expected.
Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth. Not even her best friend and ex-girlfriend, Mabel. Now, months later, Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid about her lost love, loneliness, and her grandfather’s death.
From the forests, beaches, and Xicano community of Santa Cruz to the smoky punk bars, strip clubs, and queer-girl culture of San Francisco, these are the stories of Missy Fuego, an 18-year-old Xicana, the first in her family to leave home and accept a scholarship at a prestigious university.
- The Culling by Steven Dos Santos* (G)
- If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (T)

- Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess Book 1: Captain Raven and the All-Girl Pirate Crew by Jeremey Whitley (LBQ)
- Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin (T)
- Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa (GB)
- Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero* (G)
- Being Emily by Rachel Gold (TB)

- Golden Boy by Abigail Tartellin (I)
- The Butterfly and the Flame by Dana De Young (T)
- Pantomime by Laura Lam (BTI)
- More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera* (B)
- Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley (LB)

- Girl Mans Up by M.E. Girard (L)
- The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson* (LGBQ)
- Quicksilver by R.J. Anderson (A)
- Boyfriends with Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez* (LGB)
- Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown (L)

- Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde (B)
- Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova* (B)
- The Abyss Surround Us by Emily Skrutskie (L)
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (LGB)
- One in Every Crowd by Ivan Coyote (LGBTQ)

- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (G)
- Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee* (B)
- Alex As Well by Alyssa Brugman (I)
- A Visitation of Spirits by Randall Kenan* (G)
- The Unintentional Time Traveler by Everett Moon (T)

- Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert* (B)
- (You) Set Me on Fire by Mariko Tamaki* (L)
- I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (G)
- Coda by Emma Trevayne (B)
- Brew by Dane Figueroa* (T)

- Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (LB)
- Fruit by Brian Francis (G)
- Hen & Chick: The Marauders’ Island by Tristan J. Tarwater* (LGBTQ)
- Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills (T)
- Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan (G)

- Money Boy by Paul Yee* (G)
- Proxy by Alex London (G)
- Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden (L)
- About a Girl by Sarah McCarry (B)
- Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai* (G)

- Big Big Sky by Kristyn Dunnion (LQ)
- Long Red Hair by Meags Fitzgerald (B)
- Darkest Light by Hiromi Goto* (L)
- Dreadnought by April Daniels (T)
- Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (LGBTQA)

- From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson* (L)
- Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby (G)
- Fat Angie by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo* (L)
- A + E 4ever by i. merey (T)
- Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters (L)

- Dare, Truth, or Promise by Paula Boock (L)
- Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron (G)
- Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan* (L)
- Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin (L)
- Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark (T)

- Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis (B)
- Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera* (L)
- Huntress by Malinda Lo* (L)
- The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson (G)
- Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan (LGBTQ)

- Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole* (LB)
- The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth (L)
- The Difference Between You and Me by Madeline George (L)
- Noteworthy by Riley Redgate* (B)
- It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Suguira* (B)

- Geography Club by Brent Hartinger (G)
- Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz (B)
- Pink by Lili Wilkinson (B)
- Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez* (G)
- Hero by Perry Moore (G)

- I Am J by Cris Beam (T)
- The Albino Album by Chavisa Woods* (LI) An American epic focused on racial in/justice told through the eyes of a fiery, unhinged, growling, big-hearted queer country girl in a dirty black tutu and combat boots. She travels along all the bizarre yet familiar byways of human desire from the cornfields of Louisiana and the big brass sound of Mardi Gras to the heights of the Empire State Building.
- Cinnamon Toast and the End of the World by Janet E. Cameron (G)
- Wonders of the Invisible World by Christopher Barzak (G)
- Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy (B)

- What Night Brings by Carla Trujillo* (L)
- Anything Could Happen by Will Walton (G)
- The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson* (L)
- Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (G)
- We Are Okay by Nina LaCour (LB)

- Mooncakes Issue One by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu* (BT)
- The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson* (B)
- Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith (B)
- Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz (T)
- Life is Wonderful, People Are Terrific by Meliza Banales* (L)
