The Manny Files

Author	Shyam Selvadurai
ISBN	0887768342

Nominated for the Governor General's Literary Awards 2005, (Children's Literature, Text)


The setting is Sri Lanka, 1980, and it is the season of monsoons. Fourteen-year-old Amrith is caught up in the life of the cheerful, well-to-do household in which he is being raised by his vibrant...

Author	James Howe
ISBN	0689839588

I work with middle schoolers, and every now and then I dabble a bit in adolescent literature. I have to say, I'm frequently disturbed by what I find in the genre. There are a lot of mass marketed young adult books filled with pain and angst. There are a lot of books about drug use, alcohol, abuse, pregnancy,...

Author	Brent Hartinger
ISBN	0984679448

Book 2 in the Lambda Award-winning Russel Middlebrook Series.

Summer camp is different from high school. Something about spending the night. Things happen.

Geography Club's Russel Middlebrook is back, and he and his friends are off to work as counselors at a summer camp. Brent Hartinger's...

Author	Julie Anne Peters
ISBN	0316739065

Nick has a three-legged dog named Lucky, some pet fish, and two moms who think he's the greatest kid ever. And he happens to think he has the greatest Moms ever, but everything changes when his birth mom and her wife, Jo, start to have marital problems. Suddenly, Nick is in the middle, and instead of having...

Author	Ron Koertge
ISBN	0763626953

A trip out West to work at a racetrack — and a sojourn with a sophisticated gay uncle — bring unexpected discoveries in this quick-witted coming-of-age novel by the author of STONER & SPAZ and MARGAUX WITH AN X.

I was in the West. The Old West. The Wild West! A whole summer in a new place:...

Author	Harvey Fierstein
ISBN	1416903135

The Barnes & Noble Review

Let's just say that Elmer's not your run-of-the-mill duck. He likes to decorate cookies, enjoys building sand castles instead of forts, and would rather put on puppet shows than play sports. Being different is fine for sweet Elmer—he's as happy as a duck in water...

Author	Lesléa Newman
ISBN	1582461015

Roger is a boy who simply can't stop smelling the roses. Can you blame him? Through his eyes the world is a wonder not to be rushed by. But his parents have an entirely different view, and they expect Roger to see things the way they do. Paired with vibrant illustrations, this cheerful tale will have children...

Author	Susan Juby
ISBN	0002007088

Alex Ford wishes his father had seen the movie Brokeback Mountain. Because then he might understand that it’s possible to be a gay cowboy. Trouble is, Alex doesn’t even want to be a cowboy; his dream is to ditch Western-style riding and take up dressage. But with his mother long gone, his father ensconced...

Author	Nancy Garden
ISBN	0374350027

What makes a family?

The members of Ms. Marston's kindergarten class are cleaning and decorating their room for the upcoming Open School Night. Molly and Tommy work on drawing pictures to put on the walls. Molly draws her family: Mommy, Mama Lu, and her puppy, Sam. But when Tommy looks at her...

Author	Jennifer Bryan
ISBN	0967446864

This bedtime story about bedtime stories shows how a lively, curious boy helps one of his moms create a magical tale. Together they weave a nighttime adventures that lands young Noah and his singing cat Diva deep in dragon territory. Join them as they make an unexpected discovery and help a new friend...

Author	Beth Goobie
ISBN	1551434598

When Dylan Kowolski agrees to create a display for her high school library, she has no idea of the trouble it's going to cause--for the school principal, her family, her boyfriend Cam and his jock friends, and her best friend Jocelyn. And for Dylan herself. If only her English class had been studying a...

Author	Judy MacLean
ISBN	1560234830

One reviewer gives two stars because this book is not a sociologically cutting-edge, realistic study of conservative Christian versus secular "liberal" sexual ethics--which, given the overt Shakesperean template, is like complaining that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet did not realistically...

Author	Jennifer Carr
ISBN	1452087253

Nick was born in a boy's body, but has always felt like a girl inside. Nick's family supports him when he says he no longer wants to be called a boy or dress like a boy; "Always remember to be who you are Nick. Remember that we love you, and we are so proud of you." (p. 17). Nick's parents find a group for families...

Author	Kelly Huegel
ISBN	1575421267

The teen years are full of challenges.

For gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning teens, these challenges can include prejudice, discrimination, rejection, reprisals, insensitive remarks (even among friends and families) and, sometimes, violence.

But being...

Author	Bonnie Shimko
ISBN	0897335112

Lizzy McMann, A feisty twelve-year-old, lives with her immature mother and Manny, her father (she thinks) in a fleabag Phoenix hotel. One night, Manny's sudden announcement that he wants a divorce forces mother and daughter to move to upstate New York to live with Lizzy's grandmother and grandfather—a...

Author	Kathe Koja
ISBN	0374373825

A powerful drama about self-acceptance
Kit Webster is hiding a secret. Carma, his best friend, has already figured it out, and pushes him to audition for the high school play, Talk. When he's cast as the male lead, he expects to escape his own life for a while and become a different person. What he gets...

Author	Lu Vickers
ISBN	1555839649

“A hilarious and daring portrait of growing up gay in the American South. One roots for Lily as one does for Huck Finn. This beautifully written debut novel explores the fragile links between a girl’s growing awareness of her sexuality and the far-reaching effects this has upon her family.”—Pamela...

Author	Steven Goldman
ISBN	1599902710

Mitchell Wells may not survive eleventh grade. He really only has one friend, his best friend, David. His normally decent grade point average is in limbo due to a slightly violent, somewhat inappropriate claymation film. And girls . . . well, does hanging out with his sister count?

When David...

Author	Lois-Ann Yamanaka
ISBN	0786814667

Had to read it for book club. Wouldn't have picked it otherwise, and probably won't read anything else by this author. Definitely would not recommend it.

Having lived in Hawaii for several years, I understood most of the pidgin/Hawaiian terms (like pau, haole, and ohana) and could even relate...

Author

Alex Sanchez

He clicked on Queer Eye, a show where five gay dudes gave some grungy straight guy a makeover -- plucking his nose hairs, redecorating his apartment, and teaching him to bake a quiche -- so he could confidently propose marriage to his girlfriend and she'd tell him "yes." Which, of course, she did. On TV...

Author	Will Davis
ISBN	0747586918

My name is Jarold, but everyone calls me Jaz, which is a damn sight cooler I think you'll agree. I'm sixteen (just) and I have two remarkably undivorced parents, along with a sister and a grandmother and we all live in the same house together just like in a TV show.

I've just started my A levels too,...

Author	Helen Humphreys
ISBN	0393328422

Alice's boyfriend abandons her dog, which joins a feral pack. Every evening, Alice and five others gather at the forest's edge, trying to call their dogs back. Most have similar tales of jealousy or vengeance enacted upon them through their dogs: Jamie is rebelling against his stepfather; Lily, who...

Author	Gene Gant
ISBN	1613725728

Sequel to Everything We Shut Our Eyes To Kyle Manning is a tall, strong, openly gay sixteen-year-old who makes decent grades and plays on his school's basketball team. He’s a good kid who cares deeply about his family and friends. But his life has become a mess. His mom, Lela, has finally had enough of...

Author	Robert Trachtenberg
ISBN	0060571462

Cute stories from various people about when they realized they're gay. Most are humorous. All bring an insight to the perspective of gay kids.

It's obvious to me that people are born gay, they don't choose to be gay. I always wondered what it must be like for kids to sense there is something different...

Author	Ben Monopoli
ISBN	1481083635

Boots McHenry and his boyfriend Ryan are young superstars in the North American Paintball League, a high-stakes sport where losers face exile -- five full years of it, on an island so secret no one can be sure it even exists. After Ryan has a tragic collision with an opposing team's paintball, the rules...