June is Pride month when we honor all types of love – to celebrate, here’s a list of everything from picture books to YA that recognize people’s different orientations.
Ages 0-3
My Two Dads and Me
By Michael Joosten
Illustrated by Izak Zenou
22 Pages | Ages 0-3 | Board
ISBN 9780525580119 | Doubleday Books for Young Readers
Families with same-sex parents are celebrated as we follow busy dads and their kids eating breakfast, getting dressed, heading out to the park, and settling back in at night with a bubble bath and a good-night lullaby.
My Two Moms and Me
By Michael Joosten
Illustrated by Izak Zenou
22 Pages | Ages 0-3 | Board
ISBN 9780525580126 | Doubleday Books for Young Readers
Families with same-sex parents are celebrated as we follow busy moms and their kids going on a playdate, heading to the pool for a swim, and settling back in at night with a bedtime story and a good-night lullaby.
Ages 3-7
Heather Has Two Mommies
By Leslea Newman
Illustrated by Laura Cornell
32 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780763690427 | Candlewick
Heather’s favorite number is two. She has two arms, two legs, two pets-and two mommies. When Heather goes to school for the first time, someone asks her about her daddy, but Heather doesn’t have a daddy.
Princess Puffybottom … and Darryl
By Susin Nielsen
Illustrated by Olivia Chin Mueller
32 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781101919255 | Tundra Books
What’s a pampered cat to do now that she has to compete for attention with an ill-mannered puppy? Award-winning author Susin Nielsen delights in this laugh-a-minute twist on the classic sibling rivalry story.
Ages 4-8
Big Bob, Little Bob
By James Howe
Illustrated by Laura Ellen Anderson
32 Pages | Ages 4-6 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781536215922 | Candlewick
Big Bob likes trucks and throwing balls and being loud. Little Bob likes dolls and jingling bracelets and being quiet. No matter what they do, they do not do it the same. Could they be friends despite these differences?
Ho’onani: Hula Warrior
By Heather Gale
Illustrated by Mika Song
40 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735264496 | Tundra Books
Based on a true story, Ho’onani: Hula Warrior is a celebration of Hawaiian culture and a girl who learns to lead and learns to accept who she really is – and gains the respect of all those around her.
Julián Is a Mermaid
By Jessica Love
40 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780763690458 | Candlewick Press
All Julián can think about is dressing up just like the ladies he sees at the pool in his own fabulous mermaid costume. But what will Abuela think about the mess he makes – and even more importantly, what will she think about how Julián sees himself?
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag
By Rob Sanders
Illustrated by Steven Salerno
48 Pages | Ages 5-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780399555312 | Random House Books for Young Readers
In this deeply moving and empowering true story, young readers will trace the life of the Gay Pride Flag, from its beginnings in 1978 with social activist Harvey Milk and designer Gilbert Baker to its spanning of the globe and its role in today’s world.
Skinnamarink
By Sharon Hampson, Lois Lilienstein, and Bram Morrison, with Randi Hampson
Illustrated by Qin Leng
40 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735264496 | Tundra Books
Based on the classic folk song made famous by a beloved trio of children’s entertainers, this picture book is best sung aloud! “Skinnamarink” is a timeless anthem of love and inclusion.
Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution
By Rob Sanders
Illustrated by Jamey Christoph
40 Pages | Ages 5-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781524719524 | Random House Books for Young Readers
This powerful and timeless true story will allow young readers to discover the rich and dynamic history of the Stonewall Inn and its role in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement that continues to this very day.
Ages 10+
Middle School’s a Drag, You Better Werk!
By Greg Howard
304 Pages | Ages 10+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780525517528 | Putnam Books for Young Readers
When kid drag queen Coco Caliente (aka Julian Vasquez) walks in looking for an agent, Mikey Pruitt thinks he’s finally found his million-dollar idea. As newly out Mikey prepares Julian for the gig of a lifetime, he realizes there’s no rulebook for being gay-and if Julian can be openly gay at school, maybe Mikey can tell his crush how he feels.
The Ship We Built
By Lexie Bean
288 Pages | Ages 10-14 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780525554837 | Dial Books
Rowan has too many secrets to write down in the pages of a diary. He’s not the “right kind” of girl, and he’s not the “right kind” of boy. But Rowan discovers another way to share his secrets: letters. Letters he attaches to balloons and releases into the universe, hoping someone new will read them and understand.
Where the Heart Is
By Jo Knowles
304 Pages | Ages 10-14 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781536200034 | Candlewick
Micah seems to want their relationship to go beyond friendship, and though Rachel almost wishes for that, too, she can’t force herself to feel “that way” about him. In fact, she isn’t sure she can feel that way about any boy – or what that means. If home is where the heart is, what would happen if you lost it? Compassion and humor infuse the story of a family caught in financial crisis and a girl struggling to form her own identity.
Zenobia July
By Lisa Bunker
320 Pages | Ages 10+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780451479402 | Viking Books for Young Readers
When someone anonymously posts hateful memes on her school’s website, Zenobia knows she’s the one with the abilities to solve the mystery, all while wrestling with the challenges of a new school, a new family, and coming to grips with presenting her true gender for the first time.
Ages 12+
Again Again
By E. Lockhart
304 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780385744799 | Delacorte Press
After a near-fatal family catastrophe and an unexpected romantic upheaval, Adelaide Buchwald finds herself catapulted into a summer of wild possibility, during which she will fall in and out of love a thousand times–while finally confronting the secrets she keeps, her ideas about love, and the weird grandiosity of the human mind.
Beyond the Gender Binary
By Alok Vaid-Menon
Illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
64 Pages | Ages 12+ | Paperback
ISBN 9780593094655 | Penguin Workshop
Pocket Change Collective is a series of small books with big ideas from today’s leading activists and artists. Taking from their own experiences as a gender-nonconforming artist, Alok Vaid-Menon shows us that gender is malleable.
Chicken Girl
By Heather T. Smith
240 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780143198680 | Penguin Teen Canada
After being body shamed, Poppy accepts a job as an anonymous sign waver outside a restaurant. There, she meets six-year-old girl Miracle, who helps Poppy see beyond her own pain, opening her eyes to the people around her including Lewis, a teen caring for an ailing parent, while struggling to reach the final stages of his gender transition.
Girl Crushed
By Katie Heaney
352 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9781984897343 | Knopf BFYR
When Jamie dumps Quinn a month before their senior year, Quinn is suddenly girlfriend-less and best friend-less. Enter a new crush: Ruby, the gorgeous lead singer of Sweets. But the closer Quinn grows to Ruby, the more she misses Jamie, and the more Jamie misses her. Who says your first love can’t be your second love, too?
The Boy in the Red Dress
By Kristin Lambert
368 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593113684 | Viking Books for Young Readers
New Year’s Eve, 1929: Millie is running the show at the Cloak & Dagger, a swinging speakeasy in the French Quarter. All of New Orleans is out to celebrate, but no one can outshine the boy in the red dress: Marion, the club’s star performer. Then a girl turns up dead outside the club and Marion becomes the number one suspect.
This Coven Won’t Break
By Isabel Sterling
336 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780451480354 | Razorbill
In this gripping, romantic sequel to These Witches Don’t Burn, Hannah must work alongside her new girlfriend to take down the Hunters desperate to steal her magic. When Hannah learns the Hunters have gone nationwide, armed with a serum capable of taking out entire covens at once, she’s desperate to help at any cost.
Ages 14+
Date Me, Bryson Keller
By Kevin Van Whye
336 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593126035 | Random House Books for Young Readers
Everyone knows about the dare: Each week, Bryson Keller must date someone new–the first person to ask him out on Monday morning. Few think Bryson can do it. He may be the king of Fairvale Academy, but he’s never really dated before. Until a boy asks him out, and everything changes.
Followers
By Raziel Reid
336 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735263802 | Penguin Teen Canada
When Lily’s mom kicks her out of their trailer home in the Valley, her estranged aunt invites her to live with her, her movie-star husband, and their daughter, Hailey. Lily is set up in the pool house and thrust into the company of reality-star offspring — kids who are born with silver spoon emojis on their feed.
The Afterward
By E.K. Johnston
352 Pages | Ages 14+ | Paperback
ISBN 9780735231917 | Dutton BFYR
Apprentice Knight Kalanthe Ironheart may be forced to betray not her kingdom or her friends, but her own heart as she seeks a stable future for herself and those she loves. Olsa Rhetsdaughter is a beggar and thief, who lived hand to mouth on the streets until fortune–or fate–pulled her into Kalanthe’s orbit. And now she’s reluctant to leave it.
The Mermaid, The Witch, and The Sea
By Maggie Tokuda-Hall
368 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9781536204315 | Candlewick
The pirate Florian, born Flora, has always done whatever it takes to survive. Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, a highborn Imperial daughter, is on board as well-accompanied by her own casket. Both Florian and Evelyn have lived their lives by the rules, and whims, of others. But when they fall in love, they decide to take fate into their own hands.
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
By Junauda Petrus
320 Pages | Ages 14+ | Paperback
ISBN 9780525555490 | Dutton Books for Young Readers
Told in two distinct and irresistible voices, Junauda Petrus’s bold and lyrical debut is the story of two black girls from very different backgrounds finding love and happiness in a world that seems determined to deny them both.
For more YA titles, check out our list from last year! And don’t forget to pick up one of these wonderful books at your local bookstore in June (or any month, really!).
Megabat
