Hello All,

I run a community library at a local non-profit. We have a shelter and at any time, our population can be as high as 40% lesbian. I am interested in building a positive, fun, informative and supportive lbgt collection.  Our young women range from teens to early adults. We are also predominantly African American. Your recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

Black-eyed Susan

I have a teenage (high school age) lesbian friend & she loves to read books from Karin Kallmaker - which are fiction/novel type books.

I have to get ready for work now, but I'll go through our local GLBT center library list & see what I can come up with for you & get back to you on this.

Hopefully some others here will have some suggestions.

Thank you,

Annie On My Mind

Julie Anne Peters has a couple of books out, I've only read Luna though, but I'd check her out as an author (Two other titles: Keeping You a Secret, Far From Xanadu)

Ursula Le Guin's  Left Hand of Darkness.   Not lesbian but questions sex roles.   And Dykes to Watch Out For comics.

I've read and we have Luna. I'll check out the others.

Wide Awake, Boy Meets Boy, and pretty much anything else by David Levithan.

Annie on my Mind..have to second that one. it is a great book for teens. i think i have it here somewhere... if i do, i will post it .

Stone  Butch Blues... it's the most powerful and moving book I have EVER read.

Thanks Spunky,

I'm going to see if the book came in. Any chance you'd be interested in donating a copy to a library where our population is sometimes as much as 40% lesbian?

I would love to if I actually had the book! I'm sorry. I borrowed it from my girlfriend when I read it. I always see it pop up on the posted list though, so definitely WL it! I'll fund you the credit when it pops up :)

I'll add it my wish list. Today I received Gay and Lesbian Poetry. I'm looking forward to checking it out. I hope our girls will relate. The contributors are older writers and often the girls prejudge the books solely by the looks of it.

Actually Mecedes Lackey has a few books with LGBT characters also...I think her arrows trilogy and Magic trilogy...

Whirlgirl,

What is the first title in the series? Do you highly recommend the series? Can you recommend other titles with strong female leads or secondary characters?

I vaguely remember Mercedes Lackey having gay men.  I don't remember any lesbians.  Would have remember that.   I'd recommend ML's Diana Tregarde series of books for YA.  I think they were even reissued as such.  Burning Water is one of them.

How about Elizabeth Lynn?  Anyone remember if she is suitable for YA?  Been years since I read her books.

The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy.  Main character is a straight white girl.  But the city is full of artists and outsiders.  I can rattle off a long list of SF/F coming of age stories about girls.  But almost all have white girls who either have no sexuality yet or are straight.

"Actually Mecedes Lackey has a few books with LGBT characters also...I think her arrows trilogy and Magic trilogy..."

Yes, she has a few gay chracters spread throughout the Valdemar books. "The Last Herald Mage" is one of my favorites, in which the main character, Vanyel, is Gay. I like how she included a lot of the gay experiences (fully realizing your gay, for the first time; coming out, etc) but at the same time it's only a part of his life, not his whole life. He's also a Herald, a son, a brother, a adviser to the King, a mage and so on. And it was Very well written.

She does have another book, which is a collection of adventure stories that focus on two women called the "Vows and Honor Trilogy". If I recall correctly it never actively comes out and says they're lesbians.... but it heavily points to that. And I mean heavy. The ending of the last book practically screams it.

This is an oldie and I haven't read it since high school, but I can still remember whole sentences from it. It made a really good impact on me...

Trying Hard to Hear You by Sandra Scoppettone.

I also liked Deliver Us From Evie by M.E. Kerr

  I can rattle off a long list of SF/F coming of age stories about girls.

Emily, I'd like to check out your list.

Thanks,

I'm not sure why but our fantasy section doesn't move much. The girls read either light and funny or realistic fiction. I'm reading as much and as fast as I can so if you provide good summaries in way of the sf/fantasy I can pass them along and maybe the girls will read these genres as well.

I'm not dividing between SF, F or paranormal.   This is going to dribble out as summaries take alot longer than a list.  And I hate typing on this form, so I'm cutting and copying.  (And having problems with lines.)

Coming of age SF/F

First, to mention the classics:

Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Earthsea Trilogy (now 4 books) by Ursula leGuin

Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card

Redwall series by Brian Jacques

There are a bunch of YA series such as P C Cast’s that I’m not going to mention.  First, they are all WL.  Second, I haven’t read them.  I’m mentioning books that I have read and liked enough to keep.  Or YA series by authors that I have read other books by.  And if romance was the most important aspect of the book, then it probably won’t be on my list.  (So no Twilight on my list.)

Bitten, and Stolen by Kelley Armstrong.  These are the first 2 books of a series.  They are about a werewolf named Elena.  I’d summarized these as a feminist werewolf story.  The rest of the books are about other women in the “Otherworld”.  I’d start with these 2 books as the characters and politics get more adult and complicated in the later books.  Kelley has a new series aimed at YA, the first book is The Summoning about a high school student named Chloe who sees ghosts.  I haven’t read it yet.

Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood  by Patricia Briggs.  These two books are fantasy about a boy who’s abusive father has died, leaving him to rule the land.  Unfortunately he has been pretending to be stupid to protect himself and his younger brother and sister from his father.  Excellent and fast moving. 

Moon Called,  Blood Bound, Iron Kissed by Patricia Biggs.  This series is about Mercy (short for Mercedes) Thompson, a coyote shapeshifter and VW mechanic.   This series is for slightly older than the Dragon series.

Finder and War For the Oaks by Emma Bull.  These two books are about Bordertown in Minneapolis, where humans and elves cross paths.  Both excellent, although there is some silly eighties fashion references.  Cited by ALA as books for YA.  Both issued as adult fantasy and reissued as YA.

Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine.  Rachel Caine started writing romances and an adult series called Weather Wardens.  This is a series aimed at YA; Glass Houses, Dead Girl’s Dance, Midnight Alley, and Feast of Fools.  Claire Danvers came to college at age 16.  Her parents won’t let her go across country to an Ivy League college, so she went to the local Texas school.  Which happened to be in a town owned by vampires.

Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge.  While on a school field trip with her classmates, Ren Segura tries to stop a terrorist attack but instead causes the death of her whole class. To protect her mother, Ren agrees to a plea bargain that has her in an experimental virtual solitary prison for 8 months.  Full of grief, anger, betrayal and questions about rehabilitation.   This is a lesbian SF novel.  And one of my favorites.   Kelley also has a collection of short stories.

The Firebird Anthologies.  Firebirds, Firebirds Rising, Firebirds Soaring.  Collections of short stories from some of the best writers aimed at YA readers.

Need to mention Neil Gaiman here. 

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.  William Gibson changed the face of Science Fiction.  This is one of his more recent ones with a female main character.  I also liked Count Zero as the characters are younger than in his other novels.  And both of these titles have less violence and drugs than some of his others.  Neither of these two books are for the younger teens.

Staying Dead by Laura Anne Gilman.  Okay, it is a Luna book.  But the main character, Wren Valere, is interesting.  A young women who is almost famous for being unnoticed.  Set in a New York City that is dark and full of magic.  And this one has the romance just hovering and unspoken, sort of adults with crushes.  Laura Anne Gilman also wrote a pre teen series about Camelot that I have not read.

Zenna Henderson.  She is real old school.  First published in 1965.  But alot of her stories are about children, and having to hid your differences.

God Stalk by P C Hodgell.  A young women arrives with little memory,  questioning everything, especially religion.  Turns the town upside down, and travels on. 

Alice Hoffman.  Green Angel.  The Water Tales.  The Foretelling.  I would also recommend Blackbird House.  Beautiful lush language.

Nina Kiriki Hoffman.   She is one of my favorite authors.  Her books have this magical realism feel.  They make every ordinary thing feel beautiful.  Like watching a sunset silently with your best friends.  Some are about family.  Some are about the families that we choose.  A Fist Full of Sky  (with body image issues).  Spirits That Walk in Shadow (ending obsessive relationships).   A Red Heart Full of Memories.  Past the Size of Dreaming  (both have a woman who dresses as a boy).  A Stir of Bones.  (These 3 are a series, and all deal with aspects of child abuse, either abused or witnessing it,  and different ways to face and deal with it.  Each character shows a different style of reaction.)  The Silent Strength of Stones (parental abandonment).  And the really hard to find one, The Thread That Binds The Bones. 

Sarah A Hoyt,  I've read her two were dragon novels, Draw One in the Dark and Gentleman Takes A Chance.  She also has a fantasy series about Shakespeare and a Victorian fantasy series.  The were dragon books have a thrown away boy and a foster girl trying to make a place feel like a home.

Thanks Emily!

Which Gaiman books? I thought most of his leads were male? Are they gay or does he have lesbian lead characters as well? I should mention that sexual orientation does not have to the center of the story.

I have no idea on Gaiman books.  Have not ever enjoyed one.  I seem to get about 25 pages in and drop them.  Which is very unusual for me.   I just know that he is often on the lists for YA. 

I do tend much more towards SF and paranormal / urban fantasy rather than traditional fantasy.  I stopped reading Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books before she got to the almost lesbian one.  And there is a slew of books, especially by guys, that I haven't read.  I am definitely a product of the late 70's and early 80's as far as book choice.  Picked up way too many books by guys about guys where all the women were passive.  Given a choice, I'll go for the female authors first. 

With this list I'm aiming at girls/young women who are strong and active.  Wish there were more lesbians in my pile.  Wish there were more in the store.  Have a gay SF author on my shelf. His books are about straight men.  He will not be on this list. 

And I'm only up to H.

Oh.  Emma Bull's Bone Dance is about a genderless main character.  But it has been so long since I read it that I feel I can't say if it is for YA.

I am very blessed. I almost always pick up books by and about women. I like guys, but I'd rather read a woman's point of view. :-)

I've read Coraline and Stardust by Gaiman. Enjoyed them both. Read them on recommendation. Wouldn't have chosen him on my own.