Have you been looking for some queer books but only get recommended those that you have read time and time again? Are you tired of Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda or Everything Leads to You being recommended to you? Even though Albertalli and LaCour are fabulous authors, their work seems to be oversaturating all the “Top Queer books” lists. So, here I bring you a list of 5 queer books you’ve probably never heard of:
1. Hero by Perry Moore
Moore writes a heartwarming story of a young boy named Thom Creed who discovers he has powers and is forced to hide them from his father until he is asked to join an elite group called “The League” (much like DC Comic’s Justice League), who coincidentally kicked out Thom’s father. There he meets a groups of misfits of aspiring heroes that he connects with and fights crime in this X-Men meets Sky-High novel.
2. Peter Darling by Austin Chant
In this re-imagination of Peter Pan, Chant crafts an interesting take of the childhood classic, recreating Peter completely from what we know him to be. Peter had left Neverland when young to continue his life back in England as Wendy Darling. Not being able to bear his struggles with his gender identity in a bigoted land, he returns to Neverland. Once he returns to Neverland, Peter is an adult, which brings controversy within the lost boys who have also become men already. The war with Captain Hook continues and had become incredibly violent, mortal even. An interesting yet unexpected, romantic relationship between Pan and Hook occurs throughout. The book shows a fabulous portrayal of transgender individuals in literature, and is written by a trans author.
3. Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin
This novel tackles gender-fluidity in a snarky, punk, sarcastic way with main character Riley Cavanaugh, a genderfluid teen in the midst of them finding themselves. As a coping mechanism, they start an anonymous blog to vent all of their feelings about their discovery of their gender identity. As a twist of fate, their blog becomes viral and an anonymous commenter figures out their identity and threatens to out them and possibly ruin their life. Garvin tackles this topic of gender-fluidity very carefully and gracefully especially in Riley’s POV, for they are from a very conservative family whose patriarch is a politician.
4. Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky
Disclaimer: The book addresses Grayson as female, but her family mostly refers to her as a boy. I will be referring to her as female in this synopsis.
Gracefully Grayson is an incredibly heartwarming story about a 12-year-old transgender girl, finding her identity in midst of the horrors of middle school. Conflict arises when, she wants to participate in the school play as the main female character. Throughout the development of this amazing novel, Grayson loses and obtains friends who love and care for her; however, her family isn’t as accepting, mostly because of their concerns over her safety. The novel is a completely heartwarming tale of a young individual finding themselves in the midst of the most confusing time of a young person’s life. Polonsky created an amazing piece that tackles this uber-sensitive topic with sheer knowledgeable grace, pun intended.
5. Cloaked in Shadow by Ben Alderson
Zacriah isn’t a shapeshifter, but after his abilities are discovered he is taken to the capital of Thessolina where he is forced into a legion of shape-shifters under King Dalior’s command. There he is forced to interact with a past flame, Petre, who has an obsessive grasp on Zach. However, Zacriah begins falling for Prince Hadrian who shares the same abilities as Zacriah, which would turn out into a mortal war. Follow as Alderson writes on gay elves, dragons, wars and did I mention gay elves, in this fantastic novel that pulls inspiration from Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass.