Queer-inclusive books you should read

Young adult fiction is being increasingly led by characters that challenge our understanding of gender, sexuality and identity. Pallavi N B brings you top five picks

The Prince and the Dressmaker

Nimona 

Wait, What?

Mooncakes

Snapdragon

Author: Kat Leyh

You can find friends in strange places and that is at the heart of this graphic novel. Here, Snap, a teenage girl, becomes friends with a witch in her town. The witch is every bit notorious though – she eats up pets. Then how did Snap, who has a lovely pet dog Good Boy, befriend a witch? The book also shows Snap’s best friend undergoing ‘transition’.

Price: Rs 861 (paperback)

The Prince and the Dressmaker

Author: Jen Wang

Sebastian is a prince by day and Paris’s fashion icon Lady Crystallia by night. Sebastian loves wearing dresses, a secret only a few know. On the other hand, Frances is a seamstress who quits her job at a tailor’s shop to work for the prince. They both love fashion. Soon they become friends and help each other in getting closer to their goals. The book is a lovely cocktail of embracing identities and finding love.

Price: Rs 1,127 (paperback)

Nimona

Author: Noelle Stevenson

The book is headlined by Nimona, a shape-shifting teenager. She plays a sidekick to Lord Ballister Blackheart, a knight-turned-villain. He wants to overthrow the ‘corrupt’ Institute of Law Enforcement and Heroics, of which he was a part but was shown the door after a fall-out with Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin there. This story is as much about magic as mad science and as much about villainy as about friendship and queer love.

Price: Rs 520 (paperback)

Mooncakes

Author: Suzanne Walker
Mooncakes tells the story of Nova, a teen witch, and her childhood friend Tam, a werewolf who is back in town after a long hiatus. Both Nova and Tam identify as queer and the story has many such characters. Tam is here to defeat a local demon possessing a horse and Nova and her family lend their support. Filled with witches, demons, werewolves, ghosts, cats and a magical bookstore, this one’s a pageturner.

Price: Rs 2,112 (paperback)

Wait, What?

Author: Heather Corinna
It is pegged as a comic book guide to relationships, bodies, gender, sexuality, and more. Friends Rico, Alexis, Sam, Max and Malia talk about the exciting and complex topics associated with growing up and how they navigated their feelings through this phase.

Price: Rs 808 (paperback)

(All books mentioned are available online)