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Day #22, Wide Awake by David Levithan. Geared for the young adult/teen crowds, there is a decent amount of lip locking and such things. The basics for this book, sets the scene with a young Jewish gay teen who finally gets to see someone like him elected into office. Well almost elected into office. To make a change in their government for the present and the future Duncan, along with his boyfriend and group of buddies must take an adventure to fight for what they believe in. In remembering when I read this book there were parts I loved and things I struggled with in this book. However I do like how many of the characters weren’t picture perfect and had their mishaps along the way.

Day #21, The Heart of Aces by various authors. This book is a collection of short stories that explore asexual experiences. I will say some stories I loved! While some other stories took me a good while to read through. This is also the only book I know of that has explicit asexual characters. If anyone has other suggestions please let me know. I’m lacking in the asexual reads department. This is more for the YA crows. Mostly because these stories were written with character that are in college and older teens. I would recommend everyone to take a peek at this book and share their thoughts.

Day #20, Popularity Papers by Amy Ignatow. Really goofy story about two best friends documenting what they find to be cool and their adventures together. This series I find to be in the same genre as Wimpy Kid, it has the cross between graphic novel, and novel. One of the main characters has two dads. Although I love main character that are LGBT+ I enjoyed the fact it helped to normalize same-sex parenting. It wasn’t a huge deal for most of the series and I love how one dad is just the BIGGEST nerd. It would be a fun, soft read to give to someone like Alice one day. She could read a book where someone people like her two aunties together, just trying their best to keep their little niece out of too much trouble.

Day # 19, DRAMA by Raina Telgemeier. This is a graphic novel with a cute story of tech kids and the love triangles between them. Professor Earp and I kept giggling because we could stop thinking about poor Jeremy and Doc when they all first started out. I would recommend this for upper elementary and teen.

Day #18, Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash. Another great graphic memoir. I loved this one so much I carried it around with me for a while after I had read it! It is also a really good timing as it is the summer and lots of camps are going on. This book personally captures that great/mixed up feeling of having an inappropriate crush and figuring yourself out. Maggie Thrash I do believe has another graphic memoir out currently, called Lost Soul, Be At Peace. Which seems to have a more dark side vibe to it. I honestly cannot wait to read that one too!

Day # 17, Spinning by Tillie Walden. An awesome graphic novel memoir. This memoir was written like fragmented memories, and I am use to more of a concrete storyline. It took me a haught minute to get into the story but I ended up really enjoying! It would be geared more for the teen/YA kiddos.

Day #16, A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. One of the few adult books I have read. This novels talks about a college professor going through the loss of a loved one. A decently sad book but I found the dry and sarcastic humor in this book awesome!

Day #15, Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out written and photographed by Susan Kuklin. This is a nonfiction that help to tell the stories of a few teens and young adults that idenify on the trans spectrum. I am usually not a fan of nonfiction, this book I read from front to back without stopping. I adored learning about and from those that were willing to share their stories!

Day #14, Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. In attempt to not spoil this book for those of you who have not already read or seen the movie of this bad boy, we follow Simon and his quest for love. I will say it does have a little of a first world problem vibe to it, overall it is a really well done modern gay coming out story. If any of you like the John Green/David Levithan books, this one will be up your ally too, just right for the teen/YA crowd.

Day #13, QUEER: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens by Kathy Belge and Marke Bieschke. A book I have not been able to read from front to back yet, I have skimmed over a decent amount of it. As far as I can tell the verbiage is not always on point but the general message and most of the vertiage is good to go. I would have LOVED to have a book like this available in my teen years, might have helped me through a couple of my fumbles.

Day #12, Frenemy of the People by Nora Olsen. I feel like I say this a lot. But this one is one of my favorite gay books. For sure in my top 10. One of the books that is told from two perspectives, switching off each chapter. This book is a good coming of age book. Ms. Olsen did a fantastic job of bringing out multiple factors a young teen might deal with. While the sexuality is a focus, there are other things going on in their lives. I am also a HUGE fan because it has a very obvious bisexual character with the label used. I have some trouble finding decent books, that does my personal label some justice. Definitely for some of the lip locking moments, would recommend for teens/YA

Day #11, I am J by Cris Beam. When I first was on the hunt for lgbtq+ books back in high school, this was one of the first books I read with a trans character front and center. One aspect I really liked about this book is the main character not white, I feel like that gave a little more dynamics to the story and amazing to have more diversity in books. That being said I cannot speak to the authentic feelings of a transition as, myself I am cis. WARNING: this book does cover a couple of different hard topics as well including eating disorders and self harm. Thus I would recommend it for YA/teen crowd.

Day #10, Kissing Kate by Lauren Myracle. This author is one of my all time favorite authors. I originally read the TTYL series (very much a guilty pleasure). When I first came across this one I devoured it. This book is a coming of age story and coming to terms with your sexuality. I adored the goofy and corky characters you get to meet in this book. It was one of the first books I have read that most noticeably took place in a southern US town, which for at the time was a big deal. This book is definitely for the teen crowd being that a couple of parties do take place.

Day #9, (I will finish before the summer is over!) Lumberjanes series by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson, Brooke A. Allen with many others as the series has continued in graphic novel format. I believe as of currently in the graphic novel format there are 11 issues. I have yet to get my hands on that most recent. I cannot believe it has taken me this long to talk about this series in particular. That being said, I have no doubt that most of you have already dove into this series. As professor earp’s teacher assistant reviewing this book, it has the lovably goofiness of fighting the supernatural and “friendship to the max”. This book has f/f loving and some nonbinary characters in the later issues. To be honest the targeted audience is probably teens simply because many of the characters are teens. I would also have no problem handing this to a middle grade kiddo to read.

Day #8, Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. This particular book would definitely when I (Waverly...your professor) am in a more poetic mood. The style of this book is very much a train of thought book. The structures of sentences and chapters and concrete characters seem to be a little more loose. I loved the ambiguous feel of the main character/narrator. I loved this read, but most likely recommend it to students/fellow booknerds that tend more on the adult side. Those who can let loose with the set structure that most novels/prose are written with.

Day #7, Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan. On a personal note, I have no idea what Waverly would think of this book. I mean it probably isn’t one she would pick up to be honest. Um a little too normal and run of the mill for her. On my end though (the lonely graduate assistant to Professor Earp), I really enjoyed this book. It is written in one of my favorite styles. Two perspectives are shown through alternating perspectives. Lots of gay teen angst with a little theatre arts thrown into the mess.

Day #6, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan. As we all know I didn’t realize/face the fact that I am into women, until that darling Officer Haught walked into Shortys that fateful afternoon, I found this book particularly relatable when reflecting on my high school years. This particular story follows the coming of age of Leila an Iranian American girl, who really just wants to fit in despite what makes her unique and different while also trying to make sense of that off putting feeling a crush that just smacks you in the face.

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