Happy Pride!

We couldn’t let June—or ALA Annual—roll around without posting something. We’re a small team again this year: Dani’s busy chairing the Real Committee (!!!) and Stacy’s busy being a Library Journal Mover & Shaker (!!!), so it’s just Alec and Kazia! We’re taking it a bit easier this year after the rollercoaster that was 2020, but we still wanted to do a brief mid-year check-in.

Here are a few categories we’re excited about, along with some books we’re putting into our TBR pile.

Queer history:
Sharice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman by Sharice Davids with Nancy K. Mays and illustrated by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley
Singled Out: The True Story of Glenn Burke by Andrew Maraniss
No Way, They Were Gay?: Hidden Lives and Secret Loves by Lee Wind

Trans athletes: 
May the Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor
The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons
Obie Is Man Enough by Schuyler Bailar

Rom-coms with BIPOC leads:
Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar
Love and Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura
Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee 

Ghosts: 
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
Touch of Ruckus by Ash Van Otterloo 

Thrillers & mysteries:
The Marvelous by Claire Kann
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe

What have you read and loved so far in 2021? Any early Stonewall Book Award frontrunners? Let us know in the comments!