ACHUKA Children's Books UK

children's & YA recommendations on the go

You are here: Home / Archives for queer

The Queen of Junk Island by Alexandra Mae Jones

By Leave a Comment

ACHUKA Book of the Day 14 Jul 2022

Waterstones
Amazon

“Unapologetically tackles biphobia, generational trauma, misogyny, and slut-shaming… this intensely personal and moving narrative adeptly captures the often nerve-wracking complexity of queer adolescence.” Publishers Weekly
“A story about intergenerational love; understanding ghosts, both internal and external; and becoming a person who will allow others to love them. Haunting, unusual, and real.” KIRKUS

We drove out to the cottage with all our things in June, a week after the phone call came and two weeks after Christopher Smith ruined my life.

YA debut from a young Canadian author who in her spare time paints, sings, knits, and makes ukulele covers and DIY videos for her YouTube channel.

Still reeling from a recent trauma, sixteen-year-old Dell is relieved when her mom suggests a stay at the family cabin. But the much-needed escape quickly turns into a disaster. The lake and woods are awash in trash left by a previous tenant. And worse, Dell’s mom has invited her boyfriend’s daughter to stay with them. Confident, irreverent Ivy presses all of Dell’s buttons–somehow making Dell’s shame and self-consciousness feel even more acute. Yet Dell is drawn to Ivy in a way she doesn’t fully understand. As Dell uncovers secrets in the wreckage of her family’s past–secrets hinted at through troubling dreams and strange apparitions–Ivy leads her toward thrilling, if confusing, revelations about her sexuality and identity.

Set during a humid summer in the mid-2000s, The Queen of Junk Island simmers with the intensity of a teenage girl navigating the suffocating expectations of everyone around her.

Follow the author on Instagram:

And on TikTok

@alexandelljones sometimes you just gotta knit the book cover for your debut queer YA novel what can I say #knitting #knittersoftiktok #knittok #booktok #authorsoftiktok #queenofjunkisland #booklook #ootd ♬ original sound – Kira Kosarin

If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

Elsie has a crush on Ada, the only person in the world who truly understands her. Unfortunately, they’ve never met in real life. Ada lives an ocean away. Nevertheless, Elsie has decided it’s now or never to tell Ada how she feels — that is, until her long-lost best friend Joan walks back into her life.

In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isn’t nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to make…

Follow on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Cynthia So (@cynthiasowrites)

Right Where I Left You by Julian Winters

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon

“Some books are downright fun, and “Right Where I Left You” is one. The story is filled with all the gushy stuff that makes for a great romance, even as it delicately reflects the anxiety that can accompany the idea of going to college and leaving old friends. But there’s another layer beneath that — Winters sends a quiet but important message that queer Black and brown kids deserve to live happily ever after too.” New York Times
“An enthusiastically queer story of friendship, family, and romance and the ways they empower one another.” KIRKUS

School’s out, senior year is over, and Isaac Martin is ready to kick off summer. His last before heading off to college in the fall where he won’t have his best friend, Diego. Where—despite his social anxiety—he’ll be left to make friends on his own. Knowing his time with Diego is limited, Isaac enacts a foolproof plan: snatch up a pair of badges for the epic comic convention, Legends Con, and attend his first ever Teen Pride. Just him and Diego. The way it should be. But when an unexpected run-in with Davi–Isaac’s old crush–distracts him the day tickets go on sale, suddenly he’s two badges short of a perfect summer. Even worse, now he’s left making it up to Diego by hanging with him and his gamer buddies. Decidedly NOT part of the original plan. It’s not all bad, though. Some of Diego’s friends turn out to be pretty cool, and when things with Davi start heating up, Isaac is almost able to forget about his Legends Con blunder. Almost. Because then Diego finds out what really happened that day with Davi, and their friendship lands on thin ice. Isaac assumes he’s upset about missing the convention, but could Diego have other reasons for avoiding Isaac?

The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“Right from its opening line: ‘The white boys stare at us from the pub’, this story brings its readers into the First Nations community of south coast of NSW and into the realm of Aboriginal protagonist Jackson on the cusp of adulthood. Told through seventeen-year-old Jackson’s first-person point of view, The Boy from the Mish transports readers into the world of Jackson, Jarny, Kalyn, Mum, Aunty Pam, little brother Henry, cousins visiting from Sydney for the summer holidays – and Tomas, a young Aboriginal man who is in Aunty Pam’s care.”
Sydney Review of Books a highly recommended at-length review
“Gary Lonesborough’s debut YA novel is an extraordinary coming-of-age story of first love, community and discovering who you are.” Readings
“‘It is, honestly, a book I’ve been searching for over my whole career as an editor, as well as all my years as a (queer) reader. I’m not ashamed to say that it made me cry (repeatedly) and awed me with the power of its storytelling.’ David Levithan

It’s a hot summer, and life’s going all right for Jackson and his family on the Mish. It’s almost Christmas, school’s out, and he’s hanging with his mates, teasing the visiting tourists, avoiding the racist boys in town. Just like every year, Jackson’s Aunty and annoying little cousins visit from the city – but this time a mysterious boy with a troubled past comes with them… As their friendship evolves, Jackson must confront the changing shapes of his relationships with his friends, family and community. And he must face his darkest secret – a secret he thought he’d locked away for good.

Compelling, honest and beautifully written, The Boy from the Mish is about first love, identity, and the superpower of self-belief.

“I’ve had a long relationship with telling stories. It hasn’t always been good.” So begins a piece the author wrote for The Guardian.

Middletown by Sarah Moon

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“The book’s tone is sharp and insightful but never judgmental, and the characters’ voices are distinctive and realistic. Moon offers up powerful and positive life lessons wrapped in an engaging, tender, and satisfying story.” Horn Book
“A moving and memorable glimpse into one endearing middle schooler’s life.” KIRKUS

Thirteen-year-old Eli likes baggy clothes, baseball caps, and one girl in particular. Her seventeen-year-old sister Anna is more traditionally feminine; she loves boys and staying out late. They are sisters, and they are also the only family each can count on. Their dad has long been out of the picture, and their mom lives at the mercy of her next drink. When their mom lands herself in enforced rehab, Anna and Eli are left to fend for themselves. With no legal guardian to keep them out of foster care, they take matters into their own hands: Anna masquerades as Aunt Lisa, and together she and Eli hoard whatever money they can find. But their plans begin to unravel as quickly as they were made, and they are always way too close to getting caught.

Eli and Anna have each become used to telling lies as a means of survival but, as they navigate a world without their mother, they must learn how to accept help and let other people in.

Read an interview between author and editor…

Arthur A. Levine founded Levine Querido in April 2019, after a 23-year tenure as the President and Publisher of Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic. He founded Arthur A. Levine Books in 1996, coming over from Knopf Books for Young Readers where he had been Editor in Chief.

Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“Three young, queer Brazilian men grapple with the realities of living with HIV in Rocha’s audacious debut… At times explicitly educational, this treatise on community provides comfort in an often homophobic world, with strong-willed drag queens; drunken, ecstatic nights; and blossoming lovers. Simply fearless.” KIRKUS

Henrique has had HIV for three years. Ian has just tested positive. Victor got with Henrique last night and thinks he might have it. Ian, Victor and Henrique must navigate treatment, friendship and love, and eventually learn to trust each other. Because with judgement and ignorance lurking round every corner, the real challenge isn’t the disease – it’s other people.

Lucas Rocha is a librarian from Rio de Janeiro but lives in Sao Paulo.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

A revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

Felix Love has never been in love – and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalisation too many – Black, queer and transgender – to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages – after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned – Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi-love triangle …

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself. Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognising the love you deserve.

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“O’Donoghue’s intriguing story takes in myth, history, tensions between Catholic and Protestant, and race in Ireland. Helping the repentant Maeve search for the missing girl is Lily’s nail-polish wearing brother Roe, formerly Rory, who is the essence of fluidity in a novel that’s all about the power of liminal spaces.” The Financial Times
“Detailed, interesting characters carry this contemporary story of competing energy and curses. Woven delicately throughout are chillingly eerie depictions of the Housekeeper, a figure who shows up on an extra card in the deck, echoing the White Lady legend from Irish folklore. Even more disturbing is an organization of young people led by a homophobic but charismatic figurehead intent on provoking backlash against Ireland’s recent civil rights victories.” KIRKUS
“Ghostly menace, queer liberation, and sweet nonbinary romance all find room in this modern Irish contemporary.” Publishers Weekly

Maeve Chambers doesn’t have much going for her. Not only does she feel like the sole idiot in a family of geniuses, she managed to drive away her best friend Lily a year ago. But when she finds a pack of dusty old tarot cards at school, and begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class, she realizes she’s found her gift at last. Things are looking up – until she discovers a strange card in the deck that definitely shouldn’t be there. And two days after she convinces her ex-best friend to have a reading, Lily disappears.

Can Maeve, her new friend Fiona and Lily’s brother Roe find her? And will Maeve’s new gift be enough to bring Lily back, before she’s gone for good?

The Outrage by William Hussey

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“You know, when you live in a time of progress, it seems that progress is the only possible way. The idea that everything we’d gained, all of those hard-won rights, could be taken away from us, and that open minds could be closed again? But then the Outrage happened.”
Welcome to England, where the Protectorate enforces the Public Good. Here, there are rules for everything – what to eat, what to wear, what to do, what to say, what to read, what to think, who to obey, who to hate, who to love. Your safety is assured, so long as you follow the rules.
Gabriel is a natural born rule-breaker. And his biggest crime of all? Being gay. Gabriel knows his sexuality must be kept secret from all but his closest friends, not only to protect himself, but to protect his boyfriend. Because Eric isn’t just the boy who has stolen Gabriel’s heart. He’s the son of the chief inspector at Degenerate Investigations – the man who poses the single biggest threat to Gabriel’s life. And the Protectorate are experts at exposing secrets.

Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate

By Leave a Comment

Waterstones
Amazon
Bookshop

“The artwork is enticing and rich, and readers will be happy to pore over the pages studying details like Grandad’s friendly dog and the textured backgrounds as they read and reread the story.” KIRKUS
“The illustrations are full of warmth, colour and joy, beautifully echoing the excitement of discovery and adventure. The depiction of a loving, same-sex relationship between Grandad and Gramps, as well as the different ethnicities of the main characters, ensure this wonderfully inclusive book reflects a range of experiences.” BookTrust
“Woodgate layers colored pencil, marker, and crayon-esque textures with digital patterns and techniques, making for a kid-friendly style that also spotlights queer iconography, such as rainbow flags and reclaimed inverted pink triangles.” Publishers Weekly

Celebrate love in all its forms, as Grandad tells his granddaughter about the adventures he used to have with Gramps. Grandad’s camper van is hidden away in the garage – now Gramps isn’t around any more, the adventures they shared travelling in it just wouldn’t be the same. As she listens to his wonderful stories, Grandad’s granddaughter has an idea to cheer him up…

Follow Harry Woodgate on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harrywoodgateart/