YA LGBT Books discussion

The group bookshelf is a wonderful resource for finding new books to read, especially if you're looking for something in a particular sub-genre or with particular content. Authors should please feel free to add their own work, but any member can add a book they have read and think is right for the group. We encourage all of our members to add to this great group resource. We just ask that you keep the following guidelines below in mind.

How to add books to the bookshelf:

From the group homepage, click on the bookshelf link located in the top, right hand corner, under the small group logo.

Once on the bookshelf page, you'll see an empty box at the very top left, under the words "add books". Enter the name of the book or author to search, click "search", and a potential list will appear.



Click the "add to group" button next to the right one, to add the appropriate book to the bookshelf.



If the book has already been added it will be greyed out and instead of the "add to group" button, you'll see a button that says "edit". If you click this, it will bring up the same pop up window - you can check it and if you know more about the book than is listed, add the book to other appropriate shelves.



A window will pop up that allows you to select the shelves you want to add the book to (think of these like tagging the book for content). You do not need to add comments into "why this book". Please do select as many shelves as you know apply. (eg. "F/F" or "college") to help members find books they are interested in and avoid ones that may have content they are not comfortable with. (eg. "death-of-a-character") The book-of-the-month shelf is for books the group has already read.




When you have added the shelves you want, click "close" on the bottom right to close the shelf box, then click "add group book" bottom left to finish.



*Only add books with some significant LGBTQ content*

*Please do not add books that are explicit or graphic enough to be considered 18+*

*If you consider a book borderline eligible please add the "edgy" or "sexually-explicit" tags to indicate 16+ types of material. Do not use these tags to add truly 18+ adult books*

*Main character ages and concerns should resonate with the 13-18 target readership for YA. Books with fully adult MCs living adult lives are generally not considered YA, although some flexibility, particularly for fantasy, may be allowed (particularly for characters whose identities are underrepresented in YA books.)*

If you have questions, please contact a moderator.

Remember, to save the book once you have added shelves and finished that part, click the (save group book) link at the bottom left. (The "save" inside the shelf selection is only if you are naming a new shelf as Samantha asked to below.)

Please **Do not delete or change shelves or remove books without asking** even if they look like obvious errors or duplicates. (Eg. we have both "gay" and "M/M", but we use one for all gay characters and add the other for books with specifically a strong romance plot between guys.)

You can always PM me at any time to discuss changes.

Is it okay to add a shelf? I added homophobia for a book that I was putting in the shelves.

Samantha wrote: "Is it okay to add a shelf? I added homophobia for a book that I was putting in the shelves."

I prefer that you ask first, so we don't have too many partial duplicates. But we can always add a shelf that significantly helps define the book(s) you are adding, as long as you think it might apply to more than just that one book in the future.

If a book has a major character that's revealed to be LGBTQ partway through, would putting it on the bookshelf be considered spoilery? On one hand, putting it on there doesn't specify which character identifies as what, but it does give away that a character is LGBTQ, and in the book I'm thinking of it's kinda likely that you could guess, so...

Sam wrote: "If a book has a major character that's revealed to be LGBTQ partway through, would putting it on the bookshelf be considered spoilery? On one hand, putting it on there doesn't specify which charact..."

That's a hard call, and one that we often have to make (like putting an adult book on the wedding shelf when it happens partway through.) In this case, I think if it means listing or not listing a good book at all, I'd go ahead and put it up there. Maybe don't add m/m or f/f to keep it as unclear as possible? (I'm betting the book is on other LGBT lists so if someone is looking, that basic fact won't be a long-kept secret.)

I added Paulyanna International Rent-boy which covers many adult issues such as drugs and prostitution BUT I feel it is YA suitable as it is a true story about a young gay adult.

Paul wrote: "I added Paulyanna International Rent-boy which covers many adult issues such as drugs and prostitution BUT I feel it is YA suitable as it is a true story about a young gay adult."

Did you tag it edgy and explicit at least? The mere fact that a YA is the main character doesn't make a book YA-suitable. There are teens who have violent or very erotic lives, and that can still be YA. But sometimes the way it is written is NOT, regardless of their age.

There are ways to tell a story like that which show the plot and character, but not the 18+ level of detail. But if there is explicit body-parts-and-sensations depiction of sex or violence, then it is not YA reading.

So please do think carefully about not just the story but the way in which the story is told.

It isn't explicit at all. :-)

Paul wrote: "It isn't explicit at all. :-)"

Well, then that sounds plausible. Thanks for checking back.

Would it make sense to have a Kindle Unlimited shelf for this group? Is that even something parents allow for their kids? I guess that might be unlikely. Still I'm wondering on the answer.

Meghan wrote: "Would it make sense to have a Kindle Unlimited shelf for this group? Is that even something parents allow for their kids? I guess that might be unlikely. Still I'm wondering on the answer."

There are a lot of adults in the group reading the YA books, either way. And I don't know whether parents would avoid KU for teens if it saved them money.
One issue is that books do come and go out of KU as authors enroll and remove them, so it's a shelf that might go out of date. I don't know how common that is. We might do a listing thread rather than a shelf? Let me check with the other mods.

Question: how much LGBTQ themed material needs to be in the book? Would a strong secondary character meet the requirement and if so, how do I designate that? Thanks! What about LGBTQ parents but not the main character?

Heather C wrote: "Question: how much LGBTQ themed material needs to be in the book? Would a strong secondary character meet the requirement and if so, how do I designate that? Thanks! What about LGBTQ parents but no..."

As long as the secondary character being LGBTQ makes the book different from if they were straight, I'd say it counts. If it's a relative, we have a shelf for LGBT-family-members
we have a straight-allies shelf, if that describes the MC
I also created a shelf for LGBTQ-secondary-characters, to include non-family

Question: Books that have descriptive scenes of sexual discovery and sex education (rules of consent, condom use, the mechanics of first encounters, etc.) would be considered 16+ here in the U.K. But I know that the U.S. tends to rate those topics at least a year or two higher.

The messages are important of course, but I'm not certain that it fits into the guidelines of the community bookshelf. Thoughts? I'd be happy to provide an ARC of the book in question if a moderator would like to review the scenes for appropriateness.

Bill wrote: "Question: Books that have descriptive scenes of sexual discovery and sex education (rules of consent, condom use, the mechanics of first encounters, etc.) would be considered 16+ here in the U.K. B..."

There is no absolute rule (anywhere) for what constitutes YA so it's about situational judgement - this group is more open to sex content than, say, a school library or perhaps a major publisher of YA. Our main criterion is that the sex content be presented in a way that is not intended to be erotic. The focus should be on emotions, consequences, plot and character development. Minimal dwelling on sensations (taste, smell, touch sensations, visual descriptiveness), minimal physical description of body parts (eg. "I could see his dick" may be OK as needed. "I could see his long, cut dick" becomes unacceptably focused on eroticism.) If you can imagine someone deliberately rereading the scene for arousal purposes, it probably crosses the line.

We do believe that some limited and vague on page sex is natural and important in some YA books, to provide teens with information that they don't get from limited sex ed, or unlimited porn, particularly about how sex impacts the rest of your life. Condom use is important. But if a scene is detailed enough to visualize exactly what is being done by whom to whom, it may pass the limits of YA (even if there is useful information about prepping, etc.)

If you are aiming your book at teen readers, and are personally comfortable with younger teens (eg. 14) potentially reading it, then go ahead and list it.

Thanks Kaje. Those are excellent guidelines. I'll go ahead and add the book. Cheers!

Hello! I've just tried to add a YA lesbian book, The Flying Mermaid. I hope I've done it right! I couldn't work out how to add a shelf of War.

Eule wrote: "Hello! I've just tried to add a YA lesbian book, The Flying Mermaid. I hope I've done it right! I couldn't work out how to add a shelf of War."

Looks like you added it right. I added a "war" shelf but I'm not sure it's going to get a lot of use. Should it be tagged with "violence"?

I've been a member of this group for a while and never noticed this shelf. Maybe I'm just slow, but what a great resource! Thanks!

Scott wrote: "I've been a member of this group for a while and never noticed this shelf. Maybe I'm just slow, but what a great resource! Thanks!"

I hope it's useful. And feel free to add appropriate books, just follow the guidelines.

Thank you for letting me know.