June is Pride Month, and we’re celebrating both readers and creators in the LGBTQ+ community with some picture books and novels perfect for Pride Month reading!
Aalfred and Aalbert
by Morag Hood
Aalfred and Aalbert lead solitary lives. Sometimes, Aalfred thinks he might like to be part of a pair, and sometimes Aalbert thinks he might like to be one of two. But Aalfred sleeps all day, and Aalbert sleeps all night—so how will the two ever meet? Luckily, a helpful bystander intervenes and when Aalfred and Aalbert’s paths cross in the most unexpected way, they find that they go together quite well, just like cheese and broccoli.
“Sweet and silly…charming… An effective, gentle reminder that love is love.” —Publishers Weekly
Check out the downloadable Activity Sheets!
Adventures with My Daddies
by Gareth Peter
illustrated by Garry Parsons
Set off on a series of incredible adventures with an endearing, diverse family as the bedtime stories they read burst into colorful life. Together, the daddies and their little one battle dragons, dodge deadly dinosaurs, zoom to the moon, and explore the world in a hot air balloon, before winding down to sleep in a wonderfully cozy ending.
“A heartfelt celebration of family love…. A sweet adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews
Check out the downloadable Activity Sheet!
Hell Followed with Us
by Andrew Joseph White
Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.
But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.
“Bristles with energy and intensity, written with a kind of gleeful ferocity. . . . A long, sustained scream to the various strains of anti-transgender legislation multiplying around the world like, well, a virus.”—The New York Times
Aces Wild: A Heist
by Amanda DeWitt
What happens in Vegas when an all-asexual online friend group attempts to break into a high-stakes gambling club? Shenanigans ensue.
Some people join chess club, some people play football. Jack Shannon runs a secret blackjack ring in his private school’s basement. What else is the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul supposed to do?
Everything starts falling apart when Jack’s mom is arrested for their family’s ties to organized crime. His sister Beth thinks this is the Shannon family’s chance to finally go straight, but Jack knows that something’s not right. His mom was sold out, and he knows by who.