A few of our favourite books for younger readers that should be on everyone’s radar!
Looking for something to engage younger readers and teens that will help support your community? Here are five of our favourite children’s picture books and YA books that were written by 2SLGBTQI+ writers to check out.
Happy reading!
Kai’s Tea Eggs
By Karina Zhou
(Suggested for ages 3 to 7)
19-year-old Vancouver author Karina Zhou’s just-released Kai’s Tea Eggs is a sensitively told story about a young Chinese girl named Kai who learns more about her family’s heritage and gains a better appreciation about who she is. The beautifully illustrated children’s book is charming story for anyone who, like Kai, has felt the frustration of trying to fit in before finally learning to appreciate who they are.
Get it here: Arsenal Pulp Press
Minnow: The Girl Who Became Part Fish
By Willie Poll
(Suggested for ages 6 to 10)
Willie Polls’ Minnow: The Girl Who Became Part Fish is about a young Indigenous water protector named Minnow goes on an underwater journey; learning from our ocean-living relatives. This children’s book (available in hardcover and softcover) is told in lyrical rhyme and helps children gain a better respect for Indigenous water and land protectors, the environment and world around them, and helps show children activism at an early age.
Get it here: Medicine Wheel Publishing
The Sister Split
By Auriane Desombre
(Suggested for ages 8 to 12)
A pair of soon-to-be stepsisters creates a plan that will stop their parents from getting married—but they soon learn that matters of the heart can surprise you! This is a fresh sister story evocative of The Parent Trap with LGBTQ themes for the modern reader.
Get it here: Penguin Random House
Don’t Want To Be Your Monster
By Deke Moulton
(Suggested for ages 10 to 14 years)
Deke Moulton’s Don’t Want To Be Your Monster is a humorous and delightfully spooky novel for young readers. Ten-year-old Adam and fourteen-year-old Victor are two vampire brothers who must set aside their differences when it becomes clear that a vampire hunter may be on the lookout for their family. Can Adam and Victor reconcile their differences and work together to stop the killer before it’s too late?
Get it here (On sale August 1, 2023, available for pre-order): Penguin Random House
Two Green Birds
By Geraldo Valério
(Suggested for ages 6 to 9)
In Geraldo Valério’s beautiful children’s book Two Green Birds a child in Brazil named Francisco experiences the beauty and wonder of the natural world, and thanks to his Grandmother comes to understand his role within it.
Get it here: House of Anansi
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