Cities around the world are marking June as the first-ever Pride Month, and to celebrate, we’re taking a look at a few young adult titles that feature bisexual protagonists or strong secondary characters.
These five novels explore, discuss, and celebrate young people’s explorations of their sexuality and gender identity and emergent identification as bisexual, and feature teenagers from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, for a diverse and inclusive collection of great YA fic.
Lance, Sergio, Allie and Kimiko are four very different teens, but together they explore, discover, struggle with and embrace their own sexualities and personal identities. Lambda Award winner Alex Sanchez creates complex characters with diverse cultural backgrounds and unique personalities in this sensitive exploration of bisexuality.
Everything in Tally’s life is orderly and controlled, and nothing is going to stop her from pursuing her dream of becoming a Nobel prize-winning scientist – not even the estranged mother who abandoned her as a baby. But when Tally’s life is suddenly turned upside down, she discovers the beautiful, complicated Maddy, and discovers that letting go might be the key to finding herself.
High school senior Will’s life couldn’t be more complicated. His parents have split up, his dad’s drinking keeps getting worse, and to top things off, he’s just had his first kiss – with his best friend, Angus. Will thinks he might be falling in love with Angus, but it’s not that simple -he’s got a girlfriend he thinks he might be in love with, too. What’s a guy to do when nothing seems to make sense anymore?
Etta doesn’t fit in with any of the cliques at school, and it’s wearing her down. As a black, curvy bisexual girl she’s not butch enough for the lesbians, not thin enough for the anorexics, and not white enough for ballet. All Etta wants is to get into a prestigious dance school to New York, where she can get away from Nebraska, pursue her dreams, and finally find somewhere to fit in. But when Etta meets Bianca, a fellow dancer who’s white, straight and dangerously thin, she starts to reconsider how much she’s willing to sacrifice to fit in to society’s categories.
Brilliant and talented, Nicola Lancaster is spending a summer at a prestigious institute for gifted teens when she meets a beautiful dancer named Battle. When their friendship suddenly becomes something more, Nicola is sent spinning. She’s sure she’s attracted to boys, but she just can’t stop thinking about Battle. What’s going on, and what does it mean? She’s not quite straight, not quite gay, and not quite sure of anything anymore.
The Book Wars 