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copyright 2014 Amanda Wanner

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@1/*($%A$B%&#(&#,$
About Qmunity and this Manual ........................................................4! What is Readers Advisory? ................................................................4! Conducting a Readers Advisory Interview...................................... 5! Finding Books to Recommend........................................................... 9! Novelist! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!#! Good Reads! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!$$! What Should I Read Next?!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!$%! Whichbook! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!$&! Gnooks!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!$#! Amazon.com!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!'$! Shelfari (by Amazon.com)! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!'(! Book Awards .......................................................................................25! Lambda Literary Awards!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!'%! Stonewall Book Awards!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!'&! Over the Rainbow Books!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!')! Lesbian Resources ............................................................................ 29! Good Lesbian Books!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!'#! Lesbrary (blog)!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!(*! Lesfic (tumblr)!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!($! Vancouver Public Library Book Lists!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!('! Young Adult Resources ..................................................................... 33! Im Here, Im Queer. What the hell do I read? (blog)! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!((! Queer Book Club (tumblr)!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!(%! Rainbow Books! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!(+! Vancouver Public Library Book Lists!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!(&! Appendix .............................................................................................38! Index ................................................................................................... 39! !

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About Qmunity and this Manual

What is Qmunity?
QMUNITY is BCs queer resource centre the hub for the lesbian, gay, trans*, bi and queer community program, training and advocacy. 1 Qmunity provides a variety of social support services, programs and resources. One of these resources is the Out on the Shelves Library, which provides a casual and comfortable space for patrons to hang out and is staffed by volunteer librarians who provide circulation and reference services. For more information visit http://www.qmunity.ca/library.

What is this manual for?

This manual was created as a guide for the volunteer librarians at the Out on the Shelves Library at Qmunity. This manual provides a starting point for volunteers to learn the intricate process of providing a readers advisory interview! While the idea of recommending a book might sound simple (after all, who doesnt love to recommend the latest and greatest book to their friends and family?), readers advisory can actually be quite complex! The purpose of this manual is to connect Qmunity volunteers with the relevant tools to enable them to locate reading material for patrons at the Out on the Shelves Library. This manual does not provide a list of interesting LGBT books or a list of LGBT genres. Why? Quite simply, lists of books and resources will become outdated quickly, while a guide on accessing readers advisory tools will help volunteers find the most up to date and relevant resources. In addition, booklists are limited by a finite amount of space, while online resources provide infinite possibilities! However, a few specific booklists are included in the appendix of this manual as a starting point.

What is Readers Advisory?

Readers Advisory is a concept that sounds very simple, but it can be very tricky to do well! The process of conducting a readers advisory interview involves

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connecting patrons to relevant reading material, whether for fun or for information. There are two basic types of readers advisory: 1) direct and 2) indirect. Direct Readers Advisory is giving recommendations or suggestions to patrons seeking for their next book. This manual provides information on direct readers advisory services. Indirect Readers Advisory is exemplified by the book display, like the Featured Collection display at the Out on the Shelves Library. Setting out a collection of related books for potential readers to peruse is a type of readers advisory! You can also do indirect readers advisory online through a website or blog. According to the British Columbia Library Association (BCLA)2, the core competencies of readers advisory services are: ! Collection Knowledge: A knowledge and familiarity with the depth and breadth of the librarys collection, including all formats and media, fiction and non-fiction titles. Reader Service Skills: Create the circumstances and environment to suggest reading materials and support the reading interests of library users effectively, efficiently, and in a non-judgmental manner. Response to Readers Advisory Questions: Engage library users in a conversation to determine the type of reading material they are looking for, and offer suggestions from current holdings within the librarys collection. Reader Development: Nurture communities of readers

As you can see, its a pretty specialized skillset!

Conducting a Readers Advisory Interview

How to Conduct a Readers Advisory Interview
Start: At the start of the interview remember to be friendly to the patron. Greet them. Say Hello. Be nice. Once a patron has asked a readers advisory question, dont just turn wordlessly to the computer screen. Explain what you are doing and the process you are using to find materials.

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'http://www.bcla.bc.ca/ra/RA%20GROUP/RAIG%20Readers%20Competencies[1].pdf!

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One important point to remember is that many patrons will ask, Can you recommend a good book to read?, or, What have you read lately thats good?. Providing readers advisory services is different from recommending ones own favourite titles. Determining what titles a patron might enjoy or need requires asking questions to figure out their specific tastes and needs. Middle: Try your best to communicate effectively with the patron. Make sure you are meeting their needs. Ask questions that help the patron express what type of book they are looking for. It may be helpful to ask some of the following questions: ! What books have you recently read? " Would you like to find something similar? " Why did you like the last book you read? ! What are your favorite books/types of books? ! What are your favorite authors? ! Are there any genres you like? Any genres you dislike? ! Is there any subjects you find offensive or dislike? These questions are useful for gaining specific information to make recommendations. For example, if the patron says they most recently enjoyed the book Dracula, follow-up questions might probe as to whether they enjoy gothic fiction, books about vampires, books that take place in the Victorian era, and so forth. The answers to these questions will wildly affect the types of recommendations a librarian might make for similar titles the patron might enjoy. End: Make sure the patron is satisfied with the result of the interview and can locate the book(s), or locate the book(s) for the patron. Remember to ask if they need any other help. Follow-up or check-up on the patron if necessary.

Readers Advisory in LGBT communities

As volunteers in the Qmunity Library you are probably already familiar with many of the dos and donts of sensitive LGBT terminology. However, be sensitive and responsive to the wishes of the patron. If you receive a negative response for using specific types of language, apologise and adapt accordingly. For many people, language around gender and sexuality are casual and easy to navigate. However, for many in the LGBT community, words can be powerful and specific terms can be extremely hurtful or empowering (depending on their use). Remember to be aware of the language that you use and responsive to what the patron says (or the body language that they use).

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Availability of books at the Out on the Shelves Library

Books found through the resources in this manual may not always be available at the Out on the Shelves Library. As a small, donation-run establishment, the library does not always have the means to keep collections up to date and available. If books are not available, try searching worldcat.org to see if the items are available through a public library branch or another library nearby. Try to avoid sending patrons away without a clear destination. If the book cannot be found at Qmunity, locate exactly where the book can be found, if possible, before sending the patron away.

Helpful Tips
When conducting the interview it may be helpful to remember that a) the interview is an informal process and should be treated as a friendly conversation and b) that the patron probably has a goal in mind and is on a mission. They may not want to spend a lot of time being recommended a book. Take your cues from the patron. Do they seem in a rush, or do they want to chat? Join a site like Good Reads or Shelfari for free and keep track of the books youve read in the past. Youd be surprised how helpful this can be in a pinch. Plus, you will have intimate knowledge of the books and will be able to give a much better recommendation. Try to stay familiar with at least a few core books in each genre and read reviews. This does not have to be boring. Reviews on sites such as Good Reads can be sources of almost limitless entertainment. If the patron starts the conversation without a clear idea of what they want, try to narrow it down by asking questions.

Common Readers Advisory Questions

o I just finished reading X. Where can I find something similar? ! Check out the following sites. Searching these sites for a novel title will bring up reading suggestions for similar books. " Novelist (pg. 9) " Good Reads (pg. 11) " What Should I Read Next? (pg. 15) " Amazon (pg. 21) " Shelfari (pg. 23) ! Ask if the patron if familiar with any or all of the above *"#$"%&"

free-membership sites, such as Good Reads and Shelfari. If no, it may be helpful to introduce them to searching those sites. The patron may even wish to create a free account to keep track of their reading lists. o Ive read every single book by X and I dont know what else to read! ! Try using Gnooks to find authors that are similar (pg. 19). ! Use the similar authors search on Novelist. (pg. 9) ! Try asking which of the books by the author are the patrons favourite, and use What Should I Read Next? to find similar ones. (pg. 15) Im looking for a good young adult book with a gender variant character ! Check out Im Here. Im Queer. What do I read Next? on www.leewind.org. On the left-hand sidebar, there are booklists for Transgender Teen Characters/Themes and Queer (Gender Non-Conforming) Teen Characters/Themes (pg. 33) ! The tumblr Queer Book Club posts frequently with books on gender-queer and trans* young adult themes. Check there for inspiration, particularly for newer titles. (pg. 35) ! See also the attached Appendices for relevant booklists: (e.g. Trans* Titles for Young Adults (Summer 2013) and YA Friendly Books about Transgender People.) (pg. 38) I think I might be bisexual. Do you have any books on that topic? ! Try asking whether the patron would prefer to read a fictional novel where one of the major characters is bisexual, or a non-fiction book with more information on the topic. ! Check the Lambda Literary Award categories for Best Bisexual Fiction and Best Bisexual Non-Fiction. (pg. 25)

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Finding Books to Recommend

How to find books to recommend? Use the resources below to locate books of interest to Out on the Shelves patrons!

Novelist
Novelist is a subscription-based readers advisory service. Vancouver Public Library (VPL) patrons can access it through their website at: https://www.vpl.ca/electronic_databases/cat/C376 and logging in with their library card number and PIN. Best Used For: fiction Novelist is a great starting resource for narrowing down books that patrons might enjoy based on books, authors, or subject terms related to other items that patrons enjoyed. This site is packed with features, but an easy way to get started with the resource is to input a book or an author that a patron previously enjoyed. For example, in the screenshot below, I typed in the book Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City. Below the book, you can click Title Read-Alikes to find similar books, or Author Read-Alikes to find similar authors. Clicking either of those links will bring up a separate page that lists similar books or authors, and the subject terms that are similar between the two.

By clicking on the title of the book, you will be taken to a separate page with more information. On this page, the sidebar on the right-

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hand side provides some books suggestions that are similar and subject terms that can be checked or unchecked to find personalized recommendations. For example, in this screenshot for the Portland Queer page, you can choose multiple selectors to find, for example, other books that are Anthologies that take place in Portland.

Novelist is incredibly flexible. Try typing in almost any search term, or plot point, and inevitably a few titles will pop up, with selectors on the sidebar to further narrow down the options. The left-hand sidebars on the search page are incredibly useful and include selectors for: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Genre (e.g. graphic novels, love stories); Storyline (e.g. character-driven, plot-driven); Pace ; Tone (e.g. funny, angst-filled); Writing Style; Illustration; Subject, and; Location.

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Good Reads
www.goodreads.com Best Used For: Any books There are many ways to use Good Reads as a readers advisory tool. To use Good Reads, it is not necessary to create an account. All regular searching functionality is available without logging in. The screenshot below is about halfway down the home page. From here, you can select the genre Gay And Lesbian, or type in a book that a patron may have previously enjoyed. In the screenshot below, Ive typed in the young adult novel Ash:

Heres the page for the book Ash by Malinda Lo. From here, there are multiple ways to find similar books. ! Use the genre pane on the right-hand sidebar to find book in a similar genre. Use the Lists with This Book pane to find lists created by Good Reads users. Many of these lists are extremely useful. The Books by. pane on the right-hand sidebar will show all the other books written by an author. Readers who enjoyed one authors book might also enjoy other books by that author.

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The Literary Awards section (if applicable) in the main pane can sometimes contain useful information. For example, by clicking Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Children's Literature, I can find a list of other previous winners of the same award (in this case, both Adult fantasy winners and Childrens fantasy winners of the Mythopoeic Award). The Readers Also Enjoyed pane contains several similar books automatically generated by the site. Using this pane is much less specific than using the other tools, because it is generally a good idea to ask the patron what specific qualities that they enjoyed about the book. Do they like fairy tales? Young adult novels? Lesbian novels? However, the readers also enjoyed pane can give some good general ideas for other similar books.

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In the screenshot below, Ive clicked More lists with this book to find more options for lists with similar books. From here, I can choose to explore lists that share several different common features with the book Ash, ranging from very general (Best Lesbian Fiction), to very specific (Lesbian teen fiction; Cinderella stories). Many of the more specific lists will contain books that are more similar to the original book.

Limitation: While Good Reads contains many, many ways to find new

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and interesting books, it should be noted that most of the book recommendations and suggestions come from other readers. No formal subject headings or controlled language are used. In particular, be wary of the genre option, which are classified based on usersubmitted tags, and can sometimes be fruitlessly general (e.g. clicking the genre romance on the right sidebar simply brings up general romance books, not romance books that are similar to the original book). However, as Good Reads is very widely used by bibliophiles, there is a wealth of data worth exploring.

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What Should I Read Next?

http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/ Best Used For: Fiction What Should I Read Next? is a simple online book recommendation service. To use, simply type the name of a book or an author that a patron previously enjoyed, and find a personalized list generated with related book suggestions. In the screenshot below, I have typed the title Stone Butch Blues:

Here are the search results. Each of the subject terms listed under the book (e.g. Coming Out (Sexual Orientation)) can also be selected, bringing up a new book list with relevant works.

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Limitations: Some less popular books may not be indexed in the What Should I Read Next database, and some of the results are more relevant than others (see, for example, the book suggestion The Death and Life of Great American Cities for the input Stone Butch Blues above). However, as a first resource, this site can sometimes provide very useful suggestions, in particular when using the subject terms to navigate for similar works. Tip: If the book name cant be found in the database or comes up with an error message, try typing in the ISBN directly. The ISBN for most books can be found at worldcat.org.

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Whichbook
http://www.openingthebook.com/whichbook/ Best Used For: Fiction Whichbook is a slightly more complex online book recommendation service than What Should I Read Next. One of the main highlights of Whichbook for LGBT readers advisory is the ability to search for a main character who is LGBT. To navigate to this setting, click Change to Character, Plot, Setting on the left-hand sidebar. In the screenshot below, for example, I have selected a main character who is a gay female aged 26-50, living in Canada. Book suggestions based on these selectors are listed in the main pane.

Like many of the other resources, the beauty of this resource lies in some of the internal selectors. For example, the book suggestions in the main pane all come with options to find similar. The profile pane (below), also gives an interesting snapshot of what can be found inside the work, showing sliders on a scale of sad to happy, serious to funny, etc.

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Limitations: Whichbook only has a certain number of titles in their database. Many popular and newer titles are not included. It is not a good resource for entering a known book and finding a similar book, but is meant to be used backwards by entering in criteria and finding new and interesting books serendipitously.

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Gnooks
http://www.gnooks.com/ Best Used For: Fiction Gnooks is a revolutionary way of finding similar authors to ones that you have enjoyed previously. It displays results of similar authors in a web-like interface. Heres the main page, where I have typed in the author name AnnMarie Macdonald:

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And heres the corresponding output:

Notice that Ann-Marie Macdonald is in the centre of the web. Authors that are closer together in the web are more likely to be similar. All the authors in the web are clickable and bring up a new map with new authors. This application is very simple, and really has one use: to find similar authors. However, for a patron who has a favourite author, it might be the perfect application for exploring new works. Limitation: Like other online generators, newer or less well-known authors may not be indexed. For example, in my test, the application did not recognize the queer authors Ivan Coyote, Radclyffe, or Amber Dawn, although many other famous queer authors were recognized (particularly classics).

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Amazon.com
Amazon.com Best Used For: Any books While not meant to be used as a book recommendation source, per se, Amazon.coms data mining may have some useful readers advisory applications. In the Gay & Lesbian books section, Amazon has (at todays counting), 57,500 LGBT books indexed. Using the sidebars, it is possible to narrow down these titles further by genre (Parenting & Families, Mysteries & Thrillers, etc). You can locate the Gay & Lesbian books section by clicking on the Department tab directly below Amazons main logo, narrowing down your search to books then scrolling down the Books page until you find Departments on the left.

However, Amazon.coms best application is possibly the Customers who bought this item also bought function. In the screenshot below, I have searched for Amber Dawns debut novel Sub Rosa. Six different suggestions are given for items that might be similar based on customer purchasing behaviours.

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Amazon.com should be seen as a very rudimentary source of data. However, at times it can give insightful suggestions based on what other customers have purchased.

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Shelfari (by Amazon.com)

http://www.shelfari.com Best Used For: Any books Shelfari is a books-focused social media site much like Good Reads. However, Shelfaris community is allowed to edit book entries (much like how Wikipedia operates) and are allowed to tag books with different subject identifiers. Any information that is not edited by Shelfari users is taken directly from Amazon.com. The screenshot below was taken about halfway down Shelfaris homepage. Here you can find Subjects if you are not searching for a specific book. Clicking on Subjects will take you to a page where you can find Gay & Lesbian on the left-hand side in a list with other subjects.

Alternatively you can do an Advanced Search. In this example Ive typed coming out into the Keyword search and selected Gay & Lesbian from the drop-down list of Subjects on the right.

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The screenshot below shows a portion of the page that appears when searching for the novel Luna by Julie Anne Peters. By clicking on a tag of interest you can find other LGBT books that have the same tag. Below the tags will be usually be a sequence of book covers related to the searched title, such as: More Books Like This, Books That Cite This Book, Books Influenced By This Book,Books With Additional Background Information, and Books That Influenced This Book. However, the fullness of these lists depends on the popularity of the book.

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Book Awards
Lambda Literary Awards
Sponsored by: Lambda Literary http://www.lambdaliterary.org/complete-list-of-award-recipients/ The Lambda Literary Awards (or Lammys) identify and honor the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books in their year of publication and are given out at an annual ceremony3. The Lammys have been conducted every year from 1989 to the present and honor finalists in the following prize categories: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Gay Erotica Lesbian Erotica Gay General Fiction Lesbian General Fiction Gay Memoir/Biography Lesbian Memoir/Biography Gay Mystery/Suspense Lesbian Mystery/Suspense Gay Poetry Lesbian Poetry Gay Romance Lesbian Romance LGBT Anthology LGBT Childrens/Young Adult LGBT Debut Fiction LGBT Drama LGBT Graphic Novels LGBT Nonfiction LGBT Speculative Fiction LGBT Studies Bisexual Fiction Transgender Fiction Bisexual Nonfiction Transgender Nonfiction

Note: Not every prize category is awarded every year.

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The Lambda Literary Awards are a great place to look for the most popular or well-written works in LGBT writing. The sheer number of specific categories makes this a good place to look for specific requests (e.g the request Im looking for a book of lesbian poetry would be a good candidate to look for previous Lammy Awards in the category lesbian poetry). For each award year, all book submissions and winners are listed. Limitation: One large limitation of the Lambda Literary Awards site is the lack of ability to search one specific category (e.g. Transgender Fiction). Instead, users will need to search by award year and look up the category for each year individually, making it a potentially tedious process. Still, the book lists are relevant and potentially extremely useful for finding good, recent books in different categories. In addition, the site has a button stating, Book Database under the tab Literary Resources. At the moment, the page states, Coming Soon, but in the future this could house a more user-friendly searchable format for finding books.

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Stonewall Book Awards

Sponsored by: American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table. http://www.ala.org/glbtrt/award/honored

The Stonewall Book Awards are sponsored by the American Library Association, and have been running since 1971. Awards are presented each year in the following categories: ! Barbara Gittings Literature Award ! Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award ! Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Childrens and Young Adult Literature Award ! Stonewall Honor Books in Literature ! Stonewall Honor Books in Non-Fiction ! Stonewall Honor Books in Childrens and Young Adult Literature While the award categories are much less specific than the Lambda Literary Awards, this is still an excellent source to find some of the best LGBT literature each year.

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Over the Rainbow Books

Sponsored by: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association http://www.glbtrt.ala.org/overtherainbow/ While Over the Rainbow books does not officially sponsor an award, they do publish a bibliography of about 70-80 recommended books each year, and booklists of nominees periodically throughout the year. The yearly list categories include: ! Our Top Ten Favorites ! Art ! Drama ! Fiction ! Fiction / Mystery ! Fiction / Short Stories ! Graphic Narrative ! Non-Fiction ! Non-Fiction / Biography / Memoir ! Non-Fiction / Essays ! Poetry

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Lesbian Resources
Good Lesbian Books
http://www.goodlesbianbooks.com/p/themed-book-lists.html While the interface of this site isnt the best and the usability is lacking, this is a site definitely worth mentioning. The site is jam-packed with reviews and all sorts of funky lesbian book themed lists. Also, the header is to die for. A major highlight of this site is the themed book lists page. Ever wondered where you could find a list of Lesbian Zombie Fiction? What about Lesbians with Physical Disabilities? Lesbian Bodyguard Fiction? Lesbian Pirate Fiction? Yep, this site has all of these and more. More than anything, this site excels in listing and reviewing campy lesbian novels, rather than the most popular, award-winning novels. It should be mentioned that many patrons are interested in more soft, easy reading types of novels, and this site is a great resource for finding them.

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Lesbrary (blog)
http://lesbrary.com/ The Lesbrary is a blog that rounds up relevant book reviews and lesbian-related books from across the internet. The site is difficult to navigate if youre looking for something specific but good for browsing to find some new novels. One major highlight of the blog is the left-hand sidebar which boasts some good lists, including: ! lesbian-related book blogs ! lesbian book sites ! queer book blogs ! queer book sites ! queer book stores ! communities ! e-books ! book lists ! publishers The Lesbrary is frequently updated by multiple contributors with original reviews and also link round-ups of reviews from elsewhere. Lesbrary content is also posted on youtube, goodreads, and tumblr.

Note: There are many, many lesbian book-related blogs online. For a list of other notable blogs, see the Lesbrary left sidebar.

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Lesfic (tumblr)
http://lesfic.tumblr.com/ Lesfic is only one of many, many lesbian book-related tumblrs online. The tumblr is updated frequently by the author with a short book synopsis, review, book cover picture, and rating.

Tumblr is a microblogging platform. Like most other blogs and tumblrs, Lesfic is best used by looking through recent postings for interesting or relevant titles serendipitously.

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Vancouver Public Library Book Lists

http://vpl.bibliocommons.com The Vancouver Public Library (VPL) has many themed booklists on its site, which can be a very useful tool for readers advisory. To find book lists on the VPLs website, navigate to their online catalogue at http://vpl.bibliocommons.com and search using the selector lists (see screenshot below).

A few good current lists include: ! ! ! ! Lesbian Historical Fiction Canadian Lesbian Fiction Lesbian Short Stories Lesbian Mystery Novels

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Young Adult Resources

Im Here, Im Queer. What the hell do I read? (blog)
http://www.leewind.org/ This frequently updated blog on queer YA novels, updated by Lee Wind, M.Ed., is a great source of information for many different types of queer YA books. Book reviews on the blog are tagged with many relevant categories, which are also accessible as a list on the left-hand sidebar. Some of the (potentially) most useful categories include: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Books with Gay Teen Characters / Themes Books with Lesbian Teen Characters / Themes Book with Bisexual Teen Characters / Themes Books with Transgender Teen Characters / Themes Book with Questioning Teen Characters / Themes Books with Queer (Gender non-conforming) Teen Characters / Themes Books with a GLBTQ Parent / Caretaker Books with Homophobia as a theme GLBTQ YA Graphic Novels and Comics GLBTQ Teen Non-fiction

Each blog post has a cover picture of a queer YA book with a short summary of the plot. Readers are encouraged to post reviews in the comments. While this blog isnt an exhaustive resource of all queer YA books out there, it does a pretty good job of covering the main bases. While the categories above are good in general for sorting out books on different topics of interest to queer young adults, it should be noted that these are the only ways to navigate and search for books (e.g. there is no way to search books by year or rating).

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Queer Book Club (tumblr)

http://queerbookclub.tumblr.com/ Queer Book Club is a tumblr dedicated to queer YA literature. Its updated frequently and includes many unique booklists, news on recent publications, and relevant perspectives. Of particular interest are the four tagged categories on the right-hand sidebar: ! Diversifying your queer reads (booklists of queer books featuring queer people of colour, transgender and intersex people, etc, broken down by genre). Queer Hogwarts House Reads (four booklists themed around the four Hogwarts houses in Harry Potter) Queer Halloween Reads (Halloween themed booklists) Monthly Roundups (booklists of queer YA novels published in that month)

! ! !

Queer Book Clubs strengths lie in posting and reviewing books that are unique and feature gender non-conforming, transgender, and/or queer people of colour.

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Rainbow Books
http://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/ According to their website, The Rainbow Project is a joint project of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table and the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. The Rainbow Project presents an annual bibliography of quality books with significant and authentic GLBTQ content, which are recommended for people from birth through eighteen years of age.4 This site is a companion to the ALAs Over the Rainbow site for LGBT adult books. Like Over the Rainbow, it contains yearly booklists for relevant books in a variety of categories, including: ! Picture Books ! Juvenile Fiction ! Middle/Early Young Adult Fiction ! Middle/Early Young Adult Nonfiction ! Young Adult/Crossover Fiction ! Young Adult/Crossover Nonfiction Each book in the list also gives a recommended age/grade appropriate level (e.g. grade 8 and up).

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Vancouver Public Library Book Lists

http://vpl.bibliocommons.com The Vancouver Public Library (VPL) has many themed booklists on its site, which can be a very useful tool for readers advisory. To find book lists on the VPLs website, navigate to their online catalogue at http://vpl.bibliocommons.com and search using the selector lists (see screenshot below).

A few good queer YA lists include: ! ! ! LGBT Picture Books for Kids LGBTQ Books for Teens (BKLYN) Seattle Picks (Teen -- Queer)

There are many, many queer young adult lists on the bibliocommons but sadly many of them are not much more specific. However, the lists can be a great starting point for someone just delving into the literature.

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Appendix
Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Lists ! A Guide to YA Novels with LGBTQ Characters by Molly Wetta on YALSA The Hub: Your Connection to Teen Reads (August 6, 2013) http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2013/08/06/a-guide-toya-novels-with-lgbtq-characters/ Trans* Titles for Young Adults (Summer 2013) http://www.yalsa.ala.org/yals/trans-titles-for-youngadults-summer-2013/

Blogs ! YA Friendly Books about Transgender People by Malinda Lo (October 16, 2013) http://www.malindalo.com/2013/10/yafriendly-books-by-and-about-transgender-people/

Tumblr ! YA Books about Transgender Characters on John Greens Tumblr http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com/post/52835117909/dive rsityinya-ya-books-about-transgender Trans positive Literature - Books and Novels http://transpositiveliterature.tumblr.com/tagged/book

Other Resources ! FTM Books and Other Titles of Interest to Trans Men on Hudsons FTM Resource Guide. http://www.ftmguide.org/books.html

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Index
A ALA (see American Library Association) Amazon.com, 21, 23 American Library Association, 28, 36 Awards (see Book Awards) B Bisexual, 8, 25, 33 Book Awards, 25-28 Book Lists Vancouver Public Library Book Lists, 32, 37 Blog Im Here, Im Queer. What the Hell do I Read?, 33 Lesbrary, 30 G Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association, 28, 36, Gnooks, 19 Good Lesbian Books, 29 Good Reads, 11 H Hub, The: A Guide to YA Novels with LGBTQ Characters, 38 I Im Here, Im Queer. What the Hell do I Read?, 33 L Lambda Literary Awards, 25 Lesbian, 29-32 Lesbrary, 30 Lesfic, 31 N Novelist, 9 O Over the Rainbow Books Q Qmunity Queer Book Club, 28 R ',"#$"%&"

Readers Advisory Interview, 5 S Shelfari, 23 Stonewall Book Awards, 27 T Transgender, 25, 33, 35, 38 Tumblr Lesfic, 31 Queer Book Club, 35 V Vancouver Public Library, 32, 37, VPL (see Vancouver Public Library) W What Should I Read Next?, 15 Whichbook, 17 Y Young Adult, 33-37

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