For Part I, click here.
I Think They Love You and Last First Kiss by Julian Winters
American Love Story by Adriana Herrera
I’m So (Not) Over You by Kosoko Jackson
More to Love by Georgina Kiersten
One and Done and Love is a Contact Sport by Frederick Smith
***
Elsie Parker is having a totally normal fifth grade year.
Fractions and conjunctions―check.
Stressing about middle school―check.
Body-positive puberty class at church that also covers feelings and identities―check.
Okay, maybe that last one isn’t so normal. It’s a little weird (and awkward) to spend her Sundays talking periods, B.O., and pimples. But Elsie’s also learning a lot more than she’s heard in her public-school health class ― like the difference between sex and gender, and what consent is, and what it might mean that she can’t stop blushing around a certain cute girl at her school.
When her puberty lessons become the school’s latest gossip, Elsie’s totally humiliated… until she finds an anonymous note in her locker from a classmate who wants to know more, and realizes that other kids might have embarrassing questions of their own.
Starting an underground advice board wasn’t exactly in her plans, but Elsie won’t pass up a chance to turn her reputation around ― or to share words and labels that have not-so-accidentally been left off their curriculum. But when the principal tries to shut down the unauthorized puberty talk, Elsie has to decide what she’s willing to risk to tell the truth to kids who really need to hear it.
Second Chances in New Port Stephen by TJ Alexander
I Think They Love You by Julian Winters
I’m So (Not) Over You by Kosoko Jackson
Never Been Kissed by Timothy Janovsky
Ancient History by A.J. Truman
Bonus: Coming up in June, Love is a Contact Sport by Frederick Smith
Happy Black History Month! Like the other eleven months, it’s an excellent time to buy queer books by Black authors! For even more recs, check out previous years’ posts!
Eleven-year-old Naomi loves all things outdoors—birds and beetles, bats and bunnies—in theory. She explores nature in the best possible way: the cold, hard facts in books. So when her parents’ announcement of their impending divorce comes hand in hand with sending Naomi and her younger twin brothers to summer camp while they figure things out, it’s salt in the wound for Naomi and her avoidance of hands-on experience.
Camp Twisted Pine could be worse. The counselors are nice, and Naomi likes her cabinmates, especially Jackie, whose blunt personality and frank dislike of the camp draws Naomi in quickly. Jackie is also hard of hearing and uses a hearing aid, and the girls quickly develop a routine of sign language lessons in their free time, which Naomi sees as a welcome break when all the s’mores-making and nature walks get to be a bit much.
But the campers aren’t the only ones who roam the grounds of Camp Twisted Pine. When people start to go missing, including Jackie, Naomi has to find a way to save everyone—and herself. Her practical knowledge of the outdoors may still be rudimentary at best, but she has years of studying and the scientific method to fall back on. Can Naomi identify and stop the dangerous predator before it’s too late?
