About the Booksellers
We encourage folks to support their local bookstore whenever possible. We also understand there are circumstances when larger retailers are preferred. For quick reference, we've included links where you can view and purchase books from a large retailer (Amazon) or a small Maine bookstore (hello hello books).
As an Amazon Associate OUT Maine earns from qualifying purchases.
hello hello books is an independently-owned bookstore located in downtown Rockland, Maine and has set up their website to include these booklists for easy ordering. hello hello is also a proud supporter of OUT Maine. Clicking the logo below brings you to hello hello's OUT Maine booklist page in its online store.
Aspects of Winter by Tom Early (2015)
“It’s hard enough being gay in high school, but Fay must also deal with hiding his magical ability—powers he barely understands and cannot possibly reveal. His best friend Sam is his only confidante, and even with her help, Fay’s life is barely tolerable. Everything changes when Janus University, a college for individuals with magical capabilities, discovers the pair. When the university sends a student to test them, Fay and Sam, along with their classmate Tyler, are catapulted headfirst into a world of unimaginable danger and magic. Fay and Tyler begin to see each other as more than friends while they prepare for the Trials, the university’s deadly acceptance process. For the first time, the three friends experience firsthand how wonderful and terrible a world with magic can be, especially when the source of Fay’s power turns out to be far deadlier than anyone imagined.”
Being Emily by Rachel Gold (2012)
“They say that whoever you are, it’s okay, you were born that way. Those words don’t comfort Emily, because she was born Christopher and her insides know that her outsides are all wrong. They say that it gets better, be who you are and it’ll be fine. For Emily, telling her parents who she really is means a therapist who insists Christopher is normal and Emily is sick. Telling her girlfriend means lectures about how God doesn’t make that kind of mistake. Emily desperately wants high school in her small Minnesota town to get better. She wants to be the woman she knows is inside, but it’s not until a substitute therapist and a girl named Natalie come into her life that she believes she has a chance of actually Being Emily.”
Beyond the Gender Binary: Pocket Change Collective by Alok Vaid-Menon (2020)
“A poet, artist, and LGBTQIA+ rights advocate, Alok Vaid-Menon, doesn’t see the world in black and white, They see the world in full color! A world where people have the opportunity to express themselves however they want. This book is a great resource, demystifying what it means when gender is malleable and empowering readers to live their most authentic selves.”
Darius The Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram (2018)
“Darius, a lonely half-Persian boy with an affinity for Star Trek, travels to Iran to meet his mother’s family for the first time. There, he falls in love: with the city of Yazd, his grandparents, and his new friend, Sohrab.”
Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley (2014)
“Katie Hammontree and Sarah Cooper have been best friends since the 2nd grade. Katie’s welcoming, tight-knit family is a convenient substitute for Sarah when her distant parents aren’t around, and Sarah’s abrasive, goal-oriented personality gels well with Katie’s more laid-back approach to life. But when a misunderstanding leads to the two of them being mistaken for a couple and Sarah uses the situation to her advantage, Katie finds herself on a roller coaster ride of ambiguous sexuality and confusing feelings. How far will Sarah go to keep up the charade, and why does kissing her make Katie feel more alive than kissing her ex-boyfriend Austin ever did? And how will their new circle of gay friends react when the truth comes out?”
Every Day by David Levithan (2013) (First in trilogy)
“A is a teen who wakes up every day in a different body, living a different life. This seems to work for A until he meets Rhiannon and everything changes. David Levithan’s novel is so creative and accurately depicts what it feels like when you don’t know where you belong and how grounding it can be to find the people who make you feel like you’re home.”
2nd in series: Another Day – David Levithan
3rd in series: Someday – David Levithan
Girls at the Edge of the World by Laura Brooke Robson (2021)
“Set in a world that is coming to an end, this thrilling romantic fantasy follows two girls with a will to survive at any cost. As the end approaches, will they give in to despair, or have they given each other a reason to live?”
Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen (2014)
“Seventeen-year-old Hannah wants to spend her senior year of high school going to football games and Mardi Gras parties. She wants to drive along the oak-lined streets of Louisiana’s Garden District and lie on the hot sand of Florida’s beaches. She wants to spend every night making memories with her tight-knit group of friends. The last thing she wants is to fall in love with a girl, especially when that girl is her best friend, Baker.”
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera (2016)
“Juliet Takes a Breath is a brilliant, funny, and honest journey of self-discovery. When Juliet comes out to her family, it doesn’t go as smoothly as she wanted. She then hopes that an internship opportunity across the country will be the perfect time to figure out everything in her life, only to discover that no one has all the answers. As Juliet delves into what it means to explore her race and identity, she’ll learn how to come out to her family, the world, and herself.”
Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley (2016)
“Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on, and tormented daily. Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.” Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power, and the fact that they may be falling for one another. Boldly realistic and emotionally compelling, Lies We Tell Ourselves is a brave and stunning novel about finding truth amid the lies and finding your voice even when others are determined to silence it.”
Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart (2016)
“Lily Jo McGrother, born Timothy McGrother, is a girl. But being a girl is not so easy when you look like a boy. Especially when you’re in the eighth grade. Dunkin Dorfman, birth name Norbert Dorfman, is dealing with bipolar disorder and has just moved from the New Jersey town he’s called home for the past thirteen years. This would be hard enough, but the fact that he is also hiding from a painful secret makes it even worse. One summer morning, Lily Jo McGrother meets Dunkin Dorfman, and their lives forever change.”
Only available on Kindle.
Out At Home by Katie Labovitz (2014)
“Caleb Hanson and his newly single mom pack up their car and drive from the only home he’s ever known in New York City to his uncle’s house in middle-of-nowhere Kentucky. In NYC, Caleb was the star pitcher of his high school’s baseball team and openly fooled around with his best friend, Jackson. In Kentucky, Caleb opts to stay in the closet but is forced to sit the bench because the Bullfrogs’ roster is already full. When Caleb is paired up with Danny Thompson, the team’s distractingly attractive catcher, to throw batting practice, Caleb realizes that being stuck in small-town America might have some perks after all.”
Some Assembly Required by Arin Andrews (2015)
“In this revolutionary memoir, Arin details the journey that led him to make the life-transforming decision to undergo gender reassignment as a high school junior. In his captivatingly witty, honest voice, Arin reveals the challenges he faced as a girl, the humiliation and anger he felt after getting kicked out of his private school, and all the changes—both mental and physical—he experienced once his transition began. Arin also writes about the thrill of meeting and dating a young transgender woman named Katie Rain Hill—and the heartache that followed after they broke up.”
Superhero by Eli Easton (2020)
“It’s not easy for a young gay artist like Jordan Carson to grow up in Jefferson, Wisconsin, where all anyone seems to care about in middle school and high school are the sports teams. But Jordan was lucky He met Owen Nelson in the second grade, and they’ve been BFFs ever since. Owen is a big, beautiful blond and their school’s champion wrestler. No one messes with Owen, or with anyone close to him, and he bucks popular opinion by keeping Jordan as his wingman even after Jordan comes out at school.”
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth (2012)
“When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl. But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone, and Cam becomes an expert at both.”
The Soccer Field is Empty by Mark A. Roeder (2012)
“The Soccer Field Is Empty is the story of teen love, steamy romance, friendship, loyalty, understanding, and ancient prejudice. Here is a tale that breaks the stereotypes of the ignorant and peers into the soul of two boys who want what we all want: to love and be loved. The story of Mark and Taylor, two sixteen-year-old high school athletes, is a tale of love and happiness torn asunder by a world that understands too late.”
We Are Okay by Nina Lacour (2017)
“Marin left her old life in California for college in New York without a word to anyone who knew her. Then a visit from Mabel, her former best friend, and maybe-something-more, forces Marin to confront the sad and painful memories that led to her leaving everything behind.”