2020 ALA Alex Award Winner
2020 Stonewall — Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award Honor Book
In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.
Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
HIDE & SEEK: A CRYPTID TRIPTYCH is 79 pages of gorgeous smooching magic! From a cozy stroll through snowy hemlock forests to a deep dive through crystal caves, each story tells the tale of a search for love in a wild world of cryptids and magic. With art to charm and words to spellbind, this collection of three short comics from consummate artists Maria Frantz, Caitlin Like and Aud Koch is the perfect addition to your Hallowe’en (& General Spoopy-Feels) bookshelf!
The table of contents:
Maria Frantz’s “Hector and the Hidebehind” is the charming tale of a grumpy old biologist who finally meets the cryptid he’s been researching for years — and things don’t go as planned.
Caitlin Like’s “My Reluctant Prince” is a hilarious romp about a royal bodyguard who is banished from the surface world, and must choose between returning home or rescuing his kidnapped prince.
Aud Koch’s “The Flicker in the Tower” is an epic ballad about a dragon on a quest to save the cursed fairy prince he loves.(Each comic is guaranteed to contain one good smooch, or you get your money back!)
The New York Times bestselling illustrator of Blue is the Warmest Color, Julie Maroh, and Lambda Award-winning author Alex Sanchez (Rainbow Boys), present a new coming-out romance set against the backdrop of the DC Universe.
Jake Hyde doesn't swim-not since his father drowned. Luckily, he lives in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, which is in the middle of the desert, yet he yearns for the ocean and is determined to leave his hometown for a college on the coast. But his best friend, Maria, wants nothing more than to make a home in the desert, and Jake's mother encourages him to always play it safe.
Yet there's nothing "safe" about Jake's future-not when he's attracted to Kenny Liu, swim team captain and rebel against conformity. And certainly not when he secretly applies to Miami University. Jake's life begins to outpace his small town's namesake, which doesn't make it any easier to come out to his mom, or Maria, or the world.
But Jake is full of secrets, including the strange blue markings on his skin that low when in contact with water. What power will he find when he searches for his identity, and will he turn his back to the current or dive head first into the waves?