The water starts getting murky down in the high school section. Basically, could you recommend this book to one of your students? The children’s books, of course, are pretty straightforward. What I’m looking at here is accessibility and challenge in presenting to a broad audience. You can find synopses easily on Amazon or at your local library. Though it was incredibly challenging (there is still very, very little LGBTQ YA lit), I found some great uplifting stories, some truly disheartening visions of young adulthood and some major gaps in the types of stories available. Given the potentially sensitive nature of LGBTQ storylines, I plowed through several dozen LGBTQ children’s and young-adult books to “vet” our recommendations for the table. This spring, SAGA wanted to host a table at our school book fair, with books focused on LGBTQ characters. Once a week, my gaggle of middle schoolers gather to discuss LGBTQ issues and have “snowball fight” discussions (students anonymously write discussion topics or questions on Post-It notes, then we all crumple them up and throw them around the room– snowball fight!–to spread the questions around). But another part of my role at school is faculty advisor for our SAGA club–that’s our Sexuality and Gender Alliance club. The vast majority of the time, I write about makerspaces and learning through “making” and tinkering. This list of resources can help spark the conversation around love and acceptance for families and schools.

Editor’s Note: Our hearts are with the victims and families of the Orlando tragedy.

Tell me how a crush should feel