Middlefield shelver Jenna returns with her Manga Spotlights, featuring titles that celebrates LGBT pride month.
GFFs: Ghost Friends Forever by Monica Gallagher
Sophia Campos is adjusting to a newly-divorced family and her father’s ghost-helping business when the ghost of a girl throws her life another curveball. Now she has the mystery of the girl’s death to solve… along with the question of how this girl seems to be connected to her parents’ divorce. As Sophia gets caught in the mystery, she’s pulled between her old crush Jake, and emotions for the ghost girl Whitney.
Bloom by Kevin Panetta
Ari would love to quit his job at the family bakery and move to the city with his band… he just has to convince his dad first. While interviewing people as possible replacements, Ari meets Hector. Hector wants to bake as much as Ari wants to escape it, but despite their differences, as they bond over bread dough, love is on the rise.
Raven: the Pirate Princess by Jeremy Whitley
A spin-off of the Princeless series. Raven Xingtao seeks revenge against the brothers who stole everything from her, assembling an all-female pirate crew to get back her inheritance. Most of the crew are lesbian or bisexual.
Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
While Prince Sebastian’s parents are looking for a wife for their son, Sebastian is looking for ways to be comfortable as himself. By day he’s the perfect prince, but in the evening, he puts on dresses and becomes a female fashion icon in Paris’s nightlife. His dressmaker and friend is in on his secret, but she longs to make her name known in the fashion world, and can’t so long as claiming her dresses might accidentally out Sebastian.
Wandering Son by Takako Shimura
Shuichi Nitori wants to be a girl, and in fifth grade meets Yoshino Takatsuki who is a girl who wants to be a boy. Wandering Son follows Shuichi and Yoshino as they try to find a way to express their gender identity, face the realities of puberty, and deal with the everyday dramas of growing up.
Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani
New student Tasuku Kaname believes he has been publicly outed as gay and is in his lowest moment when a mysterious woman brings him to a place where he meets people like him for the first time. Spending more and more time at this ‘drop-in center,’ Tasuku moves toward finding his place in the world and acceptance of his own identity in it with the help of the LGBT people at the center.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic and Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Allison Bechdel
Autobiographical graphic novels about Bechdel’s relationships with her parents—her father a funeral home director and closeted gay man, and her mother who struggled with her husband’s double life and desires to pursue her own artistic passions. Bechdel’s own experience coming out as a lesbian are tangled with her family experiences growing up.
Not My Bag and Self-Obsessed by Sina Grace
Autobiographical graphic novels focused on Sina’s art career, from being stuck in a retail job to make ends meet to reaching his dreams as an artist, and the relationships that supported him along the way. Sina is also the writer and artist for Marvel’s Iceman, whose main character is gay and a member of the X-men.
A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities by Mady G and J.R. Zuckerberg
A cartoon guide explaining the basics of sexuality, gender identity, coming out, and figuring out relationships. A good read for someone trying to understand their own identity, or just to better understand queer and trans identities.
Jenna is a shelver at our Middlefield Branch. You can read more of her Manga Spotlights here.
