While you wait for it to to get better, how about something to read?

That's a picture of the Kids Desk's display of young adult books with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning characters. We've all been paying close attention to the It Gets Better Project, and as book people, thought we'd offer teens some good reading as our contribution. The titles are listed below, but is that an exhaustive list of what's on our shelves (or on your local library's shelves)? Nope. There's tons more. Looking for something good? Stop by and ask. The amount of young adult fiction (and picture books, and anthologies, etc.) with queer characters is so much greater than it was a generation ago.

Also, we wanted to say a big thank you to Mr. Savage for starting the ball rolling (read his books!), and to all the folks who've made videos. Including our own beloved Brad, whose video can be found on his wonderful blog here. We love you, Brad.

The books on that table...
New this year (and great): Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Jumpstart the World. Classic and unforgettable: Geography Club and Boy Meets Boy. Award-winning: Ash and Hard Love. Nonfiction: GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer and Questioning Teens and Let's Get This Straight: The Ultimate Handbook for Youth with LGBTQ Parents. Already blogged the heck out of it: The Bermudez Triangle. Other titles on there: Rainbow Road, Totally Joe, Hero, From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, Baby Bebop (that's a used copy), The House You Pass on the Way, Keeping You a Secret, The Mariposa Club. And, a picture book: Just Kidding, which is about bullying.


-Kids Desk

Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club Starts Wednesday!

Dunshee House is pleased to announce the launch of the Seattle Gay and Lesbian Book Club, a fresh, exciting social opportunity for lovers of gay literature in the Seattle area. Open to people from all walks of life—young, old, gay or straight—the purpose of the book club is to create a community of readers and give the solitary act of reading a gay social focus.

Stepping away from the traditional once-a-month format, beginning January 7th with Breakfast with Scot by Michael Downing, the book club will meet every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Dunshee House, on the corner of 17th East & East Thomas on Capitol Hill. Rather than the typical single meeting moving quickly over many topics, each novel will be discussed for four consecutive Wednesdays, allowing time to follow particular avenues of interest, explore the portrayal of gender roles, parenting, integrity, and the many other issues pertinent to living a healthy gay life today. People with busy schedules can choose whichever date is most convenient. More socially-available readers may choose to come every Wednesday.

Nick DiMartino, online book reviewer, author of three novels and over twenty plays, will facilitate the meetings. Since 2001, DiMartino has been hosting the book club at University Bookstore, selecting the best new novel of the month. Inspired by the recent visit to Seattle of the Dalai Lama, DiMartino decided to create a vehicle to share with the gay community the greatest joy of his life, resulting in Dunshee House’s new, all-community weekly reading program, the Seattle Gay and Lesbian Book Club. “Reading can be lonely,” said DiMartino. “Sharing opinions and reactions, hearing how others experience the same book, can be an eye-opening experience.” The book club will provide a comfortable, safe place to exchange ideas and share perspectives. Brad Craft, UBS bookseller, will give book club members the social, cultural and historical background in which each novel or memoir was created.

Each month’s book will have four discussions, every Wednesday evening at 6. The first six selections have been announced. Future titles include works by Virginia Woolf, Thomas Mann, Jean Genet, Andre Gide, James Baldwin, Yukio Mishima, Dorothy Allison, Edmund White and Paul Monette.