I got my heart inside a loom

[sovay]

I start my week again with no sleep. I am having a lot of trouble just existing right now.

Internet hivemind, does anyone have books to recommend for a fourteen-year-old who has just come out as bi and is looking for congenial literature? She reads science fiction and mainstream fiction but not really fantasy, so naturally most of the examples coming to my mind of bisexual main characters or societies where bisexuality is normative are in the wrong genre. I am planning to suggest Ursula K. Le Guin and Phyllis Gotlieb [edit: and Yoon Ha Lee!] and I have no idea what middle-grade/YA looks like these days.

Comments

[landofnowhere]

The characters are a bit younger than her, but I liked /Star Crossed/ by Barbara Dee. This is what I said about it on rachelmanija's FF friday thread:


a contemporary middle-school lesbian AU of Romeo and Juliet, where the characters are also putting on R&J as their school play. The plot starts off pretty similar to Romeo and Juliet -- in the equivalent of the masked ball scene, female Romeo crashes a Halloween party in a Darth Vader costume -- but then goes in a much lighter direction, which is why I think it's more of an AU than a retelling.


It's unclear whether the protagonist (AU!female Romeo) is bisexual or lesbian (she is still in middle school), but she does start out with a crush on a boy (AU!male Rosaline)

Empress of the World by Sara Ryan: this one was actually around when I was a teen -- and I enjoyed it at the time for its portrayal of nerd camp, but haven't reread since. I think one of the romantic leads is lesbian and the other is bisexual, but I'm not sure?

[landofnowhere]

Also My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr is the other book with bisexual characters that I remember reading and enjoying (Garret Freymann-Weyr is in general a great writer). About a love triangle involving the protagonist, her brother, and her brother's best friend.

[sovay]

Also My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr is the other book with bisexual characters that I remember reading and enjoying (Garret Freymann-Weyr is in general a great writer).

Also unknown to me, so thanks!

[sovay]

It's unclear whether the protagonist (AU!female Romeo) is bisexual or lesbian (she is still in middle school), but she does start out with a crush on a boy (AU!male Rosaline)

I was aware of Star-Crossed, but didn't know its bi quotient; it sounds valid to me and it also sounds delightful. I don't know Empress of the World at all and will check it out. Thank you!

[moon_custafer]

in the equivalent of the masked ball scene, female Romeo crashes a Halloween party in a Darth Vader costume

It is my opinion that any masked ball scene needs to involve costumes that cover up enough of the individuals involved for mistaken/unknown identity shenanigans to be plausible, so props to this.