Five top titles about growing up queer

Richard Mirabella is a writer and civil servant living in Upstate New York. His stories have appeared in American Short Fiction, Split Lip Magazine, wigleaf, and elsewhere.

His debut novel is Brother & Sister Enter the Forest.

At Lit Hub Mirabella tagged five "books about children learning about the troubles of the world, young adults trying to find their place as queer people in a straight society, and a few adults who don’t quite fit into the mold of expected adulthood, who are still trying to shake off the skins of their former selves." One title on the list:

We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge

An intelligent, heartfelt novel about family, racism in the sciences, sisters, and self-discovery. If you follow her on Twitter, you already know that Greenidge is astute and erudite, unafraid to tell the truth about our culture and political climate. Her first novel works on every level, the personal, the political, historical, emotional. The Freemans of the title move to a research facility to participate in an experiment where they will live with a chimpanzee that was abandoned by his mother.

Simultaneously, we learn the racist history of the institute itself. Within this complex tapestry is our guide, Charlotte, the soul of the book, a teenager dealing with a strange situation, who is also, we discover, queer. The awkward, painful beginning of her life as a queer woman is handled deftly by Greenidge. A sensitive and loving portrayal.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue