It’s June! Most years, we’d be celebrating Anti-Prom this month. While the Library is open now for select services, Anti-Prom will be returning in person in 2022. Nevertheless, June is a busy time at the Library, as we celebrate Pride Month and mark Juneteenth, and there’s plenty for teens to explore including free online events, book lists, and more! Library staff behind Bronx Anti-Prom have put together this reading list to celebrate the theme of “New Beginnings,”  highlighting a range of timely YA titles. Some shine a spotlight on LGBTQ+ voices and celebrate Pride; some explore the issues that arise from Juneteenth and the complex historical legacy of slavery in the United States; and some exist at the intersections of the struggles for civil rights for LGBTQ+ people and people of color. We hope you find something that interests you.

Nonfiction

The New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli

LGBTQIAA+ activist Adam Eli argues the urgent need for queer responsibility—that queers anywhere are responsible for queers everywhere.  Read Also: Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon

We Are Not Yet Equal by Carol Anderson with Tonya Bolden

From the end of the Civil War to the tumultuous issues in America today, an acclaimed historian reframes the conversation about race, chronicling the powerful forces opposed to Black progress in America.

Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

A history of racist and antiracist ideas in America, from their roots in Europe until today, adapted from the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning.

When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors

This is the story of how the movement that started with a hashtag—#BlackLivesMatter—spread across the nation and then across the world and the journey that led one of its co-founders, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, to this moment. 

Fiction     

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal

Told from two viewpoints, those of Atlanta high school seniors Lena and Campbell—one Black, one white—who must rely on each other to survive after a football rivalry escalates into a riot.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

Liz Lighty has always done her best to avoid the spotlight in her small, wealthy, and prom-obsessed midwestern high school—After all, her family is Black and rather poor, especially since her mother died. Instead, she has concentrated on her grades and her musical ability in the hopes that it will win her a scholarship to elite Pennington College and their famous orchestra where she plans to study medicine—But when that scholarship falls through she is forced to turn to her school's scholarship for prom king and queen, which plunges her into the gauntlet of social media (which she hates) and leads her to discoveries about her own identity and the value of true friendships.

Come Juneteenth by Ann Rinaldi

Fourteen-year-old Luli and her family face tragedy after failing to tell their slaves that President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made them free.

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

In a near-future society that claims to have gotten rid of all monstrous people, a creature emerges from a painting 17-year-old Jam's mother created, a hunter from another world seeking a real-life monster.

Graphic Novels and Manga

Boys Run the Riot by Keito Gaku

A transgender teen named Ryuu finds an escape from the expectations and anxieties of his daily life in the world of street fashion.

Octavia Butler’s Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Damian Duffy

Dana, a Black woman, finds herself repeatedly transported to the antebellum South, where she must make sure that Rufus, the plantation owner's son, survives to father Dana's ancestor.

Blue Flag by Kaito

An unexpected love quadrangle with a dash of unrequited love as two classmates, a boy and a girl, begin to fall for each other when each of their best friends have already fallen for them.

Heavy Vinyl Vol. 1: Riot on the Radio by Carly Usdin

When Chris joins the staff at her local record store, she’s surprised to find out that her co-workers share a secret: they’re all members of a secret fight club that takes on the patriarchy and fights crime!

Juliet Takes A Breath: The Graphic Novel by Gabby Rivera and Celia Moscote

Juliet, a self-identified queer, Bronx-born Puerto Rican-American, comes out to her family to disastrous results the night before flying to Portland to intern with her feminist author icon—whom Juliet soon realizes has a problematic definition of feminism that excludes women of color.

Useful Resources for Teens

Pride Month

• Pride at NYPL: Celebrating Pride Month with NYPL collections, reading recommendations, and events.
• LGBTQ At NYPL: Connecting you with the LGBTQ book lists, collections, programs, and expertise that The New York Public Library has to offer.
• LGBTQ Reads: A great recommendation site for books primarily focused on LGBTQIA experiences.
• Youth Pride 2021: Virtual events and resources for young people celebrating NYC Pride 2021.

Juneteenth and Black Liberation

• Juneteenth at NYPL: Explore reading recommendations and programs related to Juneteenth.
• Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List for Teens: Explore essential titles selected by the Schomburg Center as it marks 95 years of collecting and preserving Black history, arts, and culture.
• The Melanin Library: Born from the idea that Black authors should be easier to find, this website was created by Written in Melanin Publishing to make that idea a reality. This website is an ever-growing database of Black authors and their books.

Discover virtual events organized by the Bronx Anti-Prom team. Committee Members: Valerine Andujar, Whitney Davidson-Rhodes, Ryan Frick, Dhariyah Luqman, Tabrizia Jones, Jordan Mangual, Chelsey Masterson, Elizabeth Paldino, Deanna Schiffman.