Today’s Our Queerest Shelves is brought to you by: Skinner House Books
Recognize, analyze, and confront racism in our visual world.
Images in the news, social media, and advertisements shape how we understand ourselves and our world. Our racial identities and biases filter the images we absorb and affect how we interpret them. Are they problematic? How can you tell? Why should you care?
Situated at the intersection of critical whiteness theory and visual culture, Through the Lens of Whiteness teaches readers visual literacy tools to expose racist messages in images. Grimes and Cooney help readers understand these patterns with a detailed analysis of vivid image examples to help dismantle existing biases and develop an antiracist perspective. Find out more about Skinner House Books here!
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New releases are still pretty light on the ground at this time of year, especially since it’s a holiday week, but we do have a few exciting books out today, especially in YA, middle grade, and picture books!
2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!
New LGBTQ Releases This Week
Thousand Autumns: Qian Qiu (Novel) Vol. 3 by Meng Xi Shi, illustrated by Me.Mimo (M/M Historical Romance Light Novel)
This is a very popular light novel series in a subgenre that’s getting a lot of traction recently: danmei/Boys’ Love wuxia stories. Yan Wushi is the leader of a demonic sect. When he finds an injured Shen Qiao, a Daoist priest and martial arts master, he takes him in to prove even Shen Qiao can be convinced to be selfish and cruel. But it’s not as easy as he was expecting, and the two fall for each other despite themselves.
Cupid's Revenge by Wibke Brueggemann (F/F YA Contemporary)
I will admit that I picked this up mostly because of the cover, but I’m glad I did! Tilly is supposed to be helping her best friend get the girl he’s pining over, Katherine, but instead, she falls for Katherine, too. It’s an angsty love triangle with plenty of teen hormones, but this is also a story about grief, friendship, family — and putting on a play.
Okay, Cupid by Mason Deaver (Nonbinary YA Fantasy)
Jude is a teenage cupid on probation, sent to a high school to get two best friends to see that they’re meant to be together. Unfortunately, right now, they’re not talking to each other. Jude is nonbinary, and this also has a trans masculine main character.
Just Happy to Be Here by Naomi Kanakia (Sapphic Trans Woman YA Contemporary)
Tara is the first trans woman to attend Ainsley Academy, an all-girls school. She just wants to blend in and find her community, but when she tries to join the exclusive Ainsley sisterhood called the Sibyls, she finds herself at the center of a debate about who should be allowed into the club and whether it should exist at all. This also has a sapphic romance!
The Curse of Eelgrass Bog by Mary Averling (Sapphic Middle Grade Horror)
Kess Pedrock lives in her family’s Unnatural History Museum. She spends her time searching for megafauna with her best friend, a talking demon head. But her life gets even weirder and more dangerous when a new girl comes to town looking to break a curse, and the two have to descend into the heart of Eelgrass Bog to find answers.
Still My Tessa by Sylv Chiang and Mathias Ball (Nonbinary Picture Book)
Evelyn’s older sibling, Tessa, is growing up, and that means that they don’t want to play their old games anymore. But Evelyn finds new ways to connect with Tessa, and along the way, she teaches the adults in their lives that it’s not hard to use Tessa’s new pronouns.
All Our Love by Kari-Lynn Winters and Scot Ritchie (Two Dads Picture Book)
This is a picture book about Sofia welcoming a new baby, Oliver, into her and her dads’ family. She’s nervous about it, so she writes Oliver a letter with all her feelings.
For more new releases, check out our New Books newsletter and the New Release Index — you can even filter by queer books!
Book Riot has podcasts to keep your ears listening for days! Check them out and subscribe.
Queer Bookish Goodies
Look at this gorgeous lesbian moth print! I love all the details. This shop also has other queer entomology prints, plus cute queer critter stickers! $15-20
That's it for me! Until next time, you can find me at my sapphic book blog, the Lesbrary. You can also hear me on All the Books, or you can read my Book Riot posts.
Happy reading!
Danika