Teacher Resources
These resources present reading guides and potential assignments for the teaching of Heartstopper, Snapdragon, A quick and easy guide to queer and trans identities, Kiss Number 8, and Gender Queer. Curriculum for the first two books are more aimed for 9th and 10th grade students while Kiss Number 8 and Gender Queer are modeled for 11th and 12th grade classes. The assignments are meant for use in conjunction with this site as a broader database, I hope that you find these resources helpful for talking about queer issues and for the education of future generations.
-Discussion Questions for a Quick and Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities by Mady G & J.R. Zuckerberg (General introduction to queerness)
-Discussion Questions for Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (Grades 9-10)
-Discussion Questions for Snap Dragon by Kat Leyh (Grades 9-10)
-Discussion Questions for Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable and Ellen T. Crenshaw
(Grades 11-12)
-Discussion Questions for Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe (Grades 11-12)
A list of recommended reading materials used for this project:
L-Lesbian Character(s) TF-Trans Women Character(s)
G-Gay Character(s) NB-Nonbinary Character(s)
B-Bisexual Character(s) Q-Queer Character(s)
TM-Trans Men Character(s) * -More Adult subject matter Discretion advised
Alex Sanchez, Julie Maroh
-You brought me the ocean (Superpowers are used as a stand in for the process of coming out in this teen romance) G
Alice Oseman
-Heartstopper 1 (Gay High School boys fall in love) L,G
-Heartstopper 2 (Gay High School boys and their friends come to grips with their queerness)L,G,B,TF
-Heartstopper 3 (Gay High School boys explore what queerness means practically)L,G,B,TF
-Heartstopper 4 (Gay High School boys deal with Mental illness, self harm, eating disorders, and unsupportive family)L,G,B,TF
Allison Bechdel
-Fun Home (A memoir about growing up as a lesbian in the 70's and 80's) *L,B
-The Indelible Allison Bechdel (A collection of lesbian comics from acclaimed lesbian cartoonist) *L,G,Q
-The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For (A syndicated comic strip about lesbians, that talked about queer politics and culture from the late 80's to mid aughts)*L,G,B,TF,TM,Q
Ariel Schrag
-Potential (A memoir about being a lesbian in the early 2000's written and drawn by a high schooler going through it) *L,B
Ariel Slamet Ries
-Witchy series (Fantasy story about resisting authoritarian powers in south east asian setting) L,G,TF
Blue Delliquanti
-Across a field of starlight (Queer anti-authoritarianism/colonialism in space) TM,NB, Q
Catherine Castro, Quentin Zutton
-Call Me Nathan (A story about a French trans boy's transition) TM
Colleen AF Venable, Ellen T. Crenshaw
-Kiss Number 8 (A Bi woman comes to terms with her identity in a catholic community in the early 2000's) L,B,TM
Cristy C. Road
-Spit and Passion (The Memoir of a child of Cuban refugees exploring her lesbian/queer identity in relation to the punk movement in the 90's) *L
Crystal Frasier, Val Wise, Oscar O. Jupiter
-Cheer up! Love and Pompoms (A story about a high school cheer leading team with prominent Lesbian and Trans characters) L,TF,NB
David Kelley
-Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Stevens Comics (A series of comic strips about a gay preteen in the 70's) G
Eleanor Crewes
-The Times I Knew I was Gay (A memoir about coming to terms with lesbian identity in the 2000's and 2010's) L
Emma Grove
-The Third Person (A memoir about a trans woman's traumatic experience with therapy and DID in the early 2000's) *TF,TM
Grace Ellis
With Shae Beagle
-Moonstruck 1-3 (Queer supernatural beings engage in hijinks throughout their town of supernatural beings) NB,L,G,Q
With Hannah Templer
-Flung out of space (Biography of problematic early lesbian author) L
Hamish Steele
-Deadendia: Paranormal Park (A young trans run away builds a found family at a paranormal themepark) G,TM
James Tynion IV, Rian Sygh
-The Backstagers 1-3 (A comic about highschool stage crew at an all boys school featuring supernatural elements) G,TM
Jen Wang
-The Prince and The Dressmaker (A teenage prince hires a local dressmaker to help him experiment with gender)Q
Julia Kaye
-Super Late Bloomer (A collection of memoir diary comic strips about figuring out what it means to be trans) L,TF
-My Life in Transition (A collection of memoir diary comic strips about day to day life as a trans woman) B,TF
Kat Leyh
-Snapdragon (A queer teen helps a lesbian witch who lives on the outskirts of her town) L,TF, Q
Kate Charlesworth
-Sensible Footwear: A Girls Guide (A history of queerness in the UK, told through the lens of a lesbians life experience) *L,G
Katie O'Neill
-Princess Princess Ever After (Lesbian Princesses learn how to process family trauma) L
-The Tea Dragon Society (A story about preserving cultural traditions featuring queer characters) L,G
Kevin Panetta, Savanna Ganucheau
-Bloom (Slow burn two gay teens fall in love while working at a bakery) G
Lee Lai
-Stone Fruit (Queer women reckon with family, identity, and religion) *L,TF,Q
Lilah Sturges, Meaghan Carter, Joamette Gil
-Girl Haven (A Highschool's pride club is transported to a magic world and forced to reckon with gender and toxic masculinity) TF,NB,L
Liz Prince
-Tomboy (A memoir exploring gender and what it means to be a girl when you don't fit societal expectations of girl-ness) Q
Mady G, J.R. Zuckerberg
-A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities (A guide book for understanding queer and trans identities) Yes
Maia Kobabe
-Genderqueer (A memoir about a person's process to understanding eir gender and sexuality) Q,NB,B
Mari Costa
-Life of Melody (Fantasy story about two men falling in love while raising a baby) G
-Belle of the Ball (A high school story about a lesbian love triangle) L
Mari Naomi
-Losing the Girl 1-3 (A story about Alien abduction and intervention featuring queer characters) L,B
Mariko Tamaki
-Emiko Superstar (A teenager in the late 2000's enters the punk scene with lesbian and queer themes) L,Q
-Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (A Lesbian teenager learns about friendship and unhealthy relationships)L,G
Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
-Skim (A lesbian teen falls in love with her teacher and explores social rejection in the early 2000's) *L
-This One Summer (A story about growing up featuring queer themes) L,Q
Mel Gillman
-Nonbinary (A zine featuring mini comics exploring what it means to be trans and nonbinary) NB
-As the Crow Flies (Teenage girls face anti queerness, transphobia, and racism at a christian summer camp) Q,TF
-Stage Dreams (A brown queer woman and a trans woman fight the confederacy in civil war era America) TF,Q
-Other Ever Afters (A collection of queer fairy tales) TM, NB, L, Q
Molly Knox Ostertag
-The Girl From The Sea (A story about a lesbian Canadian teen falling in love with a selkie and learning to process grief) L
-The Witch Boy Series (A family of witches are used to examine societal gendered expectations and queerness) Q, L
Nathan Page & Drew Shannon
-The Montague Twins: The Devil's Music (A family of witches in 1960's New England solve a rock and roll mystery) G
ND Stevenson
-Nimona (A Gay villain and his queer sidekick process the weight of societal expectations) G,Q
-The Fire Never Goes Out(A memoir of a repressed kid coming to terms with his queer identity) L,TM,Q
ND Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooke Allen
-Lumberjanes (A compilation of comic books about an all girl summer camp and the supernatural hijinks a group of girls--some of whom are queer--get into there)L,TF,NB
Ngozi Ukazu
-Check, Please! #Hockey (A gay teen joins his college's hockey team and grows into himself) G
-Check, Please! #Sticks and Scones (Two Gay men fall in love and explore what it means to be out in sports) G
Paige Braddock
-Janes World (An early 2000's webcomic about a lesbian woman and her community) L,B
Rebecca Burgess
-How to be ace (A memoir exploring the author's path to the acceptance of their queerness and asexuality) Q,B
Roberta Gregory
-Dynamite Damsels(The First full-size Lesbian comic by a Lesbian) L*
-Bitchy Butch World's Angriest Dyke (A compilation of comics satirizing lesbian culture in the 90's) *,L,Q,B
Sabrina Symington
-First Year Out (A look into the transition process for a trans woman)TF
Sarah Winifred Searle
-The Greatest Thing (A story about how hard it can be to be a teen with themes of queerness, and mental illness in 2000's New England) B
Shimura Takako
-Wandering son vol. 1 (A manga about two gender nonconforming teens) TM,TF
The Kao
-Magical Boy (A trans masc teen has to deal with his family's legacy of being anime style magical girls while coming out and transitioning) L,TM
Tillie Walden
-On A Sunbeam (In a future in which, seemingly, only afab people exist, space travelers explore young love, nonbinary identity/pronouns and lesbian love.) L,NB
-Spinning (A memoir about the Author's experience as a lesbian kid growing up in Texas in the 2000's told through her time as a figure skater) L
Tim Barela
-Leonard & Larry: Domesticity isn't pretty (A collection of comic strips about middle age gay men in the 90's) G
Trung Le Nguyen
-The Magic Fish (A story about understanding gayness as a catholic child of Vietnamese refugees in the early 2000's) G
Compilation
-Be Gay Do Comics (A compilation of queer comics from the site thenib.com) *L,G,B,TF,TM,Q,NB
Additional Bibliography