Gay & Lesbian.

Daniel "Sprout" Bradford has a secret, but it isn't what you think.  Sprout's secret has nothing to do with his green hair, his romantic relationship, his mother's death, or his father's drinking.  After his mother died four years ago, Sprout's father packed him in the car and drove from Long Island to the middle of nowhere - in this case, Buhler, Kansas - where he and Sprout live in a trailer covered in vines and surrounded by a collection of upside-down tree stumps. 

Tapped by his hard-drinking but no-nonsense English teacher to compete in the statewide Kansas essay contest, Sprout spends the summer before his junior year under her tutelage.  Mrs. Miller urges Sprout to divulge his secrets, both public and private. 

Sprout is an intelligent and wisecracking narrator, and the novel is full of wordplay.  But until Sprout begins talking about his first relationships, we really don't know much about him.  From his purely physical relationship with jock Ian to his feelings for the new kid Ty, Sprout's romantic entanglements force him explore his own motivations and desires.  But will this self-examination come too late?  Sprout: Or My Salad Days, When I was Green in Judgment is a poignant, entertaining look at growing up gay in small-town America.

The Vast Fields of Ordinary follows high school senior Dade Hamilton as he suffers through once last summer in the suburban midwest before he leaves for college.  His parents' marriage is falling apart, his sorta-boyfriend Pablo only seems interested in Dade when they're alone, and his job at Food World just plain sucks.  Unable to tell his parents he's gay, he practices on inanimate household objects like the ceiling fan in his bedroom and the soap dish in the bathroom.  Then Dade meets mysterious Alex Kincaid, stoner extraordinaire, and Lucy Savage, whose own parents have shipped her off to spend the summer with her aunt and uncle after she reveals she's a lesbian, and suddenly the summer looks much brighter.  Alex and Dade's relationship sparks Pablo's jealousy, and readers can see the collision coming before Dade does.  In the space of one short summer, Dade will fall in love, visit his first gay bar, have an encounter with a missing girl, come out to his parents, and deal with the unforeseen consequences of his relationship with Dade.  Dade is a sensitive soul and his friends are likeable misfits, not unlike the characters in Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  Readers will be reminded of their own pivotal summers before heading off to college and transitioning into adulthood. 

If there is one cure for the cold winter blahs, it is reading a warm, summer love story and Call Me By Your Name is a scorcher. Elio's father is a professor of some renown living  in an Italian villa. Elio is used to sharing his summers with visiting graduate students seeking his father's attention. Nevertheless, he is unprepared for the arrival of Oliver, a handsome, charismatic charmer finishing his thesis. The 17 year-old longs for Oliver and despite his cavalier exterior, Oliver comes to care for Elio. The strength of their attraction is a force that moves them from friendship to intimacy to obsession. When their affair comes to its inevitable end, the two find themselves forever changed by the summer they fell in love.

Elio is a precocious narrator, well-schooled in classical studies but new at the workings of the human heart. The book's rich, evocative imagery does not overwhelm its underlying tenderness. Ultimately, it is Elio's father who offers him the best advice for surviving his heartbreak.

Pairing a gorgeous setting and smoldering love story, Call Me By Your Name will heat up the coldest winter day.

Skim is not. Skim that is. In Skim, a graphic novel by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, Skim is Kimberly Keiko, a mixed-race, not-slim, Goth-girl and wannabe Wiccan searching for her own place in the private girls' school she attends with her best friend, Lisa. When the boyfriend of a classmate commits suicide, the place becomes downright oppressive as Skim's peers target her dark moods and darker wardrobe. Enter Ms. Archer, Skim's free-free-spirited drama teacher. Suddenly, Skim finds meaning in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The two begin a romantic relationship that leaves Skim questioning her sexuality and, when it ends, her self-worth. Ultimately, it is in reaching out to Katie, girlfriend of the boy who committed suicide, that Skim finds her voice again.

Through the lens of a few years, and the comfort of a grownup chair, the age of 16 is easier to bear. This graphic novel was published for a teen audience but adults will empathize with Skim's growing pains. The book is set in early 1990s Toronto and its panels feature details that will take adult readers back to their own school days. Adolescent anxiety may be a painful thing to remember, but here it is drawn in flowing black-and-white.  The novel's sharp dialogue and the school's reaction to the suicide are eerily reminiscent of the 1989 Christian Slater-Winona Ryder movie, Heathers.  

Pairing an elegant package and a winning voice,  Skim will resonate with teen and adult readers alike.