Hi Community! The last couple of months have been PACKED, and I’m excited to share some of the good parts here:

A DIFFERENT KIND OF BRAVE news:
My Gay Teen love letter to James Bond movies received a Starred Review from Foreword Reviews, Booklist cheered it for being “A successful action-adventure story with a suitably suspenseful, white-knuckle denouement. Fans of the genre will be pleased.” and Kirkus Reviews, in a lovely nod to “Bond. James Bond.” called it “Thrilling. Positively thrilling.” It was also featured as a Book of the Day by Foreword Reviews and their reviewer Rebecca Foster interviewed me about A Different Kind of Brave for Foreword This Week, which you can read here.

THE GENDER BINARY IS A BIG LIE news:
This nonfiction for ages 11 and up is the follow-up to my award-winning No Way, They Were Gay? Hidden Lives and Secret Loves, and comes out August 6, 2024. We just received a Starred Review from Kirkus Reviews, who wrote, ”In this historical and cross-cultural exploration of gender, Wind invites readers to expand their understanding beyond the oppressive limits of the gender binary…. An accessible, thorough, curiosity-provoking introduction to gender.” Hurray!

Queer KidLit Book Recommendations:
I had the amazing opportunity to moderate a YA panel at the recent Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. All three books by the panelists were wonderful, and I whole-heartedly recommend them:

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko – Hayley took her pop song (the music video for Girls Like Girls has more than 154 million views) as the inspiration for this YA novel where emotions are raw and attraction is powerful. One standout moment from our discussion was when Hayley said, “Art has always been my therapy.” Love it!

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson – George’s memoir/manifesto about growing up both Gay and Black is honest and beautiful and so brave. I listened to the audiobook for this one (narrated by George themself) and it’s amazing. This is the number two most banned book in the US for two years now, and George’s resilience and activism fighting for the freedom to read is inspiring. (As a comparison, No Way, They Were Gay? had five challenges last year. All Boys Aren’t Blue had eighty-two challenges!)

Out of Left Field by Jonah Newman – what started out as a memoir became this charming graphic novel about a history nerd and non-athlete who has a crush on the shortstop and so joins his high school’s baseball team. In the process, he becomes quite the athlete… and figures a lot of things out.

Congratulations to the winners of the A DIFFERENT KIND OF BRAVE give-away
Cheers to Heena, and librarians Rachele, Trish, Molly, and Kevin for winning free copies!

A Friendly Reminder
If you’ve read one of my books and enjoyed it, please spread the word. Word of mouth and online reviews really do make a difference. Thanks!

More thanks
Big thanks to Los Angeles Times photographer Myung J. Chun, who took the amazing photo of me leaping at the top of this blog post. And thanks to you, for sharing the journey.

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee