Alec & Magnus Bane a gay love story within main stream Young Adult Fiction

I have been enjoying the Immortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (but I might not admit it to anyone I wanted to impress).

In my honest opinion this is romantic trash fiction for teenagers (age 14+) and no where near as good as the Percy Jackson books — but books do not have to be that good to still be enjoyable. I am enjoying the writing of Ms Clare but it is a bit too racy and too romantic for younger readers.

I wanted to tell readers of this blog that gay/bi sexuality is really marvellously handled in these novels, it is all just normal, as it should be.  Alec is scared of coming out, which is understandable.  There is homophobia is the world but such views are held by the minority.

If you want to tuck into a series similar to the Percy Jackson books with a gay story thread throughout then I would recommend the Immortal Instruments, starting with City of Bones.

I was delighted to find online that the author has a treat for fans of Magnus & Alec, their first kiss.  It would have taken place within the City of Bones (book 1) story but it is not in that book, you can read it on her website here:
http://www.cassandraclare.com/my-writing/excerpts-extras/kissed/

By the way, there are a series of films based on the books, I've not seen the films so can't comment on those.

A good source for "gay-friendly" children's books

I just discovered that the British website of the campaigning organisation Stonewall has an excellent comprehensive list of books to recommend for all ages.
Type books into the search box of the home page.
http://www.stonewall.org.uk/what_we_do/at_school/3730.asp

Some of the books for younger children are not about sexuality as such but celebrate diversity.

And
This article lists a load of new books that I've not seen:
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/may/15/top-ten-lgbt-books-for-pre-teens-susie-day

Counting down the months unitl the next installment

Just over six months to go until we read the final book in this series - I have days blanked out in my diary so I can sit and enjoy the book and then engage online with people who want to discuss it. I hope the author will eventually write more as we love these characters and they are still so young. I am, however, also looking forward to meeting the new characters in his new books about Norse mythology. I am hoping for gay/bi characters to be written in the same way as Nico was developed: I have been reading many other styles and genres lately. I am a gown-up of course, so I have been reading grown up books too. I have come across nothing new that I could recommend to readers of this blog though I feel sure writers out there somewhere must be inspired and encouraged by House of Hades.

Gay teenagers Know or Suspect by the time they are 13

It is important that gay characters show up in modern literature for kids because kids themselves are aware of sexuality and recent research supports what many already were saying: Most kids know they are gay or are questioning their sexuality by the time they enter the teenage years. Unfortunately, the research also shows what a difficult time kids have: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/mental-health-crisis-looms-for-gay-teenagers-9053688.html

Banned Books & Gay Characters

I've been reading some books for older people just lately (perhaps more my own age) but on my list of books to read soon I am including something by Tim Federle after reading his interesting article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-federle/book-for-kids-raises-eyebrows-over-young-gay-character_b_3976264.html Tim Federle has written Better Nate than Ever. Now I like musicals as much as the next woman, and I grew up with them as people my age did (there was only 3 TV channels and two of them were probably showing sport of war films so I call that no choice). Books about people who love musicals would not be my first choice but I'll give this a go.

How Many kids got Percy Jackson & Heroes of Olympus Books For Christmas?

I have no idea but one would think that more kids will discover these books after seeing the films. I spoke to a ten year old boy today who has just read the Sea of Monsters and he thought it was much better than the film.

Nico is not the typical gay boy in children's fiction

One of the things that is so exciting about Nico being a gay teenage character in fiction for the pre-teen age group is that he is not a typical gay boy, no-one could have predicted with certainty that he would be gay. None of his peers in the books suspect his secret. This is in contrast to the very few other books written for this age group that includes gay boys. The gay boys in books like the Misfits and Stitches (see tab above - LGBT literature for children) have themes about bullying of boys who are different and "girlie". Nico is different, of course, he is a loner and a son of one of the big three Gods. But, he is certainly not feminine, no-one would call him a sissy and I can't imagine him the victim of bullying. He is one of the most powerful demigods and you would want him on your side in any fight. I have known many gay teenagers and talked with adult gay men about their teenage lives. Strangely enough one of my best friends was very much like the boy in Stitches - as a teenager he liked sewing dolls clothes, too. So there is certainly a place for stories about queer boys who identified and picked on for being different. However, There are other gay boys that you would never guess are gay, I've known them too, if anything there are more of those boys. Into all the stuff most boys are into. Nico is a powerful hero in these books so lets celebrate that at last boys who want to be powerful heroes have a gay role model to identify with. I can't wait for the next book and more stories with characters like Nico.