Talya here! I am a middle and high school librarian right outside of Boston.  I’m so excited to be on Rainbow List this year and to share a few of the books I’ve been reading recently.

Drum Roll, Please by Lisa Jenn Bigelow.  I don’t know about everyone else but I am a huge fan of anything related to summer camp.  I love love love novels that take summer camp, especially when they have a queer romance.  Drum Roll, Please tells the sweet, powerful story of of Melly, a shy girl who truly comes alive behind the drums.  When she heads off to rock camp with her best friend Olivia she is nervous about what’s to come, not to mention devastated over the news that her parents are getting a divorce.  But once at camp she begins to discover things about herself, her strengths, her talents and her ability to rock that surprise and shake her to her core.

Pulp by Robin Talley.  Many of us have heard about the Red Scare and McCarthyism, a shameful time in United State history. But few people know about the Lavender Scare, which occured at the same time and was the eradication of gay and lesbian employees from the U.S. government. While this was going on, pulp novels, cheap paperbacks that told salacious tales of love, romance and sex (among other topics) were increasingly popular.  All of this sets the stage for the dual narratives in Pulp. Janet is an 18 year old girl living in D.C. in 1955 and hiding a secret romance with her best friend Marie.  She knows that she is not doing anything wrong and that her love is normal, even if the rest of the world can’t see that.  But she must decide how far she is willing to go to live her truth and love who she loves.  In alternating chapters we also meet Abby, a high school senior in D.C. in 2018.  Abby is dealing with a lot.  Her parents marriage is crumbling, her young brother is acting out, and she and her best friend/girlfriend have split up.  Abby decides to research lesbian pulp novels from the 1950s, where she is introduced to a whole new world of forbidden romance and unrequited love.  Abby and Janet’s stories are mostly separate but intertwine towards the end of the book in a sweet and unexpected way.