Little & Lion (2017) by Brandy Colbert is a well-done YA novel that covers many themes: bisexuality, mental illness (specifically bipolar), and loyalty in a blended family, and it features a black Jewish main character in a multiethnic family. It won a Stonewall Award the year it was published.
Suzette has just returned home to Los Angeles for the summer after having been sent to boarding school on the East Coast when her family discovered that her brother, Lionel, had bipolar disorder. Now that she’s back, she wants things to be like they always were with her Mom and Saul and Lionel, but Lionel’s meds are still being adjusted and he’s not up to go the places and do the things they used to. Their friends are acting strangely, and she hasn’t told anyone about her roommate and what happened in the dorm when they were caught in the same bed.
So there’s a lot in Suzette’s head already when she meets a tattooed girl who works at a florist shop. She’s also reconnecting with Emil–the son of her mother’s best friend–and sees him in a new light.
Since it’s YA, teenagers make bad choices because they’re teenagers, but Suzette thinks she’s doing the right thing. But things Lionel says are beginning to scare her, and she may be the only one who knows that he’s having trouble again. And then Lionel meets and falls for the tattooed girl, Suzette’s crush, and Suzette isn’t yet out as bisexual. Things get very complicated very quickly.
I thought it was really well-done, realistic in Suzette’s feelings about coming out as bisexual. There is portrayal of underage drinking, possibly binging, but the unrelated sex scene shows safe sex and consent.
I don’t recall any anti-fat bias, so consider it weight-neutral.
Reading While Fat 