Rachel is a writer from Arkansas, most at home surrounded by forests and animals much like a Disney Princess. She spends most of her time writing stories and playing around in imaginary worlds. You can follow her writing at rachelbrittain.com. Twitter and Instagram: @rachelsbrittain
Many of my most beloved stories revolve around relationships that could be described as found or chosen family. From spaceship crews to unbreakable friend groups, it’s a character dynamic I’m just not willing to part with. I’m not the only one, either. Found family is a popular trope, and it’s a popular trope for a reason. It’s one that a lot of people can relate to. Everyone wants to find people who love and accept them. Sometimes that comes from a biological or adopted family, but sometimes it comes in the form of friends or community who choose to become family. Family is just the people who are there for you no matter what, who choose to be in your life over and over again even when times get hard. Sometimes those people may be your parents or cousins or siblings, but sometimes they’re the friends you’ve known since grade school or the neighbors who check up on your day after day.
Family bonds aren’t defined through our relation to one another but through the relationships we build with intention. That’s especially true for queer people. We find solidarity and community with each other, even when we can’t find it anywhere else. That often leads to queer people creating found or chosen families made up of the people who show up for them. That’s something that’s captured really wonderfully in these queer graphic novels about found and chosen family. From hockey teams and alien father figures to drunk mermaids trying to figure out life on land, these graphic novels show just how many different forms a chosen family can take.
Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh
When a group of raucous and unruly mermaids cast a spell on themselves to give them land legs, they fail to realize they’ll need a counter spell after their night of fun. Now, Tooth, Pearl, and Eez are forced to room with their new bartender friend and figure out how to live life on land. Good thing these friends would do anything for each other! Humor and friendship are the heart of this hilarious graphic novel. It features mature language, situations, and not-so-mature drunk mermaids, so this one is definitely not for the kids.
Stone Fruit by Lee Lai
In a story that blurs the lines between chosen family and family of origin, two aunts to a delightful six-year-old find themselves isolating and growing apart as their relationship erodes. Time with their niece provides a much-needed break from the strain. It’s through repairing old family ties that they begin to find themselves again, though.
Check Please! by Ngozi Ukazu
If you’ve ever played sports, you know a good team can turn into a family. My favorite example of that phenomenon is Check Please!, a deliriously adorable graphic novel about hockey, baking, friendship, and love from Ngozi Ukazu. When former figure skater Eric “Bitty” Bittle joins the Samwell University hockey team as a freshman, he takes his fellow teammates by storm. A skater who loves baking and vlogging just as much as the ice isn’t what any of the guys are used to. But Bitty’s bright, charming personality soon wins them over—even the grumpy team captain with piercing blue eyes.
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Life of Melody by Mari Costa
When a fairy named Razzmatazz decides to raise the protagonist of a fairy tale in order to better understand humans, it doesn’t just mean becoming a parent—it means becoming a co-parent. Bon found Melody at the same time as Razzmatazz, so raising her means working together. Disguised as humans to live and raise Melody in the human realm, Bon and Razzmatazz slowly begin to see each other as more than just co-parents.
Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker
Childhood friends Nova and Tam are reunited when a demonic horse attacks in the woods. Nova is a witch in training at her grandmothers’ shop, and Nova has moved back after years of wandering around on their own. Now, the two must team up to protect the town and Tam from dark forces that will stop at nothing to claim a werewolf’s powers. I love how Nova’s family immediately takes Tam in as one of their own, even after they were away for years. If that’s not the definition of real family, I don’t know what is.
Off Menu by Oliver Gerlach and Kelsi Jo Silva
Soup has always been reluctant to set out from the restaurant she calls home. She was found there as a baby, after all, and has lived there ever since. But when her boss’s behavior finally opens her eyes to a pattern of abuse that stretches from the restaurant and all the way across town, she decides something has to give. She decides to compete with her boss in a cooking competition. Winner takes the restaurant. It’s a risky proposition, but if Soup wins, she’ll be able to protect her home from her boss’s plans for destructive expansion. Good thing she’s got a whole community of people to support her.
Galaxy the Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor
To save herself from the enemies who killed her parents, Taylor Barzelay is living undercover on Earth. With the help of some handy alien technology, she can even look human…and like a boy. But Taylor’s tired of living a lie. She knows who she really is, and even if it’s dangerous, Taylor wants a chance to fully be herself. I love how Taylor’s protector has become a sort of father figure. Their relationship is complicated but full of love. That’s often true of family, found, chosen, or otherwise.
Buuza by Shazleen Khan
Like so many great graphic novels these days, Buuza began as a web comic. In fact, you can still read it for free on Tapas and Webtoon. Buuza presents a slice-of-life look into a cast of queer characters finding themselves and each other in an urban fantasy version of the Middle East and Central Asia in the 1990s. Chosen family is at its very core. Buuza has won the Broken Frontier Best Webcomic Award two years in a row.
Want even more stories about found and chosen family? We’ve got you:
20 Must-Read Queer Found Family Books
5 Queer Romances That Center Found Family
9 Graphic Novels and Comics About Finding a Place to Belong
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
It’s Pride Month, and while we celebrate queer literature here all year long, we go especially rainbow bold in June. This week, we’re excited to take a look at the favorite queer books of beloved queer authors.
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It’s Pride month, which is the perfect excuse to buy and read a bunch of queer books. One method I really enjoy for finding new books is to take the recommendations of my favorite authors. Carmen Maria Machado hasn’t led me astray yet. Unfortunately, I don’t have these authors on speed dial, but luckily, they usually have shared their recommendations publicly.
Below I’ve put together queer book recommendations from 11 beloved queer authors. Some are from interviews where they discussed their favorite books, and others are book blurbs. Both the authors’ works and the books they recommend cover a wide spectrum of genres and formats, including graphic novels, literary fiction, poetry, biographies, horror, sci-fi, YA fantasy, and more, so there’s something for every kind of reader.
Akwaeke Emezi recommends…
Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde
“Some of the most spectacular writing I’ve ever encountered in my life… Vagabonds! brought me to tears because it gave me a world in which my country could be home again.”
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