Pride or Die

Gr 10 Up–Eleanora Finkel, aka Fink, founded her school’s LGBTQIA+ club and is determined to keep it alive, total membership of four notwithstanding. An incident with obnoxious cheerleader Kenley Stevens led to the misnomer BLT Club; despite the behavior of bullies, though, the group serves an important role. When Fink, along with football jock Salim Ali; brash, trans Noah King; and nonbinary overachiever Tyler Fuentes are discovered in the hall with the bleeding and unconscious body of their nemesis, the principal wastes no time trying to disband the club and to blame them for the attack. As evidence mounts that there may be more violence on the horizon, the righteously angry club members have to set aside their differences and work with the one person they would like to avoid before anyone else gets hurt. A murder mystery without the murder, this debut hits all the right notes of the genre without being too formulaic. Witty, strongly characterized teens speak clearly (with strong language) about the forces they’re up against, with steadily developing action and believable red herrings.