The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

Written by Sonora Reyes

Narrated by Karla Serrato

National Book Award Finalist * William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist * Goodreads Finalist for Best Teen Book of the Year * Walter Honor Award Winner * Pura Belpré Honor Book * Lambda Literary Award Winner for LGBTQ+ Young Adult

A sharply funny and moving debut novel about a queer Mexican American girl navigating Catholic school, while falling in love and learning to celebrate her true self. Perfect for fans of Erika L. Sánchez, Leah Johnson, and Gabby Rivera.

Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers to be known for her killer eyeliner, not for being one of the only Mexican kids at her new, mostly white, very rich Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she’s gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way. 

After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend before transferring to Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: keep her brother out of trouble, make her mom proud, and, most importantly, don’t fall in love. Granted, she’s never been great at any of those things, but that’s a problem for Future Yami. 

The thing is, it’s hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. So cute. Either way, Yami isn’t going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she’ll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do? 

Told in a captivating voice that is by turns hilarious, vulnerable, and searingly honest, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School explores the joys and heartaches of living your full truth out loud.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063060289

Sonora Reyes

Sonora Reyes is a queer second-generation immigrant who attended a Catholic high school. They write fiction full of queer and Latinx characters in a variety of genres. Sonora is also the creator and host of #QPOCChat, a monthly community-building Twitter chat for queer writers of color. They currently live in Arizona in a multigenerational family home with a small pack of dogs, who run the place.

Reviews for The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

[Anita Revilla · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An amazing novel! It is a beautiful youth love story, and it is so much more! Reyes offers a critical critique of racism, homophobia, and classism along weaved into the story seamlessly. I will definitely teach this novel in my classes.

[Jude · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Yamilet is looking forward to starting the new year at a different school since the girl she had a crush on outed her at her previous one. Even though she’ll be one of very few BIPOC students in a sea of white and probably one of even fewer queer students at this Catholic school. But she’ll be with her brother and will do everything she can to pass as straight.

I’m a white French enby born in the early 1970s, Jewish by culture but raised with little religion, so I can’t pretend I know much about how a Latina teenager, raised as a Catholic in the U.S. today, goes through life. And that’s what I love about books, that an experience so far removed from what I know can feel so relatable.

Sonora Reyes won a Lambda Literary Award for this book and I can see why. All the characters are well-written and multifaceted, starting with Yami, one of the best teenagers I’ve read. She is kind, smart, scared; she makes mistakes, she’s occasionally self-centred, she’s dedicated, and sweet. Her relationship with her parents (her father was deported back to Mexico years ago) feels so real, rife with complicated feelings, disappointment but also unforeseen grace. Her brother brought tears to my eyes, yet some interactions between the siblings made for light-hearted, amusing scenes.

The best word I can think of about this book is refreshing. The story is told in the first person from Yami’s point of view and the way she sees the world, how she navigates its hardships, is simultaneously naïve and impressively mature, as befits a teenager manoeuvring the transition to adulthood.

The many mentions of music and food add to the mood. One of my favourite moments was about Yami and Bo—the girl she falls for—sharing the songs they love. Speaking of Bo, I also appreciated very much that the romance was between two BIPOC characters. There aren’t a lot of white characters in this story and several of them have a lot of work to do on themselves, which, again, feels rather relatable.

Karla Serrato’s narration is terrific. Each voice fits its character perfectly and the pace is excellent. I have a feeling Yamilet will stay with me for a long while and the narration is part of what made me love her so much.

Read all my reviews on my blog (and please buy from the affiliation links!): judeinthestars.com

[Safehaven · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So so Relatable! Healing for the queer teenager in me.

[Anne Belford · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful story! Loved it and highly recommend it for anyone who believes in love, growth, hope, grace, and love! Did I mention love?

[Aliyah Faith Cornejo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's good. All these reviews look like robots wrote them LOL

[butterflyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is mucho real and touches on so many seemingly small interactions of 2 young girls and how they end up being huge interactions.
I love the development of the characters and rawness of emotion. I would read or listen to this book over again, I love it.

[Nia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

TW: Racism, Suicidal Ideations, Homophobia.

This book was so cute omg. It has such an arch and I love seeing the growth in Yami, Ceasar and their mom.

[loreilen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this! ?
Beaware of the trigger warnings: a lot of homophobia, sexism, racism, religious bigotry

[whatdoreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Such a cute and great story! Really enjoyed listening to this

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

teen fiction - queer romance, mental health. TW: suicidal thoughts, racism, homophobia, police interactions as a Brown person (note: there are some serious issues in here and also some serious language).11th grader (indigenous/Mexican-American) Yamilet and her younger brother Cesar are the new kids at Slayton Catholic School in Scottsdale, Arizona, after Cesar has gotten into too many fights at their previous school. She'll have to spend all her spare time working to pay for it plus there's the fact that her mom is constantly saying homophobic things, but at least she has a new friend Bo (who is cute and queer and an Asian American girl adopted by white parents) to distract her from her ex-BFF Bianca.I loved spending time with these complex characters as they tried to figure a way out of the messes they created, and learned to stick up for themselves and each other. This was a book I didn't want to put down, and which is developing a long waitlist at my library. More, please!

[bibliovermis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful story about a sister and a brother struggling through upheavals and revelations and finding strength in each other. While featuring a romance for the main character (and some nice secondary character romances, as well), the central relationship of this novel is the one between the Flores siblings, and their love for each other is so powerful. Though they're at the brink of disaster in many ways, these kids are tenacious in the face of levels of adversity that no children should have to deal with—but lots of LGBTQIA children, in fact, do.