Tamora Pierce's Tortal books, specifically First Test, Page, Squire, and Lady Knight had two minor characters who were lesbian but nothing explicit. Her work is definitely YA, but she does talk about sex, mostly in the form of mother(or mother-figure) to daughter talks. I didn't catch that the characters were lesbian until she confirmed it on her website and said we really should have guessed. She confirmed it because people were asking, and she hadn't given us anything concrete.
Mercede's Lackey's works frequently contain gay main or secondary characters, but hers is for a bit older age group.
When SS/PS came out, it was appropriate for the youngest of children, but as the series progresses, it is becoming darker and darker, to the point where the child abuse JKR deals with in OotP would not be (in my opinion) appropriate for the second-graders my friend was reading SS/PS to a few years ago. It is feasible, however, that a child who begins reading SS/PS might be old enough to deal with OotP by the time they got through the previous books, depending on their attention span and reading speed. JKR has said the books will get darker, and that more people will die, and I fully expect the "rating" on her work to go up.
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Tamora Pierce's Tortal books, specifically First Test, Page, Squire, and Lady Knight had two minor characters who were lesbian but nothing explicit. Her work is definitely YA, but she does talk about sex, mostly in the form of mother(or mother-figure) to daughter talks. I didn't catch that the characters were lesbian until she confirmed it on her website and said we really should have guessed. She confirmed it because people were asking, and she hadn't given us anything concrete.
Mercede's Lackey's works frequently contain gay main or secondary characters, but hers is for a bit older age group.
When SS/PS came out, it was appropriate for the youngest of children, but as the series progresses, it is becoming darker and darker, to the point where the child abuse JKR deals with in OotP would not be (in my opinion) appropriate for the second-graders my friend was reading SS/PS to a few years ago. It is feasible, however, that a child who begins reading SS/PS might be old enough to deal with OotP by the time they got through the previous books, depending on their attention span and reading speed. JKR has said the books will get darker, and that more people will die, and I fully expect the "rating" on her work to go up.