Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, a novel by Shyam Selvadurai, won the Lambda Literary Award last week in the Children’s/Young Adult Category. The book tells the story of fourteen-year-old Amrith, who lives with his godmother in Sri Lanka. A visit from a Canadian cousin causes him to explore both his sexuality and his feelings about his birth family. The author’s first book, Funny Boy, won the 1996 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men’s Fiction.
Other finalists were:
Antonio’s Card/La Tarjeta de Antonio, by Rigoberto Gonzalez, illustrated by Cecilia Concepcion Alvarez. Antonio is an elementary school boy with two moms who learns to express the love he feels for his family. In English and Spanish.
Totally Joe, by James Howe. Joe is a seventh grader dealing with coming out, his first crush, and harassment from other students. Some reviews on Amazon said the book was too optimistic and unrealistic—but perhaps there’s a place for a happy youth coming-out story.
And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, illustrated by Henry Cole. Two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo in New York build a nest and care for an egg together. Based on a true story.
I’ll offer a caution with this book, since I considered it for my three-year-old. I liked it overall, but thought it overemphasized the penguin pair’s difference from male-female mates. It did affirm that different is good, but for kids too young to know that their families are different, the book might cause more worries than not. For slightly older kids discovering their families’ difference, it could be just the thing. And the illustrations are absolutely charming.
Rainbow Road, by Alex Sanchez. The last in a trilogy about Jason Carrillo, a gay high-school basketball star who goes on a cross-country road trip with two other gay friends. (The first two books in the series are Rainbow Boys and Rainbow High.)
The Lambda Literary Foundation has not yet officially posted the winners, although they announced them last Thursday at the BookExpo America conference. Luckily, the blogosphere moves fast. Thanks to Susan Stinson for posting the list.