Hot on the heels of Banned Books Week comes the news that the American Library Association is seeking to create a list of recommended LGBTQ-themed children’s books. From Worth the Trip:
The ALA’s Social Responsibilities Round Table and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgendered Round Table are combining forces to create a Rainbow List of recommended books dealing [with] LGBTQ themes for children from birth through age 18.
The first list will include books published from 2005-2007, and the committee is accepting nominations through Oct 31. You can find out more about this project, including information on how to submit nominations, here.
As one might expect from librarians, they expect an obsessive amount of bibliographic information to accompany the nominations, but it’s nothing that can’t be copied and pasted from your favorite online bookstore.
Basically, yahoo!
And thank you for letting your readers know about Worth The Trip some time back. It is a hugely valuable, relevant resource for us all. Per usual, you’re a national treasure, Dana.
Yes, great idea.
I hope as recommendations are made that books containing inappropriate descriptions of sexual activity for children are not recommended since the ALA seeks out and highly promotes such books claiming it is up to the parents to weed them out while at the same time misleading parents as to the contents.
As the US Supreme Court said in US v. ALA in 2003, “The interest in protecting young library users from material inappropriate for minors is legitimate, and even compelling, as all Members of the Court appear to agree.”
I can’t speak for the ALA, although I can’t imagine they “highly promote” such books above and beyond any other books on their recommendation and award lists.
I know that when I think of books with LGBT themes for young children, “sexual activity” isn’t in any of them. For teens, relationships, including emerging sexuality, may indeed be in the content. The question then becomes what one considers “appropriate” or “inappropriate” descriptions of such activity.