Looking for LGBTQ-inclusive Christmas books to read with your children? There aren’t many, but they do exist. Check them out (and learn why we still need more)!
- The Christmas Truck, by J. B. Blankenship and illustrated by Cassandre Bolan, shows a child (whose gender is never specified and whose wavy hair could be seen as any gender), prepare for Christmas with their papa and dad, and help find and deliver a gift to the child of a family that is not able to afford gifts. The bouncy rhymes, bright illustrations, and depiction of extended family are lovely, as is the message about giving.
- Santa’s Husband, by Daniel Kibblesmith, reimagines the jolly old elf as Black and married to his husband, who helps him prepare reindeer, elves, and more for Christmas.
- The Celebrations collection from Flamingo Rampant includes Rachel’s Christmas Boat, by Sophie Labelle, in which a child whose parent has just come out as transgender cleverly solves the problem of changing the name on the parent’s Christmas gift.
- Over the River & Through the Wood: A Holiday Adventure, by Linda Ashman and illustrated by Kim Smith, takes the concept of the classic song and gives it a new spin, showing us how various couples and their kids within an extended family creatively overcome obstacles on their way to meet at Grandma’s for the (unspecified) holidays. The bouncy rhymes are inspired by but not identical to the original poem (which was intended for Thanksgiving, though some versions include a line about Christmas). The family includes a White couple with three White kids; an interracial gay couple with one light- and one dark-skinned child; an interracial different-sex couple with a biracial (or possibly multiracial) boy; and a White couple with twin girls who look who look like they might be of Asian descent. It’s a fun romp showing the diversity that may be found even within one family.
- For middle-grade readers, there’s The Lotterys More or Less, by Emma Donoghue, which continues her series about two same-sex couples (one male, one female) jointly raising their seven children. Their nine-year-old middle child, Sumac, feels responsible for organizing their winter celebrations, across a variety of traditions, but an ice storm brings complications for the diverse family and community in this fun holiday-themed romp. (Full review.)
You’ll see quite a lot of gaps here. There are no Christmas picture books that I know of that show a two-mom family, for example (though we do have this video with a two-mom version of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”).
And you’ll note I never wrote a post on LGBTQ-inclusive books for Hanukkah—because the offerings there are even slimmer, consisting solely of The Wonderful Adventures of Benjamin and Solomon, by Elena Yakubsfeld, about two Jewish students and study partners in medieval Europe, who shelter from a blizzard by calling on their teacher’s friend, and end up having a series of adventures involving dragons, a lost prayer, and some younger children. The two hope to reach their destination by Hanukkah, but the book isn’t about the holiday per se. The illustrations by Wie Guan are lovely, but this is too wordy for young children (the publisher said in a press release that it’s aimed at young adults) and too narratively clunky to be recommended, even if it is well intended. Additionally, the same publisher (My Family Products) offers My Family! A Multi-Cultural Holiday Coloring Book for Children of Gay and Lesbian Parents, by Cheril N. Clarke and Monica Bey-Clarke, which includes images of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. [Update: Light the Menorah: A Hanukkah Handbook, written by Jacqueline Jules and illustrated by Kristina Swarner (Kar-Ben, 2018), is a just-out Hanukkah book that seems to depict two-mom and two-dad families among the ones portrayed.]
Beyond that, Over the River is as close as we get to an LGBTQ-inclusive picture book showing families that don’t celebrate Christmas, but it does so by not showing any specific holiday. That makes it flexible, certainly, and it’s a fun tale, regardless—but LGBTQ-headed families who observe Hanukkah or Kwanzaa still don’t have a picture book (other than the coloring book above) that depicts them celebrating their traditions. (The Lotterys More or Less, for middle grade readers, also includes a Jewish family celebrating Hanukkah.)
Personally, I’d love to see a story about an interfaith, multi-racial, two-mom family, and the joyful chaos of celebrating Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s (perhaps with more queer family and friends). Who’s up for that challenge?
What other queer holiday kids’ books would you like to see?
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