New LGBTQ-Inclusive Books for the Very Youngest Children

(Originally published in my Mombian newspaper column.) Not only has the number of LGBTQ-inclusive picture books increased greatly over the past few years, but more and more are being published even for the very youngest children. Here are some new ones (board books and otherwise) aimed at babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Robin Stevenson’s Pride Colors board book (Orca Book Publishers) takes the original meanings of the colors in the Pride flag, as envisioned by creator Gilbert Baker, and turns them into a poem from parent to child. We’re treated to a celebration of self and relationships, coupled with images of babies and toddlers and sometimes their two moms or dads. “Yellow sunshine, smiles so bright./I’ll hug you, kiss you, hold you tight,” says one spread. There’s a mention of “Pride Day fun” at the end, but the book is less about LGBTQ history and more about the sentiments that extend far beyond a single day or month. Parents will enjoy reading Stevenson’s loving words as much as children will enjoy the uplifting statements, gentle rhythms, and bright photos.

Rainbow: A First Book of Pride, by Michael Genhard and illustrated by Anne Passchier (Magination Press), which comes out in May, uses essentially the same concept, but in a more literal way. “Rainbows!” it begins, with a page showing waving rainbow flags. “Every color means something.” It continues, “Red means life,” and shows a red-heavy image of two dads happily holding their newborn. “Orange is healing,” says the next spread, showing two parents, one of whom might be genderqueer, helping a child who has fallen off a bike. It continues through all the colors of the rainbow and ends with a spread showing all the families from the book waving rainbow flags and walking together, perhaps in a Pride parade. It’s a less warmly personal book than Stevenson’s, but makes a bright introduction to the colors of Pride and images of LGBTQ families.

Our Rainbow, by Little Bee Books (2019) and a variety of artists, is a board book published in partnership with LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD, and again takes a similar approach. It shows the meanings of the colors as exemplified through simple acts of kindness–but also includes brown and black, colors that many are now adding to the rainbow flag to honor racial diversity.

Love Makes a Family, by Sophie Beer (Dial Books), is a cheery board book in the vein of many other children’s books that showcase a range of family diversity. Beer’s stands out for the fun, dynamic, and gently humorous illustrations—she is an award-winning illustrator and it shows. “Love is …” begins each spread. “Waking up bright and early” finishes one, showing two dads yawning in bed as their children march in playing drums and maracas. “Watching from the front row” concludes another, as two moms enjoy their children putting on a backyard performance. Other pages show single and different-sex parents and their children in this joyful look at family life.

My Two Moms and Me and My Two Dads and Me, by Michael Joosten, with illustrations by Izak Zenou (Doubleday), are board books that depict the everyday lives of children with two moms or two dads. “When I open my eyes each morning, I see my smiling moms,” the mom version begins. While the first-person text reads as if it were a single child narrating the whole, however, the illustrations show a different family for each spread. This may be disorienting at first, though ultimately it’s good to see images of families of varied racial and ethnic identities.

The families in these books all wear very stylish clothes (not surprising, given Zenou’s background as a leading fashion illustrator) and seem well off—two of the moms have a pool, and two of the dads buy organic kale at the farmer’s market, which feels very trendy. This may resonate more for some families than others. (Remember that LGBT couples with children are almost twice as likely as non-LGBT peers to have incomes near the poverty line, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute.)

These books are also almost identical in concept to two other existing board book pairs about children with same-sex parents: Lesléa Newman’s Mommy, Mama, and Me and Daddy, Papa, and Me (Tricycle Press, 2009), and Stacey Bromberg and Joe Taravella’s Hugs of Three: My Mommies and Me and Hugs of Three: My Daddies and Me (Forward Footsteps, 2012). Each offers a slightly different mix of racial and ethnic diversity, though, so you may want to check them all out to see if one better fits your family, offers you windows into others, or whose art style you like better.

All three pairs nevertheless have an essentially similar narrative of daily family life. I hope that in the future, publishers push themselves to offer a greater variety of LGBTQ-inclusive storylines. Brian Bigg’s delightful 2017 board book I’m a Librarian (Abrams) shows one way of doing this. It focuses on the town librarian going about his job. Along the way, it shows him getting out of a bed in the morning where his husband is sleeping, then coming home to read in bed next to him at night, but it’s not “about” LGBTQ families or even families per se. (See my earlier interview with Biggs.)

Another original storyline for young children came recently in They, She, He easy as ABC, by Pura Belpré Honor Award winner Maya Gonzalez and Matthew Smith-Gonzalez. The book is a follow up to their 2017 They She He Me: Free to Be!, a joyous celebration of pronouns and identities. Maya Gonzalez’ dazzling illustrations also populate this new work as we meet an alphabet of friends who dance their way from A to Ze. “Ari loves to arabesque. They hold their pose with ease,” it begins. Each new letter introduces us to another child with a different dance and pronouns. Most are children of color, which feels needed and refreshing in a literary world that’s usually mostly White. It ends with an invitation to the reader to “Join the dance. There’s always room.”

There’s also always room for more LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books, but these are a great place to start. (For a few older titles aimed at the youngest tots, see my LGBTQ-Inclusive Board Books list.)

(I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program that provides a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)