Latest Kazoo Magazine Features Story About Girl with Two Moms

The latest issue of Kazoo Magazine, an award-winning publication for girls, includes a sweet story by a lesbian author about a girl who rescues a bird—and happens to have two moms.

“At the Lake,” by Kristen Arnett, begins with young Stella bemoaning her family’s too-frequent trips to a Florida lake. She likes the lake well enough, but explains, “It’s just we go there. All. The. Time. Like almost every other weekend, all year long.” When she finds an injured egret, however, she and her moms work together to rescue it and return it to its family. Arnett captures both a child’s exasperation with too much family time and the exuberance of childhood discoveries. Best known for her darkly funny New York Times bestseller for adults, Mostly Dead Things, Arnett here shows that she has range. Her children’s story is as joyous and uplifting as one could want. I can smell the trees and hear the slap of waves against the dock. Maria Tuti’s illustrations are wonderful, too—the final one (which I’m not spoiling here) is a full page showing Stella waving goodbye to the egret flock as it flies overhead into the sunset. Buy an extra copy of the magazine just so you can tear it out of one and hang it on your wall.

Kazoo bills itself as “A new kind of print magazine for girls” (but welcomes readers of all genders), with empowering, inspiring, and fun activities, stories, puzzles, interviews, and more. (And it’s ad free!) “At the Lake” isn’t the first piece of queer-inclusive content they’ve had—see, for example, my interview with founder Erin Bried (herself a lesbian mom) and this piece showing a queer-inclusive search-and-find puzzle from a previous issue. Kazoo won the National Magazine Award earlier this year, the first children’s magazine to do so, and it was well deserved for many reasons.

I’ve long felt we need more books that show children with LGBTQ parents (and LGBTQ children) that aren’t “about” them being LGBTQ (although there’s still a definite place for the latter). While the publication of children’s books can take years, children’s magazines like Kazoo (and similarly LGBTQ-inclusive ones from Cricket Media) offer a way to get these stories into people’s hands (and hearts) in a somewhat shorter timeframe. Additionally, including LGBTQ-inclusive content among non-LGBTQ content makes it more likely that non-LGBTQ families will encounter it and read it. That’s a way to build bridges. I’d love to see more recognition from the LGBTQ community for these efforts. Hello, GLAAD?

The latest issue of Kazoo is available in Barnes & Noble and independent bookstores nationwide and to new subscribers. (If it’s not available in your local bookstore, ask them to stock it!)