A new picture book has the perfect age-appropriate approach for introducing younger readers to LGBTQ+ leaders.
Sarah Prager may be best known for her excellent LGBTQ collective biographies for middle graders and young adults, but in Kind Like Marsha: Learning from LGBTQ+ Leaders (Running Press), she successfully turns her talents to the picture book set. Instead of stressing the biographical details of the subjects’ lives, Prager here offers a simple, single sentence about who each person was/is and encourages young people to emulate the positive qualities they embody. “You can be kind like Marsha,” she writes. “Marsha P. Johnson was an activist who took care of everyone in her community in New York City.” She then gives a short quote from each person: for Johnson, it is her dictum to “Pay it no mind.”
Readers could also be “unifying” like Harvey Milk; “expressive” like Sappho; “outspoken” like gun-control advocate X González; “brave” like Ugandan LGBTQ activist Frank Mugisha, and more. The subjects span the globe and range from historical to contemporary. Some made their marks in LGBTQ advocacy, while others had impact in the arts, sciences, and others areas. More than half are people of color. Cheryl Thuesday’s vibrant, dynamic illustrations bring them all to life.
Biographies for young children sometimes struggle to balance accuracy with age-appropriate simplicity. They can get bogged down in details that may seem tedious or irrelevant to youngsters. Prager skillfully avoids that problem by focusing on the key reason for introducing these important figures to children: the lessons they offer on how to be ourselves and make a difference in the world. Highly recommended.
See my database for other picture books about LGBTQ history and LGBTQ biographies.