Even as our community grapples with tragedy, I think it is important—perhaps more important than ever—to remind young people that there is also queer joy. The books here, some of the year’s best, cover a range of identities and themes and emphasize love, inspiration, and celebration.
Click titles for full reviews, purchase links, and more!
Board Books
The Pronoun Book, by Chris Ayala-Kronos, illustrated by Melita Tirado (Clarion). This bright board book highlights different pronouns and some of the diverse people who use each one. Simple but joyous.
Bye Bye, Binary, by Eric Geron, illustrated by Charlene Chua (HarperFestival). “It’s a … baby!” And the baby in this cheerful book is “ready to smash gender norms,” with a message for both parents and children.
Biographies
A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington, by Carole Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders, illustrated by Byron McCray (Henry Holt). A thoughtful biography of a Black, gay hero of the Civil Rights Movement.
If You’re a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist, by Gavin Grimm and Kyle Lukoff, illustrated by J Yang (Katherine Tegen Books). The tale of transgender teen Grimm’s choices and resilience before and during his successful federal court fight for the right to use the boy’s bathroom at school.
The Mother of a Movement: Jeanne Manford–Ally, Activist, and Co-Founder of PFLAG, by Rob Sanders, illustrated by Sam Kalda (Magination). A moving biography and a sterling example of active allyship.
Strong, by Rob Kearney and Eric Rosswood, illustrated by Nidhi Chanani (Little Brown). A cheerful, inspiring biography of Kearney, the world’s first openly gay professional strongman.
Kind Like Marsha, by Sarah Prager, illustrated by Cheryl Thuesday (Running Press). An introduction to LGBTQ icons that encourages readers to emulate the positive qualities they embody.
Families
Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle, by Nina LaCour, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (Candlewick). A sweet and lovely picture book in which a young girl shares her feelings when Mommy is away on a work trip and she and Mama wait for her return.
My Moms Love Me, by Anna Membrino, illustrated by Joy Hwang Ruiz (Orchard Books). A lovely rhyming poem from baby to Mommy and Mama, about their daily life from morning to night.
All Moms, by Sarah Kate Ellis and Kristen Ellis-Henderson, illustrated by Max Rambaldi (Little Bee). An ode to the many different types of moms and the many different things they do.
Some Daddies, Carol Gordon Ekster, Javiera Maclean Alvarez (Beaming Books). All daddies are different, but all are special, affirms this book about many different types of dads.
Relationships
Love, Violet, by Charlotte Sullivan Wild, illustrated by Charlotte Chua (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). The sweet and affirming tale of a young girl’s same-sex crush.
Cinderelliot: A Scrumptious Fairytale, by Mark Ceilley and Rachel Smoka-Richardson, illustrated by Stephanie Laberis (Running Press). A tasty riff on the classic story, about a young baker, his fairy godfather, and a prince looking for love.
Community
All Are Neighbors, by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman (Knopf). From the author/illustrator pair behind the joyous All Are Welcome comes another book celebrating the diversity of our world, with queer representation aplenty.
Gender Identity and Expression
True You: A Gender Journey, by Gwen Agna and Shelley Rotner (Clarion). A celebratory book filled with photos and testimonials of real children across a variety of gender identities and expressions.
My Fade Is Fresh, by Shauntay Grant, illustrated by Kitt Thomas (Penguin). A joyous, rhyming ode to Black hair and self-expression, with a gender creative girl protagonist.
My Paati’s Saris, by Jyoti Rajan Gopal, illustrated by Art Twink (Kokila). A poetic story about a Tamil boy who loves dressing up in his grandmother’s saris. The illustrations are a swirling, colorful delight. otable for showcasing a gender creative boy without anyone questioning or teasing him.
Kapaemahu, by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, and Joe Wilson, illustrated by Daniel Sousa (Kokila). An indigenous legend about four individuals of dual male and female spirit who brought healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii.
If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It, by Lil Miss Hot Mess, illustrated by Olga de Dios Ruiz (Running Press). The creators of “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish” reunite for another fun riff on a classic children’s song.
Miss Rita, Mystery Reader, by Sam Donovan and Kristen Wixted, illustrated by Violet Tobacco (Farrar Straus & Giroux). Tori, a nonbinary child, helps their dad transform into his drag persona in preparation for reading to Tori’s class.
STEM Learning
Something Great, by Jeanette Bradley (Levine Querido). Quinn has created Something Great in their workshop. It might look like a plastic milk bottle on a string, but Quinn and a new friend find that it can swing, spin, lift, and more. When asked what it is “supposed” to be, nonbinary Quinn rejects labels, asserting, “It was just . . . itself. Something Great.”
The Blanket Where Violet Sits, by Allan Wolf, illustrated by Lauren Tobia (Candlewick). A girl is having a star-gazing picnic with her parents, one who reads as male and the other of ambiguous gender. In gentle rhymes, our perspective zooms out from where they sit to encompass the whole universe and back again, where the parents gently tuck Violet under her blanket.
Which brings us to:
Bedtime
Good Dream Dragon, by Jacky Davis, illustrated by Courtney Dawson (Little, Brown). A whimsical and enchanting bedtime story with a transgender, nonbinary protagonist who has two moms.
The Best Bed for Me, by Gaia Cornwall (Candlewick). Mommy and Mama want their child, Sweet Pea (who is never gendered), to go to bed. Sweet Pea, however, knows how to stall—first wanting to sleep in a tree like a koala, then upside down like a bat, then….
And More
It gets harder and harder to choose which of the increasingly good and plentiful LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ books from the past year to highlight in this annual guide. Please visit my Database of LGBTQ Family Books and More for other titles I didn’t have space for here, including:
- Middle grade titles and early chapter books that as a whole were excellent this year;
- New memoirs, parenting guides, and other books for grown-ups that also shone;
- Some great new picture books about Pride that I rounded up in the spring (and while it’s not Pride “season” now, you may still enjoy them year ’round);
- Books from previous years that still make great gifts!
Originally published with slight variation as my Mombian newspaper column.