For young readers looking to move beyond picture books, but not quite ready for middle-grade titles, these four series offer text geared to their growing skills, engaging stories—and nonbinary protagonists!
Click links or images for full reviews of each volume!
Note, too, that this post is focused on fiction series—check out everything tagged “Early readers/chapter books” in my Database of LGBTQ Family Books to see solo titles and nonfiction as well!
Let’s start with the one for the earliest readers, the Whale, Quail, Snail series by Erica Perl, illustrated by Sam Ailey (Simon Spotlight). These are “Level 2” early readers, with slightly longer sentences but no chapters. This series contains (to the best of my knowledge) the first nonbinary character in an early reader.
The two-volume (so far) series explores the seaside adventures of the three titular friends, Whale (she/her), Quail (she/her) and Snail (they/them). Perl brings her signature humor and whimsy to the tales, placing them a step above the tedious, boring early readers of many of our childhoods—and Snail’s gender identity is happily just part of who they are, without any special emphasis.
Next in complexity (but still fairly simple) is the three-volume (so far) Mermaid Days series by Kyle Lukoff, illustrated by Kat Uno (Scholastic). Readers should need no introduction to Lukoff, the Newbery honoree and two-time Stonewall Award-winning author (When Aidan Became a Brother; Too Bright to See, and many more), who here gives us tales of mermaid Vera and octo-kid Beaker in the undersea world of Tidal Grove. These adventures are full of humor, tidbits of undersea facts (provided by Vera and Beaker’s frog-legged teacher, Mr. Burbles), and light messages about friendship across difference, being helpful, and more. Beaker uses they/them pronouns, although this is only mentioned in passing (and isn’t even noted in every volume—but why not get them all so you’ll have the full stories of these friends?)
With lengthier chapters comes the eight-book (so far) Riley Reynolds series by Jay Albee (Stone Arch), about a fourth-grader who loves crafts, animals, family, friends, and being nonbinary. There’s little suspense or dramatic tension in these books, just cheerful, slice-of-life scenes from Riley’s everyday (and sometimes special-occasion) interactions with friends, family, and community. A few clunky patches in the narration don’t dim the gentle lessons about helping, cooperation, and more.
Importantly, too, unlike many queer characters in children’s fiction, Riley isn’t a loner trying to make friends or break into a popular crowd—they’re in the center of the social action, a catalyst for helping others feel welcome and have fun. There’s enormous value in that and in seeing a nonbinary child unconditionally accepted by family and friends. Four volumes are out now; four more drop on August 1, 2023, but can be preordered.
The Batcat graphic novel series by Meggie Ramm (Amulet) has only one volume so far, but more are promised starring the adorable pink Batcat. There’s a clear message in this first book about learning to love oneself as a blend of two things, but it’s made enjoyable by the whimsical, slightly spooky world and Batcat’s own endearing cuteness.
Looking for early readers/chapter book series with other types of LGBTQ representation? I particularly like:
- The Max and Friends series by Kyle Lukoff, illustrated by Luciano Lozano (Reycraft) which straddles the line between picture book and early chapter book. It stars a trans boy—and one of his friends is a cisgender, gender creative boy.
- The Monster and Me series by Cort Lane, illustrated by Ankitha Kini (Little Bee), which includes a transgender girl character in the fourth volume. (She was actually introduced in the third volume, but we don’t learn that she’s trans until the fourth.)
- The Mermicorn Island series by Jason June, illustrated by Lisa Manuzak Wiley (Scholastic), about a gender creative mermicorn (half mermaid, half unicorn) who lives in an undersea world full of magic. One friend has two dads.
- The Wednesday Wilson series, by Bree Galbraith, illustrated by Morgan Goble (Kids Can Press), about a budding entrepreneur who has two moms (and who dresses gender creatively in a button-down shirt and tie).
- The Jordan and Max series by Suzanne Sutherland, illustrated by Michelle Simpson (Orca), about two boys, one of whom loves dressing up, sometimes in his grandmother’s wigs and dresses, the other who is a self-declared “triple threat” as an actor, singer, and dancer. They’re coded as queer, although not labeled as such; it feels like that’s a factor of the protagonists’ simply not labeling themselves yet, rather than an attempt to be coy—one minor character is a queer dad.
