2024 is starting off right, with some great LGBTQ-inclusive picture books and middle-grade titles. Here are a few of my early favorites.
Click images or titles for full reviews, and check out my entire Database of LGBTQ Family Books for even more.
Picture Books
All Our Love, by Kari-Lynn Winters, illustrated by Scot Ritchie (North Winds Press). A girl with two dads writes a letter to her soon-to-be new brother in this sweet book that helps fill a gap in representation of human LGBTQ families welcoming a new child after having (at least) one already.
Still My Tessa, by Sylv Chiang, illustrated by Mathias Ball (North Winds Press). A girl learns to support her nonbinary sibling both at home and in public in this book about siblinghood and allyship. See my full review, however, for a caution about applying this book’s model to situations where a nonbinary person may feel differently than the protagonist here.
Middle Grade
The Curse of Eelgrass Bog, by Mary Averling (Razorbill). This eerie, wonderfully original tale of magical realism is a perfect balance of adventure and introspection, with a queer protagonist (and other queer representation) in an offbeat, somewhat creepy, but nevertheless compelling world, populated with sympathetically flawed characters. Themes of loneliness, friendship, and family are woven gently through, like cobwebs in the story’s Unnatural History Museum—and like cobwebs, may cling long after you leave (but with far less ickiness). Highly recommended.
Lulu Sinagtala and the City of Noble Warriors, by Gail D. Villanueva (HarperCollins). The exciting start to a new fantasy series, with a bisexual protagonist and a story influenced by Tagalog mythology. Themes of family (adoptive, biological, and chosen), community, belonging, and the impact of colonialism are woven organically into the tale, giving it heart without preachiness.