Laughter is often the best form of representation, resilience, and resistance, as these picture books prove. They’re great for read-alouds or any time you and the children in your life want a little fun!
In most of these books, the characters’ LGBTQ identities are incidental to the stories (though they nevertheless provide important representation), but a few volumes gently weave in messages about celebrating difference, and two (You Need to Chill! and Who’s Your Real Mom?) show a child cleverly and confidently responding to questions about queer members of their family.
And no, these aren’t the only funny, LGBTQ-inclusive books out there—just some of my favorites that really lean into their absurd hilarity. Visit the full Database of LGBTQ Family Books to find even more books with humor and heart.
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A hysterically funny tale of a child and one dad trying to lure the child’s other dad out of bed in the morning.Chickens are inherently funny. Take 456 of them, plus their owner and his partner/husband who are trying to wrangle the pesky birds, and you have sure-fire hilarity.A two-dad family is getting ready for Grandma’s arrival, but their cat keeps scrambling the words of the magnetic chore list on the fridge, with chaotic results.A fun escapade about a bug-loving girl, her two moms, and a mishap at a family reunion.Princess Pru’s life is practically perfect, with “two loving dads, an ostrich named Orville, and three royal tarantulas.” The only thing marring this picture is the hulking, fearsome ogre who just moved in nearby….Princess Pru and her new best friend Oggy the Ogre switch places, thinking life is better for the other. But of course, things don’t go as planned….A girl and her sibling are excited about going to the park—but their two moms have stopped to talk … and talk … with the neighbors. The girl hatches an imaginative plan to deal with her boredom.The aunts are here, ready to enthusiastically overwhelm with their hugs and gifts and exuberant presence. One reads as trans or nonbinary.Seuss-like rhymes and a dash of Roald Dahl’s Matilda shine in this tale of an energetic (and nonbinary) child whose antics go a little too far, but who comes to a happy resolution with friends in the end.Billy is a little embarrassed by his two mums, who love sea shanties and have a pet parrot. When they’re asked to chaperone a school field trip, however, their sea savvy might just save the day!When a “flamboyance” of flamingos moves into the neighborhood, the other groups of birds worry about the impact of the colorful new neighbors. In the end, they learn to celebrate difference, while the witty wordplay and adorable illustrations balance the serious message.Larry is a proper, rule-following llama. Larry has a secret, though: he loves to dance! He finally finds the courage to express himself as the other animals reveal what makes them different, too. An important message couched in fun and humor.A girl wittily explains to her peers that the sibling they knew as her brother is really her sister, a trans girl.When a friend asks Elvi the titular question, she replies with an increasingly silly series of answers: Her real mom is a pirate in disguise! She can speak with gorillas! She’s clearly dealt with this annoying question before and knows just how to get the point across in the end.
