This year brought us several new books, fiction and non-fiction, featuring lesbian- and gay-headed familes. While we might hope for greater quantity (and greater diversity across the LGBT spectrum), the quality was at least very good. Here are some of the best.
(I broke this story a few weeks ago in my Mombian newspaper column, reprinted below. It’s about a lesbian teen making a difference—and underscores for me how much things have changed since I was a teen. Despite the horror stories we still hear about bullying, suicide, and other ills, there are more gay-straight alliance clubs,
My eight-year-old son and I stumbled upon a book the other day that he’s been unable to put down: The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis. If you roll your eyes at the school-despising, slacker mentality of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (however funny they may be), or if your kids love graphic novels, kid heroes, and/or science, you (and they) will love this.
It’s Banned Books Week, the the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual celebration of the freedom to read. I can think of no better way to celebrate than to point out a new interview by NPR’s Terry Gross of children’s literature icon Maurice Sendak, about his new book, Bumble-Ardy. Sendak’s book In the Night Kitchen made the ALA’s
Authors Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith wrote in a post at Publishers Weekly this week that a literary agent told them to make a gay character in their young adult novel straight if they wanted the agent to represent them. It’s unfortunately not an isolated occurence. If you’re wondering why, author Patricia Nell Warren
I often write about banned books here, and love the annual Banned Books Week in September. This year, the American Library Association is encouraging anyone celebrating the freedom to read to take part in a Virtual Read-Out on YouTube. School Library Journal has the details: The criteria are simple: create a video that’s less than two minutes
Jewish LGBT organization Keshet has announced the winner of its first Jewish Children’s Book Writing Contest (mentioned here in February): The Purim Superhero, by Elisabeth Kushner, a public librarian in Vancouver, Canada—and a lesbian mom herself. Kushner told Keshet: When I heard about the Keshet contest, it seemed like a perfect fit: in the Purim story,
More than 20 years after she wrote Heather Has Two Mommies, the first picture book for and about children with two happily coupled lesbian parents, Lesléa Newman is still turning out must-reads for lesbian families. Her latest work, Donovan’s Big Day, is a delightful story about a boy preparing for the wedding of his two
Congratulations to Mandy, winner of the final Monday is One Day giveaway last week. Here’s a video of author Arthur Levine talking about the book, his own very personal inspiration for it, and Julian Hector’s fitting illustrations. Levine is openly gay, and includes a pair of gay dads in the book, but the book’s message
Congratulations to Kate, winner of yesterday’s Monday is One Day giveaway! Here’s the last of three giveaways this week. First, let me say thank you to all of you who commented on the previous giveaway posts. I encourage all of you to go read what others have written about balancing work and parenthood and their favorite kids’
