First, Lawrence King, then Simmie Williams, Jr., gender-nonconforming teens shot to death in the last three weeks. Both shootings appear to be hate crimes. Yet Lawrence King was not the first, as the long list of names honored during the Transgender Day of Remembrance and in the Wikipedia entry for Violence Against LGBT People makes […]
Helen and I start our vlog this week by explaining the difference between parenthood and lesbian Turkish oil wrestling. Our main topic, however, is storytelling. We discuss the surreal and whimsical works of Caldecott-winning author David Wiesner, which force parents to become storytellers, and recommend a book featuring a boy with two moms that celebrates
Yet another school district has made a fuss over And Tango Makes Three, the book about the chick hatched by two male penguins, and the American Library Association’s Most Challenged Book of 2006. The school superintendent of Loudoun County, Virginia, has instructed county elementary schools to take the book out of general circulation and move
A few weeks ago, I wrote of the American Library Association’s new Rainbow List of LGBT-themed children’s books. School Library Journal this week has an interview with retired school librarian Nel Ward, the Rainbow Project’s chair. She talks about the process of choosing books for the list, how LGBT books have changed over the past
February is getting busy. In addition to being Black History Month and primary season, it is also National Diversity Book Month, as declared by the Family Equality Council. They have a page full of resources on LGBT-inclusive children’s books, including an extensive book list. The list isn’t perfect; it only lists three books from Todd
This week in our video blog, Helen and I rant about “Evil Lesbian Moms,” bemoan the Cashmere Mafia’s tired storyline about sperm-seekin’ lesbians, and tell you why in fact a show about two straight, philandering, male plastic surgeons—Nip/Tuck—has some of the most intriguing portrayals of lesbian parents on television. On a brighter note, we recommend
The GLBT Round Table of the American Library Association has published its first “Rainbow List” of the year’s best LGBT-themed children’s and young adult books. (Since this is the list’s inaugural year, it in fact includes books of the past three years.) Thanks to K. T. Horning of Worth the Trip for making the list
My son’s preschool class has been talking about the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. “Martin Luther King was a peacemaker,” my son informed me last week. “And a bad man shotted him.” All things considered, I’m glad he doesn’t say the word “shot” enough to know its proper grammatical usage. I agreed with his assessment
The Lambda Literary Foundation has announced nominees for the 20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. I’ve reviewed a few of them on Mombian; here they are again, with links to the reviews: The Brides of March, Beren de Motier (iUniverse): A funny, touching memoir of the brief period of legal same-sex marriage in Multnomah County, Oregon.
(Originally published in Bay Windows, November 29, 2007.) Looking to find children’s gifts inclusive of LGBT families? Try some of these books and videos from 2007: For Young Children We Belong Together: A Book About Adoption and Families, by Todd Parr (Little, Brown Young Readers: 2007), showcases families of many configurations. Paired phrases like “We
