Lesléa Newman may be best known to readers here as the author of Heather Has Two Mommies and other children’s books. She is also, however, an award-winning poet, and her latest volume of poetry for adults is a wise and loving look at her father in the last years of his life.
There have been very few picture books featuring queer elders and grandparents, but several new ones are adding to the list!
More and more publishers, large and small, are offering kids’ books these days with LGBTQ characters and families. Sometimes, however, despite the best intentions, the content doesn’t come out quite as inclusive as intended. Such is the case for a new alphabet book.
LGBTQ-inclusive story books are wonderful—but sometimes one wants something a little more interactive. Let’s therefore look today at two queer-inclusive books that aren’t just stories, but offer young readers discussion questions, games, coloring, and more fun activities.
One new middle grade book aims to help young people learn about the contributions and accomplishments of LGBTQ people across many fields of endeavor, while another includes queer people among innovators of all identities who have made their marks on the world.
Some picture-book biographies of gay and lesbian people mention their queerness in passing and move on. But a new picture-book biography of Megan Rapinoe shows the evolution of her realization that she is gay while she also rises to soccer superstardom.
On a certain level, I’d argue that most LGBTQ-inclusive picture books have a theme of love—but here are a few that particularly showcase that emotion in some of its many forms, from romantic love to family love to deep and abiding friendships. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Nick Jr. children’s show Blue’s Clues & You! has released a new alphabet video for kids celebrating “how each letter of the alphabet is special!” We see that “P Is Full of Pride” with an array of varied Pride flags, including the trangender, nonbinary, bisexual, pansexual, intersex, genderfluid, asexual, lesbian, and rainbow flags. Watch it here.
The American Library Association has just announced its 2021 Rainbow Book List—with a record-setting number of 129 librarian-approved LGBTQ-inclusive children’s and young adult books! There are so many, in fact, that for the first time, there are two Top 10 sub-lists of books with “exceptional merit,” one for younger children and one for older youth readers. Learn more and see some charts that illustrate just how the genre has grown.
Three new books variously offer insight, inspiration, and social science rigor as they chart the contours of queer parents’ lives.
