New and Old Pride Books for Kids
This Pride, share with your kids the history and meaning behind the month through two new books and several older ones.
There’s something for all ages!
Representing
A Pride Parade on Sesame Street?
Venerable children’s television show Sesame Street took a step towards LGBTQ inclusion last Friday in its social media feeds—but does this mean the show will actually include clearly LGBTQ characters?
Child-Raising Books for Queer and Straight Moms Alike
Dawn Dais knows her sh!t. Really. The author of three “The Sh!t No One Tells You” books on parenting, Dais offers advice with a dose of unfiltered humor and scary realism. She’s a lesbian mom herself, but her books are for and about moms of all sexual orientations.
Self-Publishing Creates New Books for and About LGBTQ Families and Youth
Self-published books have long been a part of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s literature. Heather Has Two Mommies, one of the first picture books to depict same-sex parents, was published by author Lesléa Newman and a friend before it was picked up by a small LGBTQ press. The Internet has made self-publishing even easier, and parents, teachers, LGBTQ youth, and others are taking advantage of this to create LGBTQ-inclusive books for which they see a need, even as mainstream publishers slowly start to do the same. Here are a few recent ones that I haven’t covered before.
Two New Middle-Grade Books Share the Fun of Large, Queer Families
Queer parents often wonder what their children will call them, but the Lotterys have it figured out. There’s MaxiMum (from Jamaica), CardaMom (of the Mohawk Nation), and their co-parents, PopCorn (from the Yukon) and PapaDum (after the tasty cracker of his native India, not because of a lack of intelligence). The two same-sex couples are co-parenting seven children and a menagerie of animals in Emma Donoghue’s funny and clever new middle-grade novel, The Lotterys Plus One.
Ellen and Early Queer Parents on TV
The groundbreaking coming-out episode of Ellen DeGeneres’ sitcom Ellen, saw its 20th anniversary recently. DeGeneres’ pioneering role as the first out actor and character to head a television series is worth celebrating in itself—but it’s also worth noting that her show gave us one of best representations up to that time of an LGBTQ parent and their child on TV. Let’s look at what she did and at some of the previous portrayals.
Ellen’s Coming-Out Arc Advanced Representation for Kids with Lesbian Moms, Too
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Ellen DeGeneres coming out in person and as her character on television. Let’s not forget, too, that her show also gave us one of earliest (though not the first) representations of an LGBTQ parent and their child on TV.
LGBTQ Characters Need More than a “Moment” in Children’s Media
Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast is a prime example of how not to please anyone when it comes to LGBTQ representation in children’s media. After enormous hoopla over the first gay character in a Disney film—who would have, director Bill Condon said, an “exclusively gay moment”—the moment was too brief and inconclusive for me as a queer person to celebrate. At the same time, the mere announcement of a gay character inflamed many conservatives.
5 Most Challenged Books Include LGBTQ Content
The top five books in the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) annual list of the most challenged books in the U.S. are there because of their LGBTQ content, among other reasons.
“The Fosters”: Groundbreaking Role Models for Queer Teens (and Moms, too)
When The Fosters premiered in 2013, I suspected it was going to give us one of the best treatments of a two-mom family we’ve seen on TV. What I didn’t predict was that, parenting aside, it would be groundbreaking in its representation of queer teens as well.