Whether you’re heading out to see the solar eclipse tomorrow or staying away from the fuss, check out these stellar LGBTQ-inclusive picture, chapter, and middle grade books that feature astronomy and space travel! (I was an astronomy major, so this was an especially fun list for me to pull together.)
This week brings us great new LGBTQ-inclusive reads including picture books, a chapter book, and middle grade titles!
This Sunday marks Transgender Day of Visibility, so let’s showcase some middle grade and picture book titles from 2023 and 2024 with transgender protagonists, great to read all year ’round!
Last year saw a record 4,240 book titles challenged in schools and libraries, according to the American Library Association. This year looks set to be similarly bad, with censorship triggering firings and protest at an Alabama library—and a Virginia school reading program halted after complaints about a book that includes a nonbinary tree.
This week’s new book highlights are two titles that focus on connection and empathy, celebrating the love between parents and children and promoting friendships and kindness across differences. LGBTQ characters are among a range of identities portrayed.
Starting or growing your family? Here are five absolutely terrific new and upcoming LGBTQ-inclusive picture books to consider: one that celebrates all the people involved in family creation; another that welcomes a new baby without gender labels; and three about children of queer parents getting new siblings.
Even as children’s books with LGBTQ representation continue to be banned, more and more continue to be published. I’m thrilled to announce that the Mombian Database of LGBTQ Family Books now has more than 1500 items in it, with nearly 300 added in the past year. Search and filter for what you want, and read my in-depth reviews!
South Carolina’s Greenville County library board voted unanimously this week to move all children’s books with trans characters or others that show gender “in ways inconsistent with the minor’s biological sex” out of the children’s section—but they adopted an amendment so books with “tomboy” characters could stay. As a “tomboy” myself, I find this appalling rather than comforting.
It’s a very good day that sees new picture books by the multi-award-winning Kyle Lukoff and by Lindz Amer, creator of the award-winning Queer Kid Stuff edutainment video series. Each book may make you think more deeply about gender—but in very different ways.
In honor of Black History Month—but best read all year round—here are some of my favorite recent children’s biographies of Black LGBTQ people from U.S. history, including two brand-new titles!
