OK, it’s not quite spring—but the new crop of LGBTQ-inclusive middle grade books that are coming out in the next few weeks are putting me in a spring-like mood. There’s humor, mystery, poignancy, adventure, romance, and a surfeit of surfing—plus a hint at what could be yet another queer-inclusive animated feature film!
You may already have seen RuPaul’s skit on last week’s Saturday Night Live, in which he critiques children’s books like the drag queens critique each other on RuPaul’s Drag Race—but did you catch all of the real, contemporary LGBTQ-inclusive young adult books on the shelves of the set?
Clever wordplay, adorable animals, gay farmers, and adoption: this new picture book, the sequel to an award-winning predecessor, has it all.
Looking for a list of librarian-approved LGBTQ-inclusive children’s and young adult books to recommend to your local school or library? Want some great books to add to your personal collection? The just-announced 2020 Rainbow Book List from the American Library Association has what you need!
A new book from Kazoo Media has brought together 25 of today’s best women and nonbinary comic artists to offer engaging graphic biographies of “25 women who raised their voices and changed the world.” And when the promotional blurbs on the covers are from Jacqueline Woodson and Alison Bechdel, you know it’s going to be good.
Cornelius J. Sparklesteed is known and loved throughout the town of Hoofington for his incredible handmade hats. Hoofington is a friendly place … unless you’re a unicorn. And Cornelius is hiding a secret, in a new book that isn’t explicitly queer-inclusive—but that offers an obvious analogy.
A beautiful new book by a two-mom couple stars a girl named May encountering new friends and challenges on her first day of school. She tries not to cry—but ultimately learns from her two moms that people—even adults—cry for different reasons, and that’s okay.
The American Library Association (ALA) today announced its 2020 Stonewall Book Awards for LGBTQ-inclusive children’s and young adult books, part of the Youth Media Awards that also include the prestigious Newbery and Caldecott Medals. Several other Youth Media Awards also went to LGBTQ-inclusive titles.
The Show Me State could become the “Don’t Show Me” state, as a proposed Missouri bill would fine or even jail librarians who lend books to children that a local five-person “parental library review board” thinks are inappropriate. And yes, books that discuss or represent “sexuality” are among the categories that may be deemed inappropriate.
Megan Rapinoe and three of her 2019 U.S. Women’s National Soccer teammates are the subjects of an inspirational new middle-grade book that follows them from their starts in the sport through their rise to global fame—and which also discusses Rapinoe’s coming out and its positive impact on her life.
