What happens when a boy with two moms tries to get his community to be more welcoming to all kinds of families? Find out in a new story by British author, actor, and educator Olly Pike—read aloud by him in this video.
Every social justice hero was once a child. Some became activists as children; others did so as adults because of things they experienced when they were young. A new middle-grade book from the prolific Robin Stevenson explores the childhoods of activists in the LGBTQ, racial, disability, labor, immigrant, and women’s civil rights’ movements, among other areas, offering young readers both information and inspiration.
This week is Banned Books Week, the annual event from the American Library Association (ALA) honoring the freedom to read! Half of the books in the ALA’s latest Top Ten Most Challenged Books list are there because someone objected to their LGBTQ content—underscoring how much work is yet to be done on the path to equity and justice. Here are some ways you can support Banned Books Week and the authors behind books that have faced challenges!
A children’s book that tells of one boy creating a love song for another, carrying on the Mexican serenata tradition of serenading one’s beloved, is the inspiration for an award-winning new short film.
Jessica Love, whose picture book Julián Is a Mermaid tells the story of a gender creative child and his grandmother, has won the 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize for “the most exciting and promising newcomer to children’s picture book illustration.”
A new book offers LGBTQ-inclusive, simple explanations of terms and ideas about gender, sexuality, and family for children in older elementary grades.
I don’t have to convince regular readers of the need for LGBTQ-inclusive books and other media in schools. That’s why I’m excited about a new project that is donating boxes of such books to rural public schools, and providing coaching and curriculum guides to help educators use them effectively.
A new children’s comic book now being crowdfunded follows four sisters as they travel back in time to 1980s Paris on a mission to save their dads and the city itself in an alternate universe where love has become a crime.
In some parts of the world, being LGBTQ can mean being jailed or worse. That’s a weighty topic, but in a new children’s book, we learn of the struggles and resilience of a same-sex couple who fled Indonesia for fear of persecution. The secret to telling the tale in a compelling, age-appropriate manner? Their cat. Here’s a sneak peek.
Ever wanted to write or illustrate a children’s book with LGBTQIA+ characters or themes? Created one before, but want to improve your skills? I know some—perhaps many—of my readers can answer “yes”! Learn from two of the most prominent authors in the genre, Rob Sanders and Lesléa Newman, along with rising writer and entrepreneur medina, at an upcoming workshop hosted by the Highlights Foundation.
