Once again, it’s Banned Books Week, the annual event from the American Library Association (ALA) that “draws national attention to the harms of censorship.” As in most previous recent years, the ALA’s Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books list is once again full of children’s books with LGBTQ content—so go read some banned books with your kids today.
Looking for books, videos, or music albums for your children that feature LGBTQ families? Want some memoirs by LGBTQ parents or our adult children to read yourself? Need a guide to this adventure we call LGBTQ parenting? A book on LGBTQ-inclusive schools? Baby books? Check out my revamped Mombian Shop, which has spiffy new organization and even more items!
“Should kindergarten include books about being transgender?” asks an LA Times column this week. For me, the answer is simple: To say that any child is too young to learn about LGBTQ people is essentially the same as saying that LGBTQ people shouldn’t be parents. At the same time, teachers may need some help in presenting LGBTQ topics accurately and with sensitivity. Let’s review some resources that can help.
The recent events in Charlottesville—and the ongoing struggle our country has with racism and other forms of oppression—underscore the importance of raising children who are accepting and inclusive of all, and have the strength to stand against the actions of those who are not. Here are a few reading ideas.
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!
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.
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.
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.
In light of the Trump administration’s decision yesterday to rescind guidance that protected transgender students, I felt it was especially important to share a great new resource for kids (and their grown-ups) about gender identity.
Looking for books to explain to your children some of the issues and stories around immigration, refugees, and the growing resistance movement in the U.S.? Here are some that may help.
