This is not a queer-specific book, but just like Stevenson’s Kid Activists volume in Quirk Books’ Kid Legends series, it includes queer people in its 16 short biographies. In each profile of roughly eight to 10 pages, we learn about people who have innovated in science, technology, education, business, and the arts, with an emphasis on how their childhoods shaped them. In accessible but never patronizing prose, Stevenson sketches the stories of her subjects’ childhoods, deftly setting the scene for each one and providing informative details, engaging quotes, and sometimes humorous anecdotes. LGBTQ people mentioned are Alan Turing and Alvin Ailey. Stevenson not only notes that they were gay, but explains briefly how each faced homophobia.
Fair warning, though. Stevenson notes that many of the people she profiles began as “strong-willed and independent-minded children—which wasn’t always easy for their parents and teachers!” Share this book with your children at your own risk!
