These three recent queer-inclusive middle grade novels variously explore personal growth, friendship, crushes, gender, and more. Share them with the young people you know (and read them yourself to marvel at the great stories being told today)!
As we start the school year, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at four picture books from the 1970s and 80s showing queer families and children in school and daycare settings. Such books have been around longer than you might think.
Rapper Snoop Dogg has drawn widespread criticism for his recent response to a grandson’s questions about same-sex parents in a movie. His phrasing was insulting, but he also seemed simply frustrated that he didn’t have an answer. I’m here to help, Snoop.
Pride isn’t the only holiday that LGBTQ families and individuals celebrate! These two brand-new picture books and a chapter book show queer families and people finding joy with their communities and traditions during a variety of holidays.
Once again, another school shooting has claimed the lives of children and harmed even more. Once again, we must redouble our efforts for stricter gun control laws, and once again, we parents must be prepared to speak with our children about school shootings. Here are some resources for doing so.
One of the most delightful things about trying to review every single LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ book is that sometimes I spot fun combinations—like these two recent middle grade novels, each very different, but both involving goats—and both great. I kid you not!
Opponents of marriage equality are clearly on the attack. I cannot predict the outcome of this fight, but I do know that we LGBTQ parents and our children were at the forefront of winning marriage equality, and must lead again in its defense.
The kids may just be heading back to school, but it’s not too early to start thinking ahead to spring break—specifically, a spring break with other queer families! GWK Academy is planning a three-night cruise in the Bahamas aboard Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas, and LGBTQ families of all identities are invited!
Two powerful but very different new novels move between past and present to tell stories of queer families, change, and healing. In one, a trans witch hopes to help her lesbian mother by teaching her magic; in the other, two narratives intertwine to tell of loss, injustice, and finding a way forward.
Fairyland, Alysia Abbott’s 2014 memoir about growing up with a single gay dad in San Francisco during the bohemian 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, is coming to theaters as a feature film with a stellar cast. Learn more and watch a trailer here.
