A fascinating collection of short but engaging profiles of LGBTQ+ people who have had an impact on the world in a variety of times and places.
The format of this book matches author Sarah Prager’s 2017 book for teens, Queer There and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World (and some of the people are the same), but the language has been tuned to a younger audience of 8- to 12-year-olds. Prager, a queer history advocate, explains in the introduction:
After having my daughter while writing my first book, Queer, There, and Everywhere, I resolved to share the representation that book provided with a younger audience. I didn’t see children’s books celebrating the stories of my LGBTQ+ family, so I decided to create a collection of fifty true stories of people from around the world and across time who everyone should know about.
The greater number of profiles in the new book also means a greater variety of people covered, some who should be familiar to many readers, but others who will likely be new. They are:
Adam Rippon, Alan L. Hart, Alan Turing, Albert Cashier, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Alexander the Great, Al-Hakam II, Alvin Ailey, Bayard Rustin, Benjamin Banneker, Billie Jean King, Chevalière d’Éon, Christina of Sweden, Christine Jorgensen, Cleve Jones, Ellen DeGeneres, Francisco Manicongo, Frida Kahlo, Frieda Belinfante, Georgina Beyer, Gilbert Baker, Glenn Burke, Greta Garbo, Harvey Milk, James Baldwin, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, José Sarria, Josephine Baker, Juana Inés de la Cruz, Julie d’Aubigny, Lili Elbe, Ma Rainey, Magnus Hirschfeld, Manvendra Singh Gohil, Marsha P. Johnson, Martine Rothblatt, Maryam Khatoon Molkara, Natalie Clifford Barney, Navtej Johar, Nzinga, Pauli Murray, Renée Richards, Rudolf Nureyev, Sally Ride, Simon Nkoli, Stormé DeLarverie, Sylvia Rivera, Tshepo Ricki Kgositau, Wen of Han, and We’wha.
As in her first book, Prager writes in an informal, approachable style (sprinkling in but not overusing phrases like “BFF” and “totally rock”), while also providing substantial facts about each person’s life and motivations. There’s also useful information woven in about what it means to be LGBTQ. For example, we read that tuberculosis researcher Alan L. Hart “was always a boy, but because he was assigned female at birth, he had to wait until he was grown up before he got the chance to present as a man full-time.”
While some might wish to learn more about each of these figures than can be encompassed in a single page, a compilation like this will likely appeal both to linear readers and to those who prefer to dabble their way around a book, picking out what interests them most. Either way is fine, of course, since both will have the effect of inspiring young readers. As Prager says in the introduction:
When I was younger, I didn’t learn the names or stories of any of these heroes. When I taught them to myself in high school, it changed my life. I knew I wasn’t alone, I knew I wasn’t the first to feel this way, I knew I could be anyone and achieve anything. I knew I was part of a big family.
At the end are a Timeline of LGBTQ+ History; a Glossary; guides to Pride and Identity Flags and LGBTQ+ symbols; and a selected bibliography, all of which will help engage and inform young readers (as well as their parents and teachers). Sarah Papworth’s colorful images of each person profiled, as well as her fun and fanciful page borders, add to the book’s appeal. For middle-grade readers, it will likely be a compelling volume.
