Congratulations to Brian Katcher, whose young adult novel Almost Perfect won the inaugural Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award from the American Library Association (ALA). The award, which honors children’s and young adult books “of exceptional merit” related to the LGBT experience, was announced this morning at the ALA’s annual Youth Media Awards, which also […]
Go librarians. The American Library Association (ALA) this week announced it will add an annual award for “English-language works for children and teens of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered experience.”
It’s Banned Book Week once again—the American Library Association’s annual celebration of the freedom to read. I’ll refer you back to the piece I wrote for Banned Books Week last year, “Penguins, Rabbits, and Guinea Pigs: In Celebration of Banned Books,” noting that LGBT-themed books continue to be banned or challenged, as a July case
In the same month that the American Library Association came out with its annual list of the Most Frequently Challenged Books, two Florida moms have stepped up their campaign to have libraries put a “Warning: Mature Content” label on any young adult books that refer to illegal acts or contain “inappropriate” content and to segregate
Author Lauren Myracle’s young adult series ttyl has topped the American Library Association’s (ALA) Top Ten list of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009. A “challenge” is a formal, written complaint to a library or school, “requesting that materials be removed or restricted because of content or appropriateness.” Ttyl gives us a look at
(Originally published as my Mombian newspaper column.) The American Library Association’s Rainbow Project has just published its third annual Rainbow Bibliography, a list of recommended, LGBT-inclusive books for readers under age 18. Nel Ward, head of the Rainbow Project, says one of the biggest problems librarians have with including LGBT-inclusive books in their collections is
The North Kansas City Schools Board of Education recently voted 3 to 2 to keep And Tango Makes Three on the shelves at Bell Prairie Elementary School, despite a parent’s request that the book be removed, reports School Library Journal. I’m annoyed every time a children’s book with LGBT content is challenged, but I’m especially
The 2010 Rainbow Project Bibliography is out! The Bibliography is a list of recommended titles for youth from birth to age 18 that contain “significant and authentic” GLBTQ content. The titles are chosen by the GLBT Round Table and the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. This is not a list of
Gay penguin dads Guido and Molly of the East London Aquarium in South Africa have been caring for their unnamed chick since it was born five months ago, reports The Sun. The pair began to incubate the egg after an opposite-sex couple rejected it. (Molly was originally thought to be female, hence her name, but
[Updated: 10/24, 10:40 a.m. ET: Change.org has posted an action alert about this, complete with an easy automated message you can send to Scholastic.] Most of us with young children in public school know about Scholastic Book Fairs. Many of us remember them from our own childhoods. Now comes news that Scholastic has banned a
