Gender, Sexuality, and Family, Explained for Kids
A new book offers LGBTQ-inclusive, simple explanations of terms and ideas about gender, sexuality, and family for children in older elementary grades.
children’s books
Queer Children’s Comic Book Is a Time-Traveling Adventure
A new children’s comic book now being crowdfunded follows four sisters as they travel back in time to 1980s Paris on a mission to save their dads and the city itself in an alternate universe where love has become a crime.
New Picture Book Tells Story of Two Gay Refugees–and Their Cat
In some parts of the world, being LGBTQ can mean being jailed or worse. That’s a weighty topic, but in a new children’s book, we learn of the struggles and resilience of a same-sex couple who fled Indonesia for fear of persecution. The secret to telling the tale in a compelling, age-appropriate manner? Their cat. Here’s a sneak peek.
Want to Create LGBTQIA+ Picture Books? Learn from Luminaries in the Field!
Ever wanted to write or illustrate a children’s book with LGBTQIA+ characters or themes? Created one before, but want to improve your skills? I know some—perhaps many—of my readers can answer “yes”! Learn from two of the most prominent authors in the genre, Rob Sanders and Lesléa Newman, along with rising writer and entrepreneur medina, at an upcoming workshop hosted by the Highlights Foundation.
Creating Inclusive Children’s and Young Adult Books: One Publisher Shows How
Orca Book Publishers of British Columbia, Canada, is an independent publisher that has produced two of my recent favorite LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books: Pride Colors, by Robin Stevenson, a bright board book for the youngest tots, and A Plan for Pops, by Heather Smith and Brooke Kerrigan, a poignant story about a two-grandfather couple and their gender-ambiguous grandchild. Publisher and owner Andrew Wooldridge was kind enough to speak with me recently about the 35-year-old company and its goal of offering “reading material that represents the diversity of human experience to readers of all ages.”
New LGBTQ Picture Books for Back-to-School
For back-to-school time, here are some new and soon-to-be-published picture books with LGBTQ and gender creative characters, all involving schools and classmates.
New Picture Book Focuses on Friendship of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson
A new picture book now being crowdfunded is about the “revolutionary friendship” between pioneering transgender women of color, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson.
Superman, Wonder Woman, and Other Superheroes Support Two-Mom, Two-Dad Families in This Picture Book
If you or your kids are fans of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, the Flash, or any of the other superheroes from the DC universe, you’ll love a new picture book in which they extol the powers of families—including ones with same-sex parents.
Cover Reveal: “A Kid of Their Own” Offers “Twice the Dads and Twice the Dad Jokes”
I’m very excited to be bringing you the official, full-cover reveal of A Kid of Their Own, by Megan Dowd Lambert, her second picture book about a group of barnyard friends and the two farmers—a gay couple—who care for them. Lambert also shares with Mombian readers a little about her motivations, the importance of language when talking about adoptive families, and why her fictional world includes both anthropomorphic animals and humans.
A Rainbow of Pride Books for Kids of All Ages
The number of children’s books about Pride has increased dramatically over the past few years. Here are some of the best.