The fact is, children’s books about real LGBT people and LGBT civil rights events are even scarcer than children’s LGBT-inclusive fiction books. The Harvey Milk Story, by Kari Krakow (Two Lives, 2002), is the only picture-book biography of an LGBT person in which the person is openly LGBT.

I’ve also found two middle-grade biographies of Ellen Degeneres, by Sherry Beck Paprocki (Chelsea House, 2009) and Katie Sharp (Lucent Books, 2010), which describe her coming out and how it impacted her life.

But that’s about it until we reach high school-level material.

Even historical fiction is rare, excepting the brand-new picture book Operation Marriage (Reach and Teach), by Cynthia Chin-Lee (Reach and Teach, 2011), about a lesbian-headed family in California before and after the Proposition 8 vote that banned marriage for same-sex couples. The book shows the impact of such debates on local communities, and that children are indeed sensitive to the special status of marriage—even though it at times seems to conflate people’s objections to unmarried parents and their objections to same-sex parents.

We need more elementary and middle school-appropriate biographies and histories that show LGBT people as LGBT—books about the key figures in the struggle for LGBT equality, and about LGBT people whose contributions lie in other areas.

Why? Because children deserve to know about all of the major civil rights movements of our time. They deserve to learn, when relevant, if and how people’s significant relationships and struggles against inequality impacted their lives, no matter what the reason for their fame. And for young people who are LGBT or questioning, or who have LGBT parents, it is important to see LGBT people achieving in many areas of life.

In schools, LGBT-inclusive materials not only expand students’ knowledge, but also help create a safe and welcoming environment. According to the 2009 National School Climate Survey from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), LGBT students in schools with inclusive curricula were less likely to report hearing homophobic remarks or negative comments about gender expression, and less likely to feel unsafe or experience victimization because of their sexual orientation and gender expression.

Histories, biographies, and historical fiction about LGBT people will make it easier for schools to build this kind of inclusive curriculum. In California, a new law even requires schools to incorporate the contributions of openly LGBT people into history lessons.

But schools are “scrambling” to figure out how to do this, according to an article in the San Diego LGBT Weekly (October 21). The piece quotes Paul Boneberg, executive director at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco, who said, “I’m not sure how we plug it into the curriculum at the grade school level, if it all.”

Part of the problem, the article says, is the vagueness of the legislation; part is that there are no funds for new instructional material or textbooks. But I have to think another part is that there are almost no existing resources. And if they’re having problems in California, where LGBT inclusion is required, how much more difficult will it be in other states? Even if schools or teachers want to offer inclusive materials, there are none to be found.

The hurdles are high, though. LGBT-inclusive fiction books are among those most banned and challenged in schools and public libraries. Non-fiction would likely fare no better. Still, that is no excuse not to try. Not every challenge is successful.

Another hurdle is that it is hard to write accurate, well-researched history that is also engaging and accessible, especially in a length suitable for younger children. But I find it hard to believe we don’t have the talent among the LGBT community and our allies.

The question is whether publishers will step up—not only small, independent presses, but also publishing behemoths like Scholastic, which have the clout and distribution needed to get the books into schools and libraries. (Scholastic has published LGBT-inclusive fiction books before, like Arthur Levine’s picture book Monday is One Day.)

There are small efforts underway. The Anti-Defamation League, GLSEN, and StoryCorps have recently created “Unheard Voices,” an oral history and curriculum project for middle school and high school students. The project contains online audio interviews (and transcripts) of nine people who “helped shape LGBT history,” along with discussion questions and historical background. It is a good start.

“History is written by the victors,” goes an old saying. We may not have won full LGBT equality yet, but we have had many wins along the way. It is time that we start to write LGBT history—for all ages—and pass on the tales of those victories to the next generation.

Children’s Books

Donovan’s Big Day, by Lesléa Newman, is a delightful story about a boy preparing for the wedding of his two moms. Newman wrote Heather Has Two Mommies, the first picture book for and about children with lesbian parents, over 20 years ago. Unlike in Heather, however, which shows the girl grappling to understand why her family is “different,” Newman left “issues” out of Donovan entirely. The young boy has only the problems any child might face while attending a wedding of any sort. He has to dress up, keep clean, and not fidget. Most of all, he has to make sure to hand his moms their rings at the proper moment.

There is just enough light tension to keep young readers engaged as Donovan goes through each step of his preparations. Illustrator Mike Dutton’s dynamic gouache drawings capture Donovan’s earnest spirit with gentle humor.

Monday is One Day, by Arthur A. Levine (Scholastic Press), is a gay-inclusive (but not exclusive) poem from a working parent to a child. Each page shows a different family and a different activity as they count down to and through the weekend. The families are white and black, with moms and dads, gay dads, single parents, and one older couple who could be the child’s grandparents. They live in cities, suburbs, and on a farm, and all delight in each other. Julian Hector’s bold, colorful illustrations complement the bouncy rhymes. The book reminds us how much of the parenting experience is universal.

Levine, a gay dad himself, is also a publisher of his own imprint at Scholastic, Arthur A. Levine Books, whose titles include the U.S. editions of the Harry Potter series.

Adult Novel

Sing you Home, by New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult, brings the lives and concerns of lesbian prospective moms to a mainstream audience in an engaging and sympathetic way. Picoult’s novel also tries to educate its readers about some of the real-life legal and social barriers same-sex couples face. A spunky fictional attorney from the real-life Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) plays a prominent role. If the book sometimes feels jammed with too many Big Social Issues—marriage equality, alcoholism, abortion, suicidal teens—Picoult is a good enough writer to weave them into a coherent and compelling tale.

Memoir

Times Two: Two Women in Love and the Happy Family They Made, Sarah Kate Ellis and Kristen Henderson’s memoir of simultaneous pregnancies, is a welcome addition to the small genre of LGBT parenting chronicles. Ellis is a marketing executive in New York City. Henderson is a founding member of the all-female rock band Antigone Rising. In alternating chapters, they tell their intertwining tale of coming out, falling in love, and starting a family.

Although some might consider the tale of double the hormones, mood swings, and post-partum exhaustion to be more of a cautionary tale, Ellis and Henderson manage to emphasize the positive. Along the way to parenthood, they discover their resiliency as a couple as they bond over the side effects of pregnancy—heartburn, hemorrhoids, and swollen ankles—and agree to disagree over issues such as whether to know the genders of their children and whether to try natural childbirth. They tell their story with a warmth and honesty that shows on every page.

Research Studies

Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships, and Motherhood among Black Women, by UCLA sociologist Mignon Moore, is arguably the most groundbreaking work on LGBT parenting published in recent years. Her work is a valuable corrective to the predominant portrayal in media and research of LGBT parents (and LGBT people generally) as almost entirely white. It will complement the emerging demographic data that shows a high percentage of lesbian and gay parents are people of color.

Mignon takes a close look at the community of gay black women in New York City, drawing on personal observations, interviews, and surveys to perceptively trace the connections among sexual orientation, gender expression, race, and class. While she doesn’t focus exclusively on mothers, many of the women in her study are mothers, and must negotiate the assumptions and expectations of motherhood within black communities while also challenging those assumptions by virtue of being gay.

Mignon deftly explores the overlapping influences on these women’s identities in a work that is both valuable in itself and will serve as a model for future research into LGBT families of all types.

Adoption by Lesbians and Gay Men: A New Dimension in Family Diversity, edited by David Brodzinsky and Adam Pertman of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, brings together experts across several disciplines—social welfare, psychology, sociology, and law—to provide a picture of this “rapidly growing new family form.” It summarizes our knowledge of lesbian and gay adoptive families, contributes to it, and points out directions for future research, education, and policy changes. It is an academic book, not a light read, but should become an invaluable reference for adoption professionals, researchers, policy makers, advocates, and lawyers.

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(I broke this story a few weeks ago in my Mombian newspaper column, reprinted below. It’s about a lesbian teen making a difference—and underscores for me how much things have changed since I was a teen. Despite the horror stories we still hear about bullying, suicide, and other ills, there are more gay-straight alliance clubs, more LGBT-inclusive books, and more out students than when I was growing up. The world isn’t perfect yet, but I do believe it’s headed in the right direction. Teens like Amelia are helping it get there.)

For LGBT youth, age-appropriate books about LGBT people and issues can be a lifeline. Not every school has the resources or desire to include such books in their collections, though. But 14-year-old Amelia Roskin-Frazee, an out lesbian ninth grader from California, founded The Make It Safe Project to solve that problem. The project gives free packages of LGBT books to schools that need them, and works to ensure the books will be readily available to students.

“When I figured out that a lot of schools didn’t have any resources about what it means to be LGBT or how to come out,” explained Amelia, “I decided that I wanted to help send those books to schools.”

“My goal is to provide awareness for people and also to provide the reading material that will make them safe,” she added.

She launched the project a month ago, and has already sent free packages to schools in Arizona, Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, and North Dakota. 

To pay for the books, she collects monetary donations through a PayPal link on the project’s Web site. All donations go towards the cost of the books—each package of 10 books costs roughly $100. Amelia welcomes smaller donations, though—even $10 or $25. She sends the books directly from Amazon, which provides free shipping on orders of that size.

The package includes six fiction and four nonfiction books: Ash by Malinda Lo, Annie On My Mind, by Nancy Garden, Empress of the World, by Sara Ryan, Luna, by Julie Anne Peters, Boy Meets Boy, by David Levithan, Rubyfruit Jungle, by Rita Mae Brown, It Gets Better, ed. by Dan Savage and Terry Miller, GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens, by Kelly Huegel, Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens, by Kathy Belge, and Like Me, by Chely Wright.

Amelia chose the books from among 30 bestselling books for LGBT teens. The final selection includes books that both she and her gay friends “responded well to and that covered a wide range of topics,” she explained. The topics include coming out, preventing suicide, and staying healthy, “because most books on adolescent health don’t cover LGBT issues and bullying.” For one school that includes grades K-8, she swapped in a couple of LGBT-inclusive picture books.

Already, the packages are providing resources to students who would not otherwise have them. She sent a package to one private middle school in California, for example, where parents had resisted using school money or parent donations towards books with LGBT content.

Another request came from an eighth-grader in Arizona, whose middle school had told her she could not start a gay-straight alliance (GSA) club. The girl then started a GSA at her church. Students from far-flung communities began to attend, since few schools in the state have GSAs. GSA members can now borrow the books that Make It Safe has sent, share them with friends back at their schools, and then return them to the GSA.

In general, Amelia said, the books “are sent directly to the GSA president or faculty adviser to put on a classroom bookshelf, where a teacher will ensure that the books will be available for all students.” The books may also be put in the school library “if the GSA is sure that the library will keep them safe and available for all students.” One school has also put some of the books in the school counseling office for students to borrow.

“My basic job is to ensure that regardless of where they go in the school, they are available to all students at any time,” she explained.

One additional part of the project lets students post anonymous stories on the Make It Safe Web site about their experience with GSAs. That way, other students who are considering joining or starting one can learn from peers at schools similar to theirs.

Even at 14, Amelia is no newcomer to activism. She came out during middle school, where she founded the school’s Gay Straight Alliance and was one of the school’s student representatives on the Diversity Committee. Now in high school, she is a Student Ambassador for the national Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

“Both my parents were extremely supportive from the beginning,” she said. They helped her start the middle school’s GSA when some other parents resisted the idea. “I feel so happy that I have the parents that I have,” she said. “I just wish that other LGBT kids who maybe aren’t so fortunate could have a similar experience.”

Her mom is now helping her with the Make It Safe Project, including assisting with the paperwork needed to turn it into a registered non-profit. They hope this will happen next year.

Amelia is spreading the news about her project through word of mouth, including her middle school friends who are now at different high schools, and through social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

“So much of this right now is just letting the schools find us, because it’s hard for people to have the courage to go look for these books,” she said.

Her sights are high, however. She hopes to send a package to every state by the end of 2012. Beyond that, she would like to send books to schools around the world. She asserted, “I really want to get them to any school that needs them, because there are so many that do.”

Visit the Make It Safe Project at makeitsafeproject.org.

The book begins as the story of one boy, Julian, who is bullied at school for being a “nerd.” His family moves to a new town, though, which promises a new start. Julian nevertheless finds he can’t hide who he really is, even if it means living in the shadow of “cool” kids like athletic jock Ben or tough-girl Greta. Davis takes the story in an unexpected but welcome direction, however (spoiler alert!), when she reveals Ben and Greta to be just as into science and inventing as Julian. Together, they form “The Secret Science Alliance” and end up saving the town from an evil adult inventor. 

The dialog is funny, clever, and inspiring. The little details and labels in the drawings give the book a richness lacking in many graphic novels. There’s just enough adolescent mischievousness that kids won’t feel the characters are “do-gooders” in a way that makes them hard to relate to. (You can see an excerpt at Davis’ Web site.) Although the characters are in middle school, there’s nothing in the book that seems inappropriate or irrelevant for upper elementary students.

Davis adds some thoughtful touches to fill out the story. Ben, although he is good at inventing, lacks confidence and does poorly in school because he’s not good at taking tests—pointing out that there are many ways to measure intelligence. There’s also a great panel in which Greta tries to “disguise” herself by wearing “ordinary” 12-year-old girl clothes of ruffles and pink—which just points out that her real attire of t-shirt, overalls, and bicycle helmet better reflect who she is, gender stereotypes be damned.

Greta and her father are also black–which is irrelevant to the storyline but very relevant given the dearth of well written black female characters in children’s literature. And although the book begins from Julian’s perspective, each of the three kids end up playing fairly equal roles. Additionally, Greta’s father is the director of the local museum, and has a key part in the story. (Julian and Ben’s families are less prominent.)

The book was published in 2009, so maybe I’m late to the game on this one, but better late than never. Davis’ previous book, Stinky, was a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. She continues her excellent record with The Secret Science Alliance. My only complaint is that she hasn’t yet written a sequel—or that PBS Kids hasn’t picked it up to turn into a television series. This is exactly the sort of tale that could convince kids “geek is good” and science and technology are worth studying. If they pull a few pranks and catch some bad guys along the way, so much the better.

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Bumble-Ardy

In the Night Kitchen

Sendak also talks about his thoughts on parenthood, coming out (which he did at the age of 80), and the “fragility of life.” His partner Eugene was ill and dying while Sendak wrote Bumble-Ardy.  Sendak wrote the book, he said, in order to help himself live after Eugene’s death.

It’s a poignant interview (have tissues handy), but well worth the 20 minutes.

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It’s unfortunately not an isolated occurence. If you’re wondering why, author Patricia Nell Warren at Bilerico gives us her thoughts, along with a detailed look at the U.S. publishing industry.

And in 2009, some of you may recall, publisher Scholastic apparently told YA author Lauren Myracle to make the two lesbian moms of one character in her Luv Ya Bunches into a mom and a dad—even though they were only minor characters—if Myracle wanted the book included in elementary school book fairs. The publisher eventually agreed to carry the book in its middle school fairs, even though the characters are in elementary school and the recommended reading age is nine to 12.

In all fairness to Scholastic, it’s a big company. One of its imprints is Arthur A. Levine Books, headed by the very same Arthur Levine, a gay dad whose children’s book Monday is One Day includes gay parents. (One of the other popular series he edits involves some kid with glasses and a broomstick.)

There is hope, however,  YA author Malinda Lo has just done an extensive analysis of YA books published in the U.S. since 1969, complete with pie charts. (And who doesn’t love pie?) The good news she says, is “the numbers have continued to increase over time, and other than the dip in 2010, the increase has sped up since 2000.” The not-too-surprising bad news, however, is that “the G in LGBT far outpaces L, B, or T.”

All of the above are great reads. If you have any interest in YA literature, teenagers, publishing, or LGBT representation, do check them out.

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School Library Journal has the details:

The criteria are simple: create a video that’s less than two minutes long of anyone reading a book that’s been banned. If you choose to talk about a personal experience battling censorship, then feel free to extend the video to three minutes.

Choose one of the many LGBT-inclusive banned books, such as And Tango Makes Three, Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, or Heather Has Two Mommies; a non-LGBT classic like To Kill a Mockingbird, or even the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, which a parent in California objected to last year because it contained the term “oral sex.” Here’s a longer list if you need more ideas.

You can submit your video at any time, although Banned Books Week runs from September 21 to October 1. Leave a comment here if you do!

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Kushner told Keshet:

When I heard about the Keshet contest, it seemed like a perfect fit: in the Purim story, Esther “comes out” as Jewish in a way that can be a model not just for Jews, or for GLBT people, but for everyone who feels different. I hope that The Purim Superhero will help inspire and reassure kids like Nate who don’t necessarily want to be like everyone else—and most importantly, I hope kids will enjoy reading and hearing the story.

Alas, the book is not yet available, although Keshet is working with a publisher to try and make it happen. Bonnie Rosenbaum, Keshet’s deputy director of communications and planning, told me:

Our selection committee of Jewish educators and librarians had a really hard time choosing the winner from the almost 50 manuscripts we received. We’re especially thrilled that in addition to The Purim Superhero, we also received a handful of other really impressive high quality manuscripts. If the publisher with whom we are working commits to publishing this one, we are considering self-publishing one or two more stories.

Personally, though, I’m glad they started with a Purim tale, because it’s just fun to listen to a child trying to say “hamantashen” (the filled cookies traditional for the holiday). Heck, I still have fun saying it myself. Hamantashen, hamantashen, hamantashen. . . . Now I have a craving.

Congratulations to Kushner! Can’t wait to read it.

Newman, who has over 60 books for children, young adults, and adults to her name, along with numerous literary awards, said she wrote Donovan to be “pure, joyful celebration,” a “gift that I wanted to give our community.”

She got the idea for Donovan in the shower, where she was reflecting that many books featuring gay parents also centered around some kind of “issue.” As an example, she points to Heather itself, which focused on a girl trying to understand why she doesn’t have a dad.

She left “issues” out of Donovan entirely. The young boy has only the problems any child might face while attending a wedding of any sort. He has to dress up, keep clean, and not fidget. Most of all, he has to make sure to hand his moms their rings at the proper moment.

There is just enough light tension to keep young readers engaged as Donovan goes through each step of his preparations. Illustrator Mike Dutton’s dynamic gouache drawings capture Donovan’s earnest spirit with gentle humor.

In creating the character, Newman said, “I just tried to remember what it was like to be a child and to see the day from the child’s perspective.”

The book is also a celebration of wider family. Donovan stays with his grandparents the night before the wedding. His aunt and uncle drive him to the ceremony, and he shares the back seat with his cousins. Upon arrival, there are more relatives and friends to kiss and compliment him.

Newman found inspiration for Donovan from watching same-sex couples in her home town of Northampton, Massachusetts, go to City Hall for marriage licenses on May 17, 2004, the first day they legally could. “There were many, many children present that day—children of those couples, children as bystanders . . . participating in all the joy,” she recalled.

And at a more recent wedding she attended, the two women ended up holding their fidgety children while saying their vows. “I thought that was such an amazing, beautiful moment,” Newman said, “that I wanted to capture that spirit of love and joy in the book.”

Newman acknowledges that not everyone will welcome another children’s book about two moms. Heather has been one of the books library patrons most frequently ask to be removed or reshelved, according to the American Library Association.

“It’s just so puzzling to me that a book about love could be seen as threatening or something that should be challenged,” Newman said, but adds that librarians “have been absolutely wonderful” in supporting her and following proper procedures when someone complains.

Some things have gotten better over the years, however. She explained that when she and a friend published Heather on their own in 1989, “It was a very grassroots project. We raised money, mostly in $10 donations.” When she went on to write other children’s books, editors chose not to put “Author of Heather Has Two Mommies” on the book jackets, Newman said, “even though that’s what I’m known for.”

Now, Donovan’s publisher, Tricycle Press, a division of mega-publisher Random House, has her authorship of Heather clearly on the cover. “That, to me, is a very interesting way to look at how far we’ve come,” Newman says. “Something that at one point had to be hidden now is out there and celebrated.”

She believes that many publishers are, however, still cautious about picture books that show same-sex parents. They may have financial concerns and feel that only families with two moms or two dads would be interested in buying the book, or they might think “the gay thing” will “alienate” readers, she speculated.

She would like to see more books like the recent Monday is One Day, by Arthur Levine, “where there are all kinds of families, including families that have two moms, two dads, one mom, one dad, a mom and a dad, interracial couples, and interfaith couples,” she said. “The world is so wonderfully diverse. I really would love children’s literature to reflect that on a more grand scheme.”

Her own upcoming works show her range as a writer. Her picture book A Sweet Passover (Abrams, 2012), is about a girl who is tired of eating matzo during the holiday. And for young adults, her book October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard (Candlewick Press, 2012), will tell “the story of his murder and its aftermath in a cycle of 68 poems.”

As for books that feature LGBT families, she says parents have told her they’d like to see “books that are not ‘issue’ books as much as just books about a family having an adventure or doing something interesting. If the kid has two moms or two dads, that’s not the focus of the story.”

And although Donovan may, like Heather, face challenges in libraries and schools, she said that for lesbian parents, “a book is the least of it. What they want is for their child to feel safe in that school and for that child to be able to be open about who his or her family is.” But, she added, “Perhaps a book like this can help that happen.”

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Here’s a video of author Arthur Levine talking about the book, his own very personal inspiration for it, and Julian Hector’s fitting illustrations. Levine is openly gay, and includes a pair of gay dads in the book, but the book’s message is really far more universal.

I am a member of the Amazon Associates program, and get a small referral fee from all purchases made at Amazon.com via links on this site. You are under no obligation to purchase through them.