Books for and About Transgender Children: More Than You Think, Less Than We Need
Children’s books with gender nonconforming/transgender protagonists are rare, but over the past year or so there have been some encouraging signs of progress.
- All
- #LGBTQFamiliesDay
- Adoption
- Advocating
- Allies
- Assisted Reproduction
- Blog Admin
- Blogging Events
- Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2006
- Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2007
- Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2008
- Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2009
- Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2010
- Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2011
- Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2012
- Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2013
- Blogging for LGBTQ Families Day 2014
- Blogging for LGBTQ Families Day 2015
- Blogging for LGBTQ Families Day 2016
- Blogging for LGBTQ Families Day 2017
- Books for Kids
- Books for Parents
- Business
- Calls for Participation
- Child Outcomes/Experiences
- Connecting
- Demographics
- Entertainment
- Events in the News
- Explaining Our Families to Our Kids
- Extended Families
- Family Profiles
- Family Voices
- Fighting Daily Bias & Misunderstanding
- Foster Parenting
- Fun/Ephemera
- Health and Safety
- Holidays
- Interviews
- Kids' Activities
- Kitchen and Food
- LGBTQ Parenting Roundup
- Media Coverage
- Misc Parenting Tips
- Money and Finance
- Music
- Naming
- Other Research
- Parental Outcomes/Experiences
- Politics and Law
- Post of the Week
- Pregnancy
- Protecting
- Queer Parenting in a Cishet World
- Raising
- Reflections on Parenthood
- Religion
- Remembering (LGBTQ History)
- Representing
- Researching
- Schools/Education
- Selves and Identities
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Starting
- Supporting LGBTQ Children
- Surrogacy
- Tools and Hobbies
- Travel
- Video Blog
- Violence and Tragedy
- Weekly Political Roundup
- Working
Books for Kids
Rainbow Bibliography Shows Children’s Books Across LGBTQ Spectrum
A new American Library Association (ALA) list of recommended LGBTQ-inclusive books for children and young adults shows that characters who are transgender, bisexual, and of ambiguous identity are taking their place solidly beside more traditional gay and lesbian ones.
Wisconsin high school librarian Lynn Evarts, who chairs the ALA committee that chooses the annual “Rainbow Bibliography,” said she is “very happy” that the fifth annual version of the list, announced January 22, is so diverse.
Where Are the LGBT Biographies for Kids?
My third-grade son has been enjoying biographies, learning things even I didn’t know about Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin. So when I read that Frank Kameny, one of the founding fathers of the gay equality movement, was honored November 15 by a memorial service at the Cannon House Office Building near the U.S. Capitol, I
Top Lesbian and Gay Parenting Books of 2011
This year brought us several new books, fiction and non-fiction, featuring lesbian- and gay-headed familes. While we might hope for greater quantity (and greater diversity across the LGBT spectrum), the quality was at least very good. Here are some of the best.
Lesbian Teen Provides Lifeline of Books to LGBT Youth
(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,
Book Recommendation: The Secret Science Alliance
My eight-year-old son and I stumbled upon a book the other day that he’s been unable to put down: The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis. If you roll your eyes at the school-despising, slacker mentality of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (however funny they may be), or if your kids love graphic novels, kid heroes, and/or science, you (and they) will love this.
Maurice Sendak Talks About New Book, Parenthood, Coming Out, Growing Old
It’s Banned Books Week, the the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual celebration of the freedom to read. I can think of no better way to celebrate than to point out a new interview by NPR’s Terry Gross of children’s literature icon Maurice Sendak, about his new book, Bumble-Ardy. Sendak’s book In the Night Kitchen made the ALA’s
LGBT Characters in Young Adult Literature: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Authors Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith wrote in a post at Publishers Weekly this week that a literary agent told them to make a gay character in their young adult novel straight if they wanted the agent to represent them. It’s unfortunately not an isolated occurence. If you’re wondering why, author Patricia Nell Warren
Create a Video for Banned Books Week
I often write about banned books here, and love the annual Banned Books Week in September. This year, the American Library Association is encouraging anyone celebrating the freedom to read to take part in a Virtual Read-Out on YouTube. School Library Journal has the details: The criteria are simple: create a video that’s less than two minutes
Mazel Tov! Jewish LGBT Children’s Book Contest Winner Announced
Jewish LGBT organization Keshet has announced the winner of its first Jewish Children’s Book Writing Contest (mentioned here in February): The Purim Superhero, by Elisabeth Kushner, a public librarian in Vancouver, Canada—and a lesbian mom herself. Kushner told Keshet: When I heard about the Keshet contest, it seemed like a perfect fit: in the Purim story,