Happy Pride Month

 

In case you have completely missed the rainbows everywhere, June is National Pride Month. Of course, organizations, corporations, and individuals should support people in the LGBTQ community all year long. Maybe someday we will reach a point that there are no marginalized groups fighting to have their rights, history, and basic humanity acknowledged by the rest of the country. Yeah, that came out pretty snarky, but I really have zero patience with people who embrace hate and prejudice.

Anyway, back to books which is what I always love to write about. Here are a few of my personal picks featuring LGBTQ characters. Don't read them just in June, though. Read books written by diverse authors featuring all types of characters all year long. 

Let's start with children's books, because teaching our kids to love and accept others needs to start early. Personally, I have never understood the parents who say that they have no issue with gay people but they don't want their kids to learn about it. We aren't talking about having your kids watch porn. We are saying that seeing a family with two moms or two dads, or a boy who wears a dress is only a huge deal if you make it into one.

Hands down two fantastic picture books for little ones are Julian is a Mermaid and Julian at the Wedding by Jessica Love. Julian is a Mermaid, which was Love's debut picture book, was the recipient of the 2019 Stonewall Award. Not only are these two picture books amazing stories of love, empowerment, and self-expression, they are also just great stories with gorgeous illustrations.

The first story is all about a young boy named Julian who while riding with his Abuela on the subway seems some of the mermaids from the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade. Julian is instantly entranced and dreams of becoming a mermaid. Once they arrive at home, Julian fashions his own mermaid costume and rather than being told boys aren't mermaids, Julian's Abuela supports and loves his creativity and imagination.

In Love's second Julian story, Julian and his Abuela are on their way to a wedding and Julian is incredibly excited because he is going to be "in" the wedding too. Along with Julian a young girl named Marisol is also going to be in the wedding. The two become fast friends and when Marisol ruins her peach confection of a dress Julian helps her fix it. First of all I love that there are two brides at this wedding and it is just there and beautiful. Also, I think that it is awesome that Julian is the one enamored with the decorations and fanciness of the wedding and Marisol is the one wearing a baseball cap and rolling in the dirt with a dog. It is insane that even in the year 2021 there is so much pressure for boys to be "all boy" and girls to be "girly". Children and adults should never feel like they cannot be who they are and like what they like.

I cannot go on enough about how much I adore both of these books (even though I think I like Julian at the Wedding a bit more). If you have not checked these out before, I hope you do. Jessica Love's artwork is particularly extraordinary. The colors almost seem to glow and against the the neutral brown backgrounds and Abuela's hair and patterned dresses are gorgeous. When Marisol and Julian are playing in the willow tree it is like a magical fairy garden. You can check out Jessica Love's other artwork on her website.

Another book that I adore for littles is Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer. With simple text and vibrant illustrations Beer shows how families can be different, but more importantly, what makes them similar. Families may come in different colors, sizes, configurations, but all families share one thing in common and that is love. Toddlers and preschoolers are just beginning to learn about the world they live in and this is a wonderful story to teach them that different isn't better or worse, it's just different. Love Makes a Family celebrates our beautiful diversity while showing little ones that we are all still just people who love, play, and live together. If you enjoy reading this book, I highly recommend Kindness Makes Us Strong, also written by Sophie Beer.

For older kids reading chapter books I can think of no better story than The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy. Personally, I am a huge fan of all of Levy's books. She is just so good at infusing humor and heart into her stories. Living in a rural and conservative community (i.e. often racist and homophobic) I want to give every child this book so they can learn that even though the Fletcher boys are adopted and have two dads they are still just kids dealing with soccer, school plays, homework, what costume to wear for Halloween, etc. And their dads are amazing parents who love their children and would do anything for them. Trust me, if you read this book you also will fall in love with Frog, Eli, Jax, and Sam.

Levy has written one sequel story about the Fletcher family, which is The Family Fletcher Takes Rock Island which is all about the family spending the summer at their favorite vacation spot. I know that I have already said it but these books are so funny, yet also deal with real world issues that affect millions of kids every day.

In recent years there has been an explosion of fantastic teen fiction in a variety of genres featuring LGBTQ characters. I have particularly enjoyed the stories of the Montague siblings by Mackenzi Lee.

Much of the teen fiction featuring LGBTQ characters are realistic dramas about teens struggling with their sexual identity. Of course, these stories are essential, but readers that identify as LGBTQ also deserve books with protagonists that they can relate to in mysteries, fantasies, romances, adventures, etc. I will never forget my niece (who is half black) complaining when she was about nine that the only books in the school library with kids like her were about the underground railroad. Mackenzi Lee gives readers stories that are fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants exciting and also just plain fun to read. The first book, A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, follows young Henry (Monty) Montague as he bucks every convention of the 18th century English aristocracy and goes on a wild tour of Europe with his best friend and little sister in tow. Monty's younger sister, Felicity, was one of my favorite characters from Vice and Virtue so I was incredibly excited to see her star in her own story in The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy. Don't worry, there are still glimpses of Monty and Percy, but girls (or boys) that don't feel attracted to men or women will definitely identify with the strong-willed and asexual Felicity. The third novel, The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks, about the youngest Montague sibling, comes out this November and it is definitely on my TBR list.

Personally, I don't think that adult fiction has come as far as teen fiction when it comes to featuring LGBTQ characters. However, one book that I particularly enjoyed recently was Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth.

Plain Bad Heroines is Danforth's second novel. The first was the hugely popular The Miseducation of Cameron Post, which was made into a movie of the same name (and if you are looking for great LGBTQ reads you should also check out). Plain Bad Heroines flips back and forth between the tragic events that occurred at the Brookhants School for Girls in 1902 to the present time, when three young women are involved in the making of a movie about the supposedly cursed school.  If you love a good ghost story, this book will be right up your alley, but it is also a fantastic view of strong and interesting female characters and lesbian relationships in the past and present.