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.

Crazy About Podcasts

 Let's talk about podcasts. Please say that I am not the only person who has become addicted to podcasts during the pandemic. Seriously, I think I have over a dozen in my queue right now. So, what are your favorites and what are the ones that you can't live without? First off, I need to discuss the fact that pre-pandemic I only listened to audiobooks, but being trapped in my house for a year had me searching for other sources of entertainment. Especially when I exceeded Hoopla's maximum of six checkouts per month ( let me be clear that at least two of these checkouts each month was Pete the Cat's Perfect Pizza Party which my four year old is obsessed with).

As you know (if you have read my bio or any of my other posts) I am a complete nerd and a devout Trekkie. I would be remiss then if I did not mention

Levar Burton Reads in this post. Of course, I don't only know Levar Burton at Geordie LaForge but he was also a significant part of my early childhood as the host of Reading Rainbow on PBS. Think of Levar Burton Reads as storytime for grownups. The podcast is just Burton reading aloud short fiction of all genres and it is fantastic. He has a gift for reading aloud (duh, did you ever watch Reading Rainbow) and he wonderfully brings attention to authors and stories that you would probably never encounter otherwise. It was while listening to Levar Burton Reads that I heard the short story, Skinwalker, Fast-Talker by Darcie Little Badger in early 2020. For those of you who are not into fantasy, Darcie Little Badger's young adult novel, Elatsoe, which was published in August 2020 has been nominated for numerous awards and accolades including Time's best 100 fantasy novels of all time. If you have not heard of it, let me be the first to tell you that it is amazing!  Burton's podcast has introduced me to unfamiliar authors and genres that I don't often read. Not to mention, Burton has an incredibly pleasant reading voice. I am a person that needs to distract their brain in order to fall asleep (let's hear it for my fellow anxious insomniacs) and Levar Burton Reads has been a Godsend. It generally takes me two or three nights to fully listen to a story and there have been some that I love and immediately google the author and others that I am simple "meh", but that is the magic of fiction. There truly is something for everyone with this podcast.

You already know that I am a Trekkie, so it will not surprise you that one of the podcasts that I listen to is Mission Log. Mission Log is a Roddenberry podcast, meaning that it is produced with permission of the Roddenberry estate and his son,  Eugene Wesley "Rod" Roddenberry II, is the actual person behind the podcast. Basically, this podcast takes every single episode of Star Trek, from the original series through movies, cartoons, spin offs and all other incarnations, and dissects each episode. The hosts through this long (seriously it may last decades now that Discovery is going and a Spock and Pike series has been approved) journey are John Champion and Ken Ray, two life long geeks with lots of broadcasting experience. If you are not at least a moderate fan of the Star Trek franchise you will probably not understand or enjoy this podcast. I understand that my level of geekdom is not shared by the majority of people. However, if you enjoy sci-fi and particularly Star Trek you will thoroughly enjoy Champion and Ray's analysis of every Star Trek episode in every incarnation. Actually, I cannot attest to that because I am still on Next Generation, but I promise you that the podcast has rocked up to this point and I am excited to keep listening (and continue watching Star Trek over and over and over and over).

I do not just listen to super nerdy, sci-fi podcasts I promise. One that I have really enjoyed over the past year is You're Wrong About, which is hosted by writer, Sarah Marshall, and Michael Hobbes, a reporter for HuffPost. Each week Michael and Sarah select a much-publicized event or person from history and then proceed to tell listeners the real story behind the hype and headlines. 

The subjects Michael and Sarah have delved into are incredibly random from the Iran-Contra Affair to a 14 episode dissection of O.J. Simpson. The format consists of the hosts taking turns being the authority on a subject informing the other about what the real facts are compared to what most people think occurred. 

I always feel like I learn something after listening to an episode of You're Wrong About. There are so many stories I remember being all over the news when I was growing up or in college (the Elian Gonzales story, Monica Lewinsky, etc.) but I never played super close attention. Yeah, I saw the SNL skits and remember seeing the headlines or hearing my parents discuss them, but I didn't ever really follow what was going on. Personally, some, like the whole Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, I didn't really want to know about. It has been incredibly interesting to learn about the details of those events from a multitude of sources, but also discussed in an approachable, humorous, and honest way. Even when the information includes things that I am already informed about, such as some of the more historical episodes, I still really enjoy listening to the conversation. Michael and Sarah come across as two people that I would hang out in a bar with and talk about completely arbitrary subjects for several hours. Maybe I like this podcast because my brain works in the same way. Being obsessed about completely random subjects, reading every interview, book, etc. about said subject, and then forcing my friends to listen to everything I learned.

Being a history buff and also a fan of anything and everything creepy it is probably no surprise that I adore Aaron Mahnke's podcast, Lore.  This engrossing podcast is like sitting around a campfire and listening to someone tell spooky stories and the best part is that the stories told in Lore are true! Like the history of the Stanley Hotel which served as Stephen King's inspiration for The Shining or Robert the Doll, which you can actually still visit in Key West. Not only is Mahnke a brilliant historian and writer, he is also a fantastic narrator (oddly soothing while delivering supernatural tales of horror). Each episode is also enhanced by perfect atmospheric music. Lore has become so popular that it has even published in books and made into a Netflix series, but I still prefer the original format.

True crime is all the rage, especially among women. I actually just finished a book called Savage Appetites:  Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession by Rachel Monroe which delves into the true crime mania that is particularly common amidst women these days. The book was interesting and definitely had some disturbing truth, but perhaps attempts to generalize and postulate a bit too much about individuals' motivations. Anyway, the podcast that I want to talk about is actually produced by The Onion and mocks the enthusiasm we all seem to have for true crime stories. A Very Fatal Murder (a title reminiscent of Murder by Death, one of my all time favorite movies) is

absolutely hilarious. Honestly, you need to be careful while driving and listening because there will be snorting and giggling fits. I don't want to give too much away. The podcast follows a reporter who employs a computer (ETHYL, the Extremely Timely Homicide Locator) to find the perfect murder to to create a podcast about.  Like a lot of things from The Onion, A Very Fatal Murder, will have you laughing hysterically, but also feeling a bit depressed about the state of mankind. I don't know if that is a very good endorsement, but this podcast was a lot of fun to listen to and it will also make you think next time you turn on the ID channel. True crime means real people and real victims who have had their lives destroyed by violence and we should never lose sight of that.

So, those are a few of the podcasts that I have listened to during the pandemic. If you have not listened to any of these I hope that you are at least intrigued.

Children's Book Week 2021

 So earlier this week, May 3rd through May 9th, was Children's Book Week. There are actually going to TWO Children's book weeks in 2021 (the second one will be in November and maybe I will actually post it about it before it happens).  In case you have never heard of Children's Book Week, it was actually started way way way back in 1919 by the Boy Scouts, making it the longest-running national literacy initiative ever!!!! Children's Book Week is all about connecting authors, librarians, teachers, and publishers, and getting more books into the hands of young readers. You may be asking now what actually happens during Children's Book Week. Well, you need to check out all of the awesome resources on the Every Child a Reader website (and, yes, they are still available online). Every year a renowned illustrator is chosen to create original artwork for Children's Book Week. This year the fantastic Caldecott-winning artist, Brian Collier, was selected and you can download a poster and bookmarks featuring his artwork. There are also other free resources like the Superpower Reading Challenge and step-by-step drawing instructions for some of your favorite characters such as Cat Ninja.

In honor of Children's Book Week here are some more recent publications (over the last year or two) that I have particularly enjoyed. 

1. Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson

As a children's librarian I am constantly asked for book recommendations based on what a young reader has read before. Renee Watson's new middle grade series about fourth grader, Ryan Hart, is perfect for fans of Junie B. Jones, Ramona Quimby, Clementine, or countless other books and series about elementary-aged girls. Ways to Make Sunshine is modern, realistic, and a positive family story without being overly saccharine. I absolutely adore Ryan and her brother, Ray, who bicker constantly and play tricks on one another, but still love and support one another. Young readers will appreciate that Ryan is not perfect. Like most children, she can be jealous, angry, petty, etc. However, she is also kind, generous, and willing to learn from her mistakes. What more can a parent hope for? I think that it is important that the Harts are not some idealized portrait of familial bliss. They are experiencing financial difficulties and have been forced to move to a smaller home, and Ryan struggles to be happy with all of the changes. The second book in the Ryan Hart series, Ways to Grow Love, was just published in April and I cannot wait to read it. I hope that Watson continues with this wonderful series for an incredibly long time.

As a fun side note, Ryan loves cooking and creating "concoctions" and her dream is to become a chef. The family lives in Portland, Oregon and that happens to be where the current season of Top Chef is located. If you have your own aspiring chef at home reading Ways to Make Sunshine and watching Top Chef may be fun.

3. Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

"Some things are impossible to talk about because they're things no one wants to know about." 

 There is no doubt that Della's story is one most people do not want to know about, because more than anything we wish stories like hers didn't occur at all. Ten year old Della (never call her Delicious) has not had a happy, carefree childhood. Her mother is a meth addict who has been incarcerated for the past five years and during that time she has been forced to live with her mother's abusive boyfriend, Clifton. Now Clifton has been arrested and Della is living in a foster home and going to a new school. At least Della is not alone. Suki, Della's sixteen year old sister, has always been there to love and protect her. Who protected Suki, though? Della worries that it is her fault that her sister has suffered in silence.  

 

There are not enough words to express how important a book like Fighting Words is. Does the story deal with difficult topics such as sexual abuse, drug addiction, suicide, foster care, consent? Yes, and I understand that many parents seeing those words are silently thinking no way am I going to allow my child to read that. I get wanting to be protective or our children's innocence. The horrible truth is that there are countless children in the world right now who will read Fighting Words and know for the first time that they are not alone. Della's story can provide these readers with hope and, perhaps, the courage to seek help. Of course, there are millions of readers who have not suffered trauma like Della and Suki's. Does that mean that they cannot benefit from reading Fighting Words? Of course not. To be able to see ourselves in characters is one of the magical gifts of fiction. Equally impressive is fiction's ability to allow a reader to place themselves in the shoes of someone they have nothing in common with and feel empathy.  May we all, like Della, discover our inner wolf, and learn to defend and cherish one another.

1. When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

Well, this is another story about two sisters but this one does not have the same trauma as Fighting Words. I am not going to lie, though, When You Trap a Tiger will still give you the feels and have you reaching for a tissue or two.

With barely more than a week's notice Lily and Sam's mother packs up their life in California so they can move in with Halmoni (Korean for grandmother) in Washington state. It soon becomes apparent that the reason for the hasty move has to do with the declining health of Halmoni. Can Lily cure her grandmother by appeasing the magical tiger from Halmoni's stories? Keller deftly combines fantasy and magic in a beautiful story about loss, growing up, sisterly love, and a family coming together.  As someone unfamiliar with Korean culture or folklore, reading When You Trap a Tiger was a wondrous journey. 

Losing a loved one is never easy, whether you are ten, twenty, or fifty. As Sam tells Lily at the end of When You Trap a Tiger: "The sadness fades, yeah. Eventually. But the missing...I don't know if that ever does."

Now that I have completely bummed you out let's move on to something a bit cheerier: Picture Books!

4. It's So Quiet! written by Sherri Duskey Rinker and illustrated by Tony Fucile

This new book by the author of the best-selling construction site series and gorgeously illustrated by Tony Fucile has quickly become a favorite for bedtime. I do suggest having a second calmer bedtime story, though, because It's So Quiet actually gets a bit rowdy.  A young mouse in the country is trying to go to sleep, but there are just too many things making noise outside his window. From the whoosh of the wind through the trees to the tip tap of a dog's tail on the floor it is not quiet enough for little mouse to go to sleep. 

I think that I have mentioned before I adore picture books with onomatopoeia (sound words), or perhaps I just really like using the word onomatopoeia. It's So Quiet is sure to have little ones croaking like frogs, chirping like crickets, and snoring like Grandpa on the porch.

 

Books with onomatopoeia, alliteration, and/or rhyming are excellent for helping little ones develop phonological awareness, a skill necessary for reading.  Phonological awareness is a fancy, ten dollar term for being able to able to recognize that words are made up of smaller sounds or phonemes. Sound words are often made from individual phonemes that are in other words and when kids make these sounds they are learning to hear and make these phonemes. So, not only are books like It's So Quiet incredibly fun to read, they will also help little ones develop the skills needed to be a fantastic readers!

 

 5. Julian at the Wedding by Jessica Love

Julian at the Wedding is the spectacular follow up to Julian is a Mermaid, which won the 2019 Stonewall Book Award. . Both of Jessica Love's stories about the oh-so-charming Julian and his fabulous Abuela are tenderly written and gorgeously illustrated. There is so much life and personality in her character's faces, and her colors are luminous.

Julian is very excited to be attending a wedding with his abuela and even prouder that he is going to be "in" the wedding.  Also in the wedding is a boisterous little girl named Marisol and she and Julian quickly become friends.  After sneaking away from the grownups Marisol proceeds to play with a very muddy puppy which destroys her peach confection of a dress. Julian creates a magical new outfit for Marisol out of his blazer and some willow branches.

The inclusivity of Julian at the Wedding (the wedding is of a same sex couple) is important to mention. I am in awe of how Love manages to exemplify the beauty of self-expression, acceptance, respect, and love with sparse language and a mere 32 pages. It is perfectly, wondrously normal that Julian is the one enamored  with clothes, flowers, and the other pageantry associated with a wedding. Marisol arrives wearing the poofiest dress with a backwards baseball camp and she is the one who rolls in the dirt with a puppy while Julian looks on horrified. 

I know that I mentioned how Love manages to show so much expression in the faces of her character. Although the weeding couple is not the focus of the book, you cannot look at the illustrations of them and not feel their love and devotion to one another. As a reader you feel like you are gazing into the hearts of all of Love's characters and seeing their inner beauty and kindness. It is truly magical and, honestly, I cannot think of another illustrator who conveys so much feeling and tenderness in human characters.

Not to mention, the details of the lace tablecloths, the willow branches, the flowers, etc. Love's illustration make me feel like I am walking through a mythical fairy garden. I wanted to be  a guest at that wedding. I could imagine, the texture of the lace tablecloth, the smell of the flower, the music playing and the laughter and pure joy of the event. I suppose it is a little heavy to ascribe so much to a picture book written for young children, but Julian at the Wedding is a breathtaking experience.

6. Saturday written and illustrated by Oge Mora

So the final book I want to talk about is another picture book. Saturday by Oge Mora is what I would call a modern take on Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Ava's mom works very hard six days a week so Saturday is the one day that the mother and daughter spend together. They always have special plans like going to storytime at the library (YAY libraries), getting their hair done, going to the park, etc. On this particular Saturday Ava and her mother even have tickets to a one day only puppet show.  Unfortunately, this Saturday is beset by problems. Story time has been cancelled, their new hairdos are destroyed by a passing car spraying water over them, the park is too crowded, and Ava's mom has even misplaced the puppet show tickets. Now you would think that Ava is the one in tears, bemoaning how the entire day has been ruined, but it is actually her mother. It is Ava who needs to remind her mother that any day that they spend together is a great day.  

First of all, I adore that Saturday features a working, single mom that obviously loves her daughter more than anything. also, Saturday shows everything going wrong but it is the mother who is crying and upset and it is up to the child to reassure her. Parents are not perfect and do not have all the answers. Sometimes parents need their children to remind them that all that matters is being together.