Recently I had the pleasure of attending the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy. Cited as the largest international rights fair in the world, attending means getting to peruse art for kids from all over the globe, attending great talks (for example: In Their Own Words: Storytelling to Protect Vanishing African Languages), and eating great quantities of very delicious gelato and crepes and then spilling Nutella all over your pants (not that I’d, uh, know or anything).
The last time I’d attended the fair was about 11 years ago, which meant that a decade had passed in the interim. I noted the significant rise of publishers from different African nations, the fact that publishers from South America, Japan, and China had stayed home due to COVID, and … a gap in subject matter. To my surprise, I had a great deal of difficulty finding children’s books with LGBTQIA+ content from other nations.
Curious, I turned to translator and children’s author Lawrence Schimel for answers. Schimel is the author of the board books Early One Morning and Bedtime, Not Playtime, which were attacked by the Hungarian and Russian governments for their depiction of loving gay parents (but may have the last laugh given that there are now 46 editions of the books in 37 languages). His answer was interesting:
“I do think there has been less representation over the last few years, especially at the younger ages. Some publishers, like Vydavnytstvo who published the picture book Maya and Her Moms written by Larysa Denysenko and illustrated by Masha Foya, obviously couldn’t attend because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Recent LGBTQIA+ Friendly Picture Books for Kids
- Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty, ill. David Roberts
- Bodies are Cool by Tyler Feder
- Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle by Nina LaCour, ill. Kaylani Juanita
- Mr. Watson’s Chickens by Jarrett Dapier, ill. Andrea Tsurumi
- Pink, Blue, and You! Questions for Kids About Gender Stereotypes by Elise Gravel with Mykaell Blais
Schimel then told me of other publishers that, whether due to the price or COVID, simply couldn’t make it. He also mentioned that English-speaking countries were probably producing the books with the most gay-friendly content. Sure enough, one of the few book covers I had noticed walking the aisles was a prominent title called The Big Book of Pride Flags by Jem Milton, due out here in the States on June 21. The publisher? Jessica Kingsley, a British firm.
Returning to America and to my work at Evanston Public Library also meant returning to news reports of Florida Governor Rick DeSantis signing the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” as some have deemed it. During his press conference, DeSantis held up Kyle Lukoff’s lovely Call Me Max about a transgender boy as a title that is typical of the books he doesn’t want kids reading.
America is not the only country that is seeing right-wing pushbacks against loving depictions of LGBTQIA+ themes in children’s literature (as the response to Maya and Her Moms in Ukraine in 2017 shows). However, there is comfort in knowing that at Evanston Public Library, we have books for every kind of family and every kind of kid. Celebrate this range by checking them out today.
Betsy Bird is the Collection Development Manager of Evanston Public Library.
As a children’s book writer and publisher, I usually attend Bologna every year. But this year so many US publishers sat out that I decided I would too. It’s now more important than ever to create and distribute books about LGBTQIA+ as censorship expands in this country. Our company, and many other major publishers, signed a statement opposing attacks on books from the National Coalition Against Censorship. Standing up for free speech and better representation is our collective responsibility.
Talk about societal regression…….with DeSantis, we are encountering an updated version of The Book Thief. In the current horror of the Ukraine, we are revisiting the incalculable travesty and tragedies of eight decades past.
If “the old is forever new”, then humanity has learned naught……