June is LGBT Pride Month, and throughout this month people everywhere (including President Obama) have been celebrating the positive impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have had in the world. The fight for LGBT rights has always been a matter of civil rights and equality, as our publisher noted in a recent post, and it’s nice that we live in an era when that’s acknowledged by so many people.
As for us, we’re excited to continue expanding our definition of diversity to include LGBT diversity. Here are three titles with gay or lesbian main characters:
Antonio’s Card/ La tarjeta de Antonio, by Rigoberto González, illustrated by Cecilia Concepción Álvarez
Antonio’s Card was originally published by Children’s Book Press in 2006 and is now part of our new CBP imprint. It tells the story of Antonio as he struggles to find the words to express his love for his mother and her partner, Leslie, as Mother’s Day approaches.
Cat Girl’s Day Off, by Kimberly Pauley
In this YA novel, Nat’s Talent of talking to cats pulls her into a madcap adventure through Chicago with best friends Melly and Oscar (who is gay).
Diverse Energies, edited by Joe Monti and Tobias S. Buckell
Coming this fall, Diverse Energies is a dystopian anthology with a focus on diversity – all types of diversity, including racial diversity, LGBT diversity, and of course, some very diverse visions of both the future and the past. Contributing authors include Ursula K. LeGuin, Paolo Bacigalupi, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, and more. Stay tuned on the blog for more information.
We hope to add more titles to this list soon. Adding more books with LGBT diversity is a natural extension of our mission to meet the need for stories that all children can identify with and enjoy.
What are your favorite LGBT books? Share ’em in the comments!
