Taking a Closer Look: LGBTQ Characters in Books for Intermediate-Grade Children

Tadayuki Suzuki; Barbara Fiehn

doi:10.5860/cal.14n1.14

Taking a Closer Look: LGBTQ Characters in Books for Intermediate-Grade Children

Tadayuki Suzuki, Barbara Fiehn

Abstract

Some years ago a student in our graduate course on children’s literature said, “We have looked at a lot of picture books with LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Questioning) themes and characters, but are there any books for intermediate-level elementary students? There aren’t any listed in our textbook.” Until hearing the question from this student, we had never thought about the availability of LGBTQ books for intermediate-grade children. However, this question began a search lasting several years and resulted in the book list at the end of this article. In 2012, Jamie Campbell Naidoo’s book Rainbow Family Collections affirmed the experiences we had locating LGBTQ books for intermediate-level elementary students.1 This book covers LGBTQ media for preschool through grade six published through 2011, as a result, we have limited this article to books published since 2011. This article also discusses why locating these titles is often difficult and why the books need to be available to students.

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.14n1.14

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