Cool Stuff For Queer Kids

11 People Behind 60% of the Book Banning? Let’s Break Down What the Washington Post Reporting Means.
As reported by Hannah Natanson May 23 and 24 in the Washington Post, after analyzing more than 1,000 book challenges across 32 states, they found that 42 percent of the books were challenged for having LGBTQ characters or themes. 28 percent of the books were...

Announcing Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill: The Podcast
Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill: The Podcast will drop thirty-six episodes on five Thursdays in June 2023 – both a celebration of Pride and a response to the banning of Queer books, history, and information for teens sweeping the U.S. I hope you'll make it part of your...

Resources from my “No Way, They Were Gay?” Breakout Sessions at NEA’s 2023 LGBTQ+ Social Justice and Leadership Conference
What an amazing conference! I'm so grateful to C. Scott Miller and the entire NEA LGBTQ+ Caucus for inviting me to be part of their first LGBTQ+ Social Justice and Leadership Conference since 2019. Every one of the 250+ educators who attended the conference got a copy...

Exciting News About My Next Picture Book!
Whoo-hoo! I'm so excited that Publishers Weekly just announced my next picture book, LOVE OF THE HALF-EATEN PEACH! Here's the text of the announcement, from the March 8, 2023 edition of PW's Children's Bookshelf: Wiley Blevins at Reycraft Books has bought worldwide...

It’s All Connected – A Rant/Musing For This Moment
The news has been a lot lately. All these laws,Restricting Abortion access and taking away women’s control of their bodiesTax incentives for straight couples to have more and more children Banning Drag shows for kidsBlocking Gender affirming care for minors (and even...

Queer Kid Lit Creators
We're more than two years into this free, all-volunteer-powered safe space gathering of Queer-identified Children's and Teen Literature Writers, Translators, and illustrators, and if you identify as Queer and your creative work includes kid lit, there are 8 very cool...

What It’s Really Like to Have Your Book Banned as an Author
Highest highs: Me and a room full of middle schoolers at a school visit in November 2022, organized by We Need Diverse Books and Writers and Artists Across the Country. Every student in the photo is holding their own copy of my nonfiction book for readers age 11 and...

Download the Activity Sheet for RED AND GREEN AND BLUE AND WHITE
I'm a giant fan of the RED AND GREEN AND BLUE AND WHITE picture book illustrator, Paul O. Zelinsky, and he created this brilliant activity page (click here to download.) What's so cool is that kids can fill in the windows with all Christmas trees and one Menorah, just...

October Queer History Month Book Recommendations and Events!
Happy October! This month I'll be presenting at 3 events: The San Diego Writers Festival - I'll be on two panels, There’s No Such Thing as “Self” Publishing – How to Publish Professionally (I'm moderating, with Kirk Whisler and Leslie Ferguson), and Kid Lit Experts...