GLBTQ collection: Queering the Picture Book

This article appeared in the journal "The Lion and the Unicorn".

This article by Melynda Huskey is an open and honest critical look at the world of GLBTQ children’s literature. The article draws on others works and words to make an honest and open statement about the way queer is represented in the books that exist today. Many of these books are not really child friendly, and if they are they lack truly great literary merits and spend too much time preaching. I thought that it was a great comparison made of this literature to the ubiquitous very strict Christian books where the story is lost in the moral of it all. I think that this is a really important story to make because while it could teach the lesson and proper terms and break a million stereotypes if a child stops listening because it bores them the message is lost. On the other hand if a book subtly includes portrayals that could be queer but tells a great story without really focusing on that queer definition a child could learn that they love this story and the character as they are, even if they don’t specifically realize the character is supposed to be gay or lesbian. The review also noted the book I chose to include in my collection “Chester’s Way” by Kevin Henkes as being a book that took a very obviously queer character and put them in a story without ever telling anyone that it was a gay mouse. This “proto-gay” character could be both stereotypical but if well balanced with other literature it could also be the beginning of a shift needed in these books. As a critical reviewer I felt that Ms. Huskey made excellent points about the fact that since being queer is only a sexual orientation it is not a race, a personality, or a visible thing; books feel they need to shout the point to readers. They think that if not it will simply be passed over by readers, but if a reader and an educator takes the time to teach these diverse values a book that simply allows queerness to be present in the novel will teach just as strongly.

Huskey, Melynda. "Queering The Picture Book." The Lion and the Unicorn 26.1(2002): 66-77.