Happy Pride Month! 🌈 We’re recommending six picture book that celebrates LGBTQ+ identities and families, showing children what’s possible when they can be their authentic selves.
Books and reading play a powerful role in creating a world where all identities are valued and celebrated. Why else would book bans continue to target queer books and authors, keeping these stories from reaching kids who need them? One of the best ways to combat this censorship is to buy, read, and deeply engage with queer stories. Our book sets on Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and LGBTQ+ Families identify the best books for the job, each including four books and discussion guides to help adults lead brave conversations with confidence.
Storytelling expands our worldviews, our imaginations, our capacities for empathy. Here’s our short list of essential reading for kids during Pride Month (and all year long):
The Neal house is full of warmth, sunshine, and love. One day during playtime, Trinity realizes that she wants hair like her dolls, long, flowing hair that helps show the world who she really is, a beautiful, Black, transgender girl. Wanting to support her, the family heads to the beauty supply shop to find just the right wig. But nothing feels quite right. Trinity’s mom and brother work together to create something special—something bold and bright, just like Trinity.
Ari’s Uncle Lior always asks a thoughtful question when they visit: “What are your words?” Some days, Ari feels like ‘she/her’ fits. Other days, ‘he/him’ feels more right. But when the neighborhood’s big summer celebration arrives, Ari feels uncertain—no words seem to fit just yet. As Ari and Uncle Lior prepare for a big summer party and meet friends and neighbors along the way, each with their own words, Ari explores different
pronouns and realizes that it’s perfectly okay not to have all the answers right away—sometimes, your words find you when you’re ready.
Lucía is told by some boys on the playground that she cannot be a superhero because she is a girl, which makes her very mad. With the help of her abuela (grandma), she creates a mask in the style of a luchadora, a female masked wrestler, so she can be brave and become anything she wants, including a superhero.
Nicki is excited to be a flower girl in Aunt Carmela’s wedding to Big Dave. She can’t wait to celebrate their love and spread pretty flower petals down the aisle on the big day. But when it comes to picking out a dress to wear for the big day, Nicki isn’t very happy. Read to find out how Nicki finds a way to be the best Flower Girl she can be, dressed exactly as herself.
When a lesbian couple, Cari and Lauri, return home to discover their Pride flag missing and their front porch covered in eggs, the comfort and connection they once felt in their neighborhood suddenly feel shaken. They begin to wonder—do they still belong? Are they truly safe? But just when things feel uncertain, the neighborhood kids step up to help. Based on a real-life story, the children come together with kindness and creativity to show Cari, Lauri, and their dogs, Twink and Scout, that they are loved and supported.
This book is inspired by a real-life story of two women, Fleur and Julian, who wanted to share their love in a special way. After learning that many countries still don’t allow same-sex couples to get married, they decided to take a stand by getting married in every country where it’s legal for two women to wed. Let’s read to find out how Fleur and Julian travel the globe, saying “I do” in each country that celebrates marriage equality.