Writing with Pride!

 by Sue Heavenrich

June is Pride Month and I thought: wouldn’t it be fun to kick off the month with a post about books that celebrate the diversity of families and who we are. Then I got to thinking ... why do we write the stories we do?

So I asked my friend and critique partner, Rowen MacCarald about their writing life. Rowen is a biologist who writes about science (and history and a lot of other topics) and we connected years ago while writing about nature for local newspapers. Since then, Rowen has authored more than forty nonfiction books for the educational market, including Getting Smelly to Survive (Abdo, 2022),  Eleanor Roosevelt: Progressive Reformer (Momentum, 2018) and soon-to-be-released The Weirdest Animals in the World (BrightPoint Press, August 2023).

Me: Forty nonfiction books! What made you decide to go from writing articles to writing books for kids?

Rowen: Honestly, my main reason for turning to writing for children (young adults specifically) was to write a story in which a kid like myself got to be the hero. I'm still working on that goal.

For me, nonfiction is about exploring the magic of the real world and finding the unexpected in real life. My favorite nonfiction is about animals, because I've loved animals as a kid and have amassed a fair amount of knowledge about wildlife and ecology over the years. So anytime I have an animal topic to write about, it's like visiting with an old friend. The Animal World series that I did recently was particularly fun. For The Weirdest Animals in the World, I got to delve into bizarre creatures like hagfish, a fish with no bones, no eyes, and the ability to make buckets of slime when threatened, and the platypus, an egg-laying mammal with a leathery bill and the ability to sense electricity. 

Me: In the past couple years, you’ve started writing  picture books that celebrate queer joy, pride, diversity, and inclusion. It’s been fun watching these stories come alive, but I wonder if you can talk about what nudged this change in your writing life.

Rowen: I remember listening to the Aru Shah book series (the Pandava Quintet by Roshani Chokshi) with my daughter, and there was a part where one of the characters was divorcing. Aru started thinking about all the different kinds of family structures the people she knew were part of. I loved that my kid got to hear that. Since she grew up with two moms, it was always important for me to feel like that was normal, and seeing it in books was a great way to do that.

I started writing picture books because they're short, honestly. Not because they're easier than longer books, because they're in some ways harder to write. No, the great thing about their length is that you can easily rewrite them multiple times, trying out different approaches and seeing what works and what doesn't work.

Once I started writing picture books, though, I ended up doing what I always do, which is try to take my unique perspective and share it on the page. So I wrote what I know about--queer parents, neurodivergent kids--and made sure to give my characters agency. That's really what wanting to be the hero is all about. It's not about slaying the dragon (who maybe would rather go on an adventure with you) or getting the girl (unless the girl is also getting you, because love interests deserve agency too). It's about having the power to influence your own fate. It's about having a voice to tell your own story.

I think the important point to remember about people with marginalized experiences is that we've had other people telling our stories for a long time. That's disempowering – even when they get things right. It's worse when they get things wrong, and it can feel dehumanizing. So I love that not only are many people with marginalized experiences getting the chance to share their own perspectives, people outside those identity who include marginalized characters are more motivated nowadays to try to get things right. 

Is this process perfect? No. Is there a lot of work still left to do? Yes, and what seems like progress can be a mistake that needs to be corrected. But I have to believe it's work worth doing. 

I want to show queer kids and kids with queer people in their family that they can take charge of their own story. And for kids who aren't queer, if they see queer kids having agency in a book, maybe that will help them support the queer kids around them. I think maybe the best thing a writer can do is remind us that we're all human, and our differences don't change the fact that we all need love, respect, and the chance to be the main character of our own story.

 

Me: I’m going to copy that last line and tape it to the wall above my desk! Thank you so much, Rowen, for sharing your story.

No matter what kind of family you live in, there’s a good chance that you’ve had to face issues with a new sibling, wanting a pet, going to school, fighting dragons… okay, maybe not the last, but the thing is, books that celebrate LGBTQ pride are about everyday things. 

Here’s a baker's dozen picture books suitable for Pride Month or any time of the year:

And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell; illus. by Henry Cole 

Heather Has Two Mommies, by Leslea Newman; illus. by Laura Cornell 

Julián Is a Mermaid, by Jessica Love 

They're So Flamboyant, by Michael Genhart; illus. by Tony Neal 

Bathe the Cat, by Alice B. McGinty; illus. by David Roberts 

Not Yet a Yeti, by Lou Treleaven; illus. by Tony Neal 

When Aidan Became a Brother, by Kyle Lukoff; illus. by Kaylani Juanita 

Patience, Patches! by Christy Mihaly; illus. by Sheryl Murray 

Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle, by Nina LaCour; illus. by Kaylani Juanita 

Prince & Knight, by Daniel Haack; illus. by Stevie Lewis 

Neither, by Airlie Anderson 

My Mommies Built a Treehouse, by Gareth Peter; illus. by Izzy Evans 

Worm Loves Worm, by J.J. Austrian; illus. by Mike Curato

Want more? Check out this list of LGBTQ+ Picture Books for Kids by Children's Services Librarians of the Seattle Public Library, and these links to the New York Public Library: New Books for Kids & Teens to Celebrate Pride Month and Great Board Books & Picture Books to Celebrate Pride Month. If that’s not enough, Allison McDonald has her own Ultimate Pride Book list of 90 books .