It’s Natnal Comg Out Day. This new book breaks down the “Gay BCs” for younger children as they search for inty

Contents:

• THE GAYBCS
• IT’S NATNAL COMG OUT DAY. THIS NEW BOOK BREAKS DOWN THE “GAY BCS” FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN AS THEY SEARCH FOR INTY

THE GAYBCS

Featurg bright illtratns and upbeat, accsible poems, The GayBCs is perfect for fans of A Is for Activist and Femist Baby—showg kids and adults alike that every inty is worthy of beg celebrated. Courty of the Jam Marshall Papers, Archiv & Special Collectns, Universy of Connecticut LibraryUpdated, 4/1/20: We’re revisg this feature, origally published last year, followg the ath of Tomie Paola, the thor and illtrator of “Strega Nona,” on Monday at 85.IN 1998, WHEN my sons were still too young to read by themselv, my partner and I gave them a picture book lled “Lucy Go to the Country.” It’s about a t who liv wh two gay men; you n tell by the tchotchk.The book, then jt published, was evintly meant to help normalize already borgly normal fai like ours by g the tradnal substutn of animals for people orr to illtrate how much fun havg gay dads n be. (So did the name of a town en route to the untry: Peckerwood.) And if you stopped to thk about , “Lucy” seemed to argue that the gay dads, however full of fun, were aquate: When the pa chips were down, they need rcug, too.[Sign up here for the T List newsletter, a weekly roundup of what T Magaze edors are noticg and vetg now.]Maybe that’s why my boys didn’t love .

Among gay-themed children’s stori, they preferred “Frog and Toad.” No, I know: “Frog and Toad” — a seri of four picture books by Arnold Lobel, origally published between 1970 and 1979 — is not gay-themed. But ’s not not gay-themed eher. They get to scrap separately but get out of them together, which is not a bad fn of marriage.ImageCred...From left: Jam Marshall, “Gee and Martha,” urty of Houghton Miffl Harurt; Arnold Lobel, “Frog and Toad are Friends” © 1970 Arnold Lobel, ed by permissn of HarperColls Publishers; Jam Marshall, “Miss Nelson is Missg!,” urty of Houghton Miffl HarurtOur boys loved the stori, as did we — but not bee Lobel was gay.

They ntued to make books together for years: a Frog and Toad tale if ever there was one.Still, Lobel’s gayns, when I learned of much later, seemed like somethg I should have known all along; lurked everywhere his words and pictur. Which is not to say Frog and Toad uld turn you gay.

IT’S NATNAL COMG OUT DAY. THIS NEW BOOK BREAKS DOWN THE “GAY BCS” FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN AS THEY SEARCH FOR INTY

They suggted, no ls to as gay parents than to our sons wh their polar personali, how separatens uld bee solidary and oddns acmodatn. Nor did Lobel neglect to show how much work tak to achieve those victori, and how tenuo they n be; he died, 1987, of plitns om AIDS.However d the books’ gay ntent, was no surprise once d. It’s also that all of their thors were gay.

As if that weren’t enough, he referred to the gay muny, who took him as one of their own whether he liked or not, as “l boys.”In any se, the more you look, the more pronounced the pattern gets. Sss and Shel Silverste were prumably heterosexual, no matter that Silverste glowered om the photos on his book jackets like a hot Scff daddy.ImageCred...Used by permissn of HarperColls, urty of Children’s Lerature Collectn, UMNBut remas the se that the thors of many of the most succsful and fluential works of children’s lerature the middle years of the last century — works that were formative for baby boomers, Gen-Xers, lennials and beyond — were gay. At a time when those wrers wouldn’t dare (as Paola recently told me) walk hand hand wh a lover, when only a straight children’s thor like Silverste uld get away wh publishg a story Playboy about life the homophile En that is Fire Island P, they won Caltt and Newbery Medals for books that, whout ever directly speakg their tth, sent out a secret language that was somehow accsible to those who need to receive .

The works forted the proto-gay but also tenrized the proto-straight a way no other lerature uld.THINK ABOUT WHAT was happeng unr the ver of children’s lerature. The msage: Leave me alone wh my imagatn and I’ll be fe.It mt have lighted Sendak to know that, spe the ocsnal censorship kerfuffle, an Ameri terrified of gay fluence on children was vourg his ovre as fast as he uld whip up.