The Washgton Post</tle><path fill-le="evenodd" fill="whe" d="M42.2 24.27l-4.28-4.32-3.28 3.32v26.65l7.47 6.62.08-.07v-32.2zm-17.25 1l-5.34-5.32-3.51 3.62V50l6.48 5.62 2.37-2.7V25.27zm59.4-13.49l8.65 8v33.76L79.61 63.78c-1.3-1.63-2.9-3.02-4.81-3.57v16.15l-.16.08-4.2-3.96-8.87 8.3-.16-.08V59.82a14.37 14.37 0 00-7.8 5.13l-.61-.39c.53-5.98 3.44-10.4 8.41-12.1V37.31h-1.6a4.03 4.03 0 00-4.06 3.26h-.91A9.64 9.64 0 0154.3 37c0-3.8 2.52-6.68 6.65-6.68h.46v-8.38l-2.75-2.48-2.14 2.17-1.07-1.01 8.49-8.85 7.19 6.68v7.6l2.22-2.4v-8.93h1.45v7.37l9.56-10.32zm-11 13.35l-2.22 2.33v43.7l2.22 2.1V25.12zM15.1 0l.68.62c-2.51 1.23-4.57 2.77-4.57 6.08 0 5.09 4.88 3.78 4.88 11.79v3.08l8.92-9.47 9.39 9.32 8.85-9.33 8.54 8.48v28.5L36.1 63.71l-10.6-9.25-8.1 9.25-10.98-9.55v-15.1H4.27c-1.9 0-2.82 1.15-3.13 2.7H.38c-.15-.62-.38-1.7-.38-2.93 0-2 .84-7.24 6.4-7.24V19.88c0-4.55-2.97-4.78-2.97-8.7C3.43 6.77 7.55 2.7 15.11 0zm63.74 19.16L74.8 23.5v28.18c3.6.46 6.27 1.7 8.49 4.11l.07-.08V23.35l-4.5-4.2z"></path></svg><div class="center ml-xxs">Exclive</div></div></span></div></div><div class="PJLV PJLV-iPJLV-css grid-center w-100"><h1 id="ma-ntent" class="ml-to mr-to font--headle offblack headle mb-xs pb-xxs-ns">‘Racist,’ ‘groomg’: Why parents are tryg to ban so many picture books</h1></div><div class="PJLV PJLV-iPJLV-css grid-center w-100"><h2 class="ma-to font--subhead font-light offblack subheadle mb-sm mb-md-ns">The culture war over what children n read has reached illtrated texts for the youngt rears</h2></div><div class="PJLV PJLV-iPJLV-css grid-center w-100"><div class="flex prt-byle prt-mt-none jtify-center"><div class="byle-wrapper flex-lumn flex ems-ns-center"><div class="PJLV PJLV-ihSmMVC-css"><div class="mb-xxs" style="gap:0.5rem" data-qa="thor-byle"><span class="wpds-c-PJLV"><div class="flex ems-center" data-qa="thor-byle"><div class="mr-sm flex lh-0"><div class="wpds-c-iTcer"><img src=" alt="" class="wpds-c-dgBqAZ"/></div></div><span class="left"><div class="flex"><div class="dib font-xxs" data-qa="name-wh-optnal-lk" data-cy="name-wh-optnal-lk"><span data-qa="attributn-text" class="wpds-c-cNdzuP">By <!-- --> </span><a data-qa="thor-name" href=" rel="thor" class="wpds-c-cNdzuP wpds-c-cNdzuP-ejzZdU-isLk-te">Hannah Natanson</a></div></div></span></div></span></div></div><div data-ttid="timtamp" class="wpds-c-kgabfe wpds-c-kgabfe-ikrKXLV-css"><span data-ttid="display-date" class="wpds-c-iKQyrV">July 12, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT</span></div></div></div></div><div class="PJLV PJLV-iPJLV-css grid-center grid-tablet-full-bleed"><div data-ttid="le-art" data-qa="le-art" class=""><figure class="overflow-hidn relative hi-for-prt center center mb-sm mb-md-ns ml-to-ns mr-to-ns"><div style="filter:blur(10px);transn:filter .1s;le-height:0" class="w-100 mw-100 h-to" width="600" height="400"><img style="background-size:ver;max-width:1600px;background-image:url('data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http%3A//; xmlns%3Axlk='http%3A//; viewBox='0 0 1280 853'%3E%3Cfilter id='b' lor-terpolatn-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGssianBlur stdDeviatn='.5'%3E%3C/feGssianBlur%3E%3CfeComponentTransfer%3E%3CfeFuncA type='discrete' tableValu='1 1'%3E%3C/feFuncA%3E%3C/feComponentTransfer%3E%3C/filter%3E%3Cimage filter='url(%23b)' x='0' y='0' height='100%25' width='100%25' xlk%3Ahref='data%3Aimage/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAkAAAAGCAIAAACepSOSAAAACXBIWXMAAC4jAAAuIwF4pT92AAAAs0lEQVQI1wGoAFf/AImSoJSer5yjs52ktp2luJuluKOpuJefsoCNowB+kKaOm66grL+krsCnsMGrt8m1u8mzt8OVoLIAhJqzjZ2tnLLLnLHJp7fNmpyjqbPCqLrRjqO7AIeUn5ultaWtt56msaSnroZyY4mBgLq7wY6TmwCRfk2Pf1uzm2WulV+xmV6rmGyQfFm3nWSBcEIAfm46jX1FkH5Djn5AmodGo49MopBLlIRBfG8yj/dfjF5TUAAAAASUVORK5CYII='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E')" alt="A grid of 8 box show children's picture book vers alternatg wh handwrten plats about them." class="w-100 mw-100 h-to" width="600" height="400" srcSet=" 400w, 540w, 691w, 767w, 916w, 1200w, 1440w" siz="(max-width: 440px) 440px,(max-width: 768px) 691px,(max-width: 1023px) 916px,(max-width: 1199px) 1200px,(m-width: 1200px) 1440px,440px" dg="async"/></div><figptn class="ml-gutter mr-gutter mr-to-ns ml-to-ns font--subhead font-xxxs mt-xs left gray-dark">(Illtratn by Lucy Naland/The Washgton Post; Pengu Random Hoe; HarperColls Publishers)</figptn></figure></div></div></div></div><div class="wpds-c-cfCtfh"><div class="wpds-c-jUMcim wpds-c-jUMcim-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt mb-sm"><div class="PJLV PJLV-ieDMgMI-css flex ems-center" nfig="[object Object]" data-qa="article-actns"><div class="wpds-c-mfMEg"><div class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-hnjNCH wpds-c-kSOqLF-bywHgD-variant-primary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-hZSyid-isOutle-te wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-futx-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-eNNUQD-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-jGqLyO-cv"><div class="wpds-c-jmMNTu"><div role="button" tabx="0" aria-label="Listen" data-ttid="listen-button" class="PJLV PJLV-ieXqgLD-css"><svg xmlns=" fill="var(--wpds-lors-primary)" viewBox="0 0 16 16" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-kKAfCG wpds-c-bPOGbC"><path fill="currentColor" d="M12.29 3.88A6.13 6.13 0 0 1 14 8.24V11a3 3 0 0 1-3 3h-1V8h1a3 3 0 0 1 2 .78v-.54A5.118 5.118 0 0 0 8 3a5.12 5.12 0 0 0-5 5.24v.54A3 3 0 0 1 5 8h1v6H5a3 3 0 0 1-3-3 2.09 2.09 0 0 1 0-.5V8.24A6.13 6.13 0 0 1 8 2a6.13 6.13 0 0 1 4.29 1.88Z"></path></svg></div><span aria-hidn="te" class="wpds-c-uwUI">Listen</span><div class="wpds-c-jxWEMP">11 m</div></div></div></div><div class="wpds-c-mfMEg"><div class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-hnjNCH wpds-c-kSOqLF-bywHgD-variant-primary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-hZSyid-isOutle-te wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-futx-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-eNNUQD-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-jGqLyO-cv"><button aria-label="Comment" class="wpds-c-gPbxFP"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="var(--wpds-lors-primary)" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-kKAfCG wpds-c-efqEZa flex ems-center jtify-center brad-lg poter transn-400 ease--out transn-lors" aria-label="Comment on this story"><tle>Comment on this story</tle><path d="M14 14V2H2v9.47h8.18L12.43 13ZM3 10.52V3h10v9.23l-2.5-1.66Z"></path></svg></button><span aria-hidn="te" class="wpds-c-fBEbFG">Comment</span><span class="wpds-c-fOvfhP wpds-c-fOvfhP-kshkDy-isCommentType-te none" aria-hidn="te"><span class="ment-unt font-xxxxs sc-ral-unt"><span class="ral-unt unfed" data-ral-notext="te"></span></span></span></div></div><div class="wpds-c-mfMEg"><div class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-hnjNCH wpds-c-kSOqLF-bywHgD-variant-primary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-hZSyid-isOutle-te wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-futx-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-eNNUQD-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-jGqLyO-cv"><div class="dib poter" data-qa="gift-share"><div aria-label="Gift this story" aria-ntrols="gift-share" aria-owns="gift-share" id="gift-share-ntrol" class="" aria-haspopup="te" aria-expand="false" role="button" tabx="0"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" class="wpds-c-dJBvpf wpds-c-PJLV" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img"><path d="M10.73 5h.14a1.75 1.75 0 0 0 1-2.25 1.83 1.83 0 0 0-.51-.75 1.72 1.72 0 0 0-1.48-.35 1.76 1.76 0 0 0-1.2.94L8 3.93l-.68-1.4A1.76 1.76 0 0 0 4 3.59 1.74 1.74 0 0 0 5.13 5H2v4h1v5h10V9h1V5ZM9.58 3a.77.77 0 0 1 .51-.4h.17a.73.73 0 0 1 .47.17.72.72 0 0 1 .27.71.72.72 0 0 1-.48.58l-1.77.66ZM5 3.43a.72.72 0 0 1 .27-.71.73.73 0 0 1 .47-.17h.17a.77.77 0 0 1 .51.4l.83 1.7L5.48 4A.74.74 0 0 1 5 3.43ZM3 6h4.5v2H3Zm1 3h3.5v4H4Zm4.5 4V9H12v4ZM13 8H8.5V6H13Z" data-name="Path 10"></path></svg></div></div><span aria-hidn="te" class="wpds-c-fBEbFG">Gift<!-- --> <span class="PJLV PJLV-ikqOWxF-css">Article</span></span></div></div><div class="dib poter" data-qa="wpds-tooltip-ntrol"><div aria-ntrols="actns-tooltip" aria-owns="actns-tooltip" id="actns-tooltip-ntrol" class="" aria-haspopup="te" aria-expand="false"><div class="wpds-c-mfMEg"><div class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-hnjNCH wpds-c-kSOqLF-bywHgD-variant-primary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-hZSyid-isOutle-te wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-in-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-futx-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-eNNUQD-cv wpds-c-hnjNCH-jGqLyO-cv"><div tabx="0" aria-label="Share" class="PJLV PJLV-ietWzJw-css"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-dJBvpf wpds-c-dJBvpf-iPJLV-css "><path d="M14 14H2V7h1v6h10V7h1Zm-5.5-2h-1V3h1Z"></path><path d="M10.29 5.71 11 5 8 2l-.71.71L5 5l.71.71L8 3.42l2.29 2.29z"></path></svg></div><span aria-hidn="te" class="wpds-c-fBEbFG">Share</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="teaser-ntent grid-center"><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Dangero.” “Groomg.” “Reckls.” “Racist.” “Lyg.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">All are adjectiv that adults applied to children’s picture books as they sought to ban the tl om schools last year. The illtrated texts, tend for the youngt rears, are a surprisg foc of the historic spike efforts to rtrict lerature classrooms and K-12 librari, acrdg to a first-of-s-kd Washgton Post analysis of schoolbook challeng.</p></div></div><div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The disntent wh children’s picture books overwhelmgly centers on tl wh LGBTQ characters and storyl, which were targeted 75 percent of such challeng, The Post found. The top motive, ced 64 percent of the picture-book plats, was a wish to prevent children om readg about lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, nonbary and queer liv. The next most-mon reason was books’ “appropriate” nature, ced 44 percent of challeng, and the third most-mon reason was that books were “anti-police,” a charge clud 25 percent of challeng.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-body grid-center" data-qa="article-body"><div class="wpds-c-SEUFi wpds-c-SEUFi-iblNTCR-css"><div data-ttid="re-roel-ntaer" role="group" aria-rolescriptn="roel" class="wpds-c-jQxwKe wpds-c-jQxwKe-ijDnrbR-css"><a href="#end-react-aria-1" class="wpds-c-iSKIAI wpds-c-iSKIAI-iedmEYU-css">Skip to end of roel</a><div class="absolute right-0 pa-md h-100 z-1 poter-events-none" style="top:0;background-image:"></div><div class="flex-ns jtify-between ems-center" aria-hidn="te"><h6 class="wpds-c-bcjwkI">About this seri and soarg book challeng the U.S.</h6><div class="PJLV arrows mb-sm jtify-center flex"><button ariaLabel="Navigate to the left" class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-hGNJMA-in-center wpds-c-kSOqLF-ijxySvO-css wpds-c-ktSrjS" dataQa="sc-roel-arrow-left" disabled="" tabx="-1"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp "><path d="m6.62 12.62.71-.71L3.91 8.5H14v-1H3.91l3.42-3.41-.71-.71L2 8Z"></path></svg><span class="wpds-c-iSKIAI">arrow left</span></button><button ariaLabel="Navigate to the right" class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-SQjOY-variant-sendary wpds-c-kSOqLF-biynoz-nsy-pact wpds-c-kSOqLF-hGNJMA-in-center wpds-c-kSOqLF-ieFkEda-css wpds-c-iIeZAd" dataQa="sc-roel-arrow-right" tabx="-1"><svg xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 16 16" fill="currentColor" aria-hidn="te" focable="false" role="img" class="wpds-c-fBqPWp "><path d="m9.38 3.38-.71.71 3.42 3.41H2v1h10.09l-3.42 3.41.71.71L14 8Z"></path></svg><span class="wpds-c-iSKIAI">arrow right</span></button></div></div><div data-ttid="roel-ntent" data-qa="roel-ntent" class="wpds-c-cubdkx overflow-xscroll"><div data-qa="roel-em-0" data-ttid="roel-em-0" class="wpds-c-bYoKkr snap-start flex-none" role="group" aria-rolescriptn="sli" aria-label="1 of 3"><div class="wpds-c-iKoytf wpds-c-iKoytf-iduqwxX-css"><div class="wpds-c-iMKICq wpds-c-iMKICq-ihPoHKF-css"><div><div class="wpds-c-jIpZwk">Schoolbook challeng have risen to unprecented levels over the past three years. To unrstand what and who is drivg objectns to K-12 texts, Washgton Post K-12 Edutn reporter Hannah Natanson <a href=" target=_blank>filed rerds requts wh 150 school districts natnwi</a>, seekg pi of every book challenge they received the 2021-2022 school year. If your school is seeg book challeng and you have a story to share, please get touch by emailg — or fill out <a href=" target=_blank>this submissn form</a>.</div></div></div></div></div><div data-qa="roel-em-1" data-ttid="roel-em-1" class="wpds-c-bYoKkr snap-start flex-none" role="group" aria-rolescriptn="sli" aria-label="2 of 3"><div class="wpds-c-iKoytf wpds-c-iKoytf-iduqwxX-css"><div class="wpds-c-iMKICq wpds-c-iMKICq-ihPoHKF-css"><div><div class="wpds-c-jIpZwk">Natanson obtaed and read through more than 1,000 challeng totalg 2,500 pag. A Post analysis of the challeng found that books about LGBTQ people are fast beg the ma target of the challeng — and that the majory of book plats <a href=" target=_blank>e om a mcule number of hyperactive adults</a>. Jt 11 people were rponsible for filg 60 percent of the 2021-2022 challeng. The most monly ced reason for opposg books was a sire to shield children om sexual ntent.</div></div></div></div></div><div data-qa="roel-em-2" data-ttid="roel-em-2" class="wpds-c-bYoKkr snap-start flex-none" style="marg-right:0px" role="group" aria-rolescriptn="sli" aria-label="3 of 3"><div class="wpds-c-iKoytf wpds-c-iKoytf-iduqwxX-css"><div class="wpds-c-iMKICq wpds-c-iMKICq-ihPoHKF-css"><div><div class="wpds-c-jIpZwk">This seri employs large-sle data analysis to obta a clear picture of which texts are drawg objectns and why — you n read the first story the seri here — “<a href=" target="_blank">Objectn to sexual, LGBTQ ntent propels spike book challeng</a>" — and the send story here: “<a href=" target="_blank">‘Racist,’ ‘groomg’: Why parents are tryg to ban so many picture books</a>.” Forthg articl will center the perspectiv of those who are challengg books, those who oppose the challeng and the admistrators forced to rpond to the flurry of objectns, as well as thors of challenged tl.</div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="re-roel-pagatn-arrows"><p class="wpds-c-kvJCne">1<!-- -->/<!-- -->3</p></div></div><span id="end-react-aria-1" class="sr-only" data-ttid="sr-only">End of roel</span></div><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“This book … opens up nversatns that lead to groomg and do not separate tn om moral beliefs,” an Idaho woman wrote a filg agast “<a href=" target=_blank>Pri: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rabow Flag</a>.”</p><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">A Pennsylvania woman alleged that the book “<a href=" target=_blank>Julián Is a Mermaid</a>,” featurg a boy who drs as a mermaid, will “nfe a child … to e drag clothg and makp.”</p><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">And a man Virgia wrote that the book “<a href=" target=_blank>A Place Insi Of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart</a>,” which explor a Black child’s reactn to the police killg of a girl his hometown, has “very dark and sister parts,” cludg the fact “law enforcement is picted as villas throughout this work.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">Want to know more about my reportg on school book challeng? Subm your qutns for a live chat next week.</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The Post requted and analyzed roughly 2,500 pag of book challeng filed more than 100 districts natnwi throughout the 2021-2022 amic year. Picture books ma up nearly 10 percent of all the tl challenged the 1,000-pl plats, The Post found. The ee exprsn advocy group PEN Ameri, too, <a href=" target=_blank>nclud that more than 300 picture books</a> were challenged at school the 2021-2022 school year.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="mb-md"><iame tle="" aria-label="" id="datawrapper-chart-KgP2T" src=" scrollg="no" ameBorr="0" width="100%" height="500" style="borr:none"></iame></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Part of me is like, ‘Wow, people are really puttg all this emphasis on picture books?’” said Kaylani Juana, who illtrated “<a href=" target=_blank>When Aidan Beme a Brother</a>,” which featur a transgenr protagonist. The tle was the send most-challenged picture book intified by The Post. “They’re treatg the books like weapons.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">It is par for the urse that polil topics du jour are shapg a bate about kids’ books, said Carol Tilley, an associate profsor at the Universy of Illois at Urbana-Champaign who rearch children’s prt culture. She poted out that, the 1950s, adults Alabama <a href=" target="_blank">csad</a> agast “<a href=" target="_blank">The Rabb’s Weddg</a>,” which told the story of a black and whe rabb gettg married.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“That didn’t play well segregatnist stat at the time,” she said. “I thk that you see a long pattern: Concerns tend to mirror whatever the big social chang are at any particular time.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p><span class="wpds-c-gnhuPA wpds-c-gnhuPA-hqeSyH-variant-terstial wpds-c-gnhuPA-iPJLV-css hi-for-prt"><a data-qa="terstial-lk" href=">Objectn to sexual, LGBTQ ntent propels spike book challeng</a></span></p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">As nflicts rage over what and how children should learn about race, genr and sex at school, public opn seems spl.<b> </b><a href=" target=_blank>A late-2022 Post-KFF poll</a> found that more than 70 percent of adults feel is appropriate for teachers to discs trans inty krgarten through fifth gra, while slightly more than half of adults also believe the topic is appropriate for gras six through eight. At the same time, 77 percent of Amerins say they are “extremely” or “very” ncerned by book rtrictns schools, acrdg to a <a href=" target=_blank>March poll om Fox News</a>.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">It is also the se, said Skidmore College profsor Cathere Goln, who teach a class on 19th-century children’s lerature, that objectns are surgg bee the number of visual-rich picture books portrayg what ’s like to have gay parents or be transgenr has explod.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Picture books are now takg the LGBTQ issu on,” she said. “And the picture mak easier to jump on , the picture mak easier to cricize, bee visualiz somethg that people might see as objectnable.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="mb-md"><iame tle="" aria-label="" id="datawrapper-chart-mafZR" src=" scrollg="no" ameBorr="0" width="100%" height="500" style="borr:none"></iame></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Parent challengers argue some picture books mt be banned to spare children uncertaty, mental health problems and racist beliefs.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Readg about genr inty will yield “social isolatn, vlence, hypersexualizatn … rced enomic opportuni, anxiety, prsn, lack of self inty, and so much more,” wrote Sashell Dragich Florida’s St. Johns County School District. Dragich,<b> </b>who did not rpond to requts for ment, was objectg to “<a href=" target=_blank>Peanut Go for the Gold</a>,” a book about a nonbary guea pig by Jonathan Van Ns, star of the Netflix seri “Queer Eye.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Sylvia Loosveldt Washgton state wrote a challenge that Ibram X. Kendi’s “<a href=" target=_blank>Antiracist Baby Picture Book</a>” should be pulled om schools bee “is teachg young stunts to bee racist” by “tellg young children they should look at others only on the basis of sk lor.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Loosveldt said an terview that she beme aware of “Antiracist Baby” when a librarian iend wh the Kennewick School District flagged s prence two elementary schools. She read the book and grew disturbed, pecially by an image of a Whe kid climbg a plete ladr while a Black kid climbs a ladr that is broken at the top. Loosveldt, 64, is retired but said she spent more than three s teachg krgarten and first-gra, so she knows firsthand the stak of what go to children’s books.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Those kids jt believe everythg that you tell them,” she said. “If teachers tell you you n be any genr you want, or that you’re bad bee you’re Whe, kids are gog to believe you.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Reactn om picture-book creators, meanwhile, range om bemed to heartbroken to fiant. Illtrator Juana said, “at this pot, I’m jt so filled wh disappotment and rage.” Zetta Elltt, thor of “A Place Insi of Me,” said she believ adults’ fixatn on certa kds of picture books reflects a disfort wh darker moments Amerin history, pecially episos of racism and police btaly.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“It flows om a certa group of parents who are aaid of havg difficult nversatns,” she said. “But this ia that adults should not be permted to help children terrogate difficult subjects is jt ludicro.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">And Rob Sanrs, thor of “Pri,” the book about assassated LGBTQ rights activist Harvey Milk, said he is far om shocked: He expected the tle would draw plats as soon as he penned 2015. He was spired to wre the book when he saw the Whe Hoe illumated rabow lors the night after the Supreme Court stck down the Defense of Marriage Act, pavg the way to legal regnn of same-sex marriage. A schoolteacher, he wanted his stunts to unrstand how the rabow flag me to reprent LGBTQ rights.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Immediately after Sanrs’s book was published 2018, a parent his class plaed the tle was appropriate, preventg Sanrs om readg to his stunts for weeks. Siar plats have boiled up regularly across the untry sce, he said.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Sanrs said he has two msag for adults who dislike his books: First, parents should never make readg cisns for other people’s children. Send, he said, readg books about LGBTQ people will not turn young stunts gay, bisexual or transgenr.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Look at me. I’m almost 65, I grew up readg only books that featured parents who were heterosexual and characters who experienced the world genr-normative ways,” Sanrs said. “Those books did not make me straight.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><h3 data-qa="article-hear" class=" pb-sm pt-md" id="5TTQWX3UXNBITCI5COTHOFMYMI"><div>Worry over pictns of race, police</div></h3></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">After books pictg LGBTQ liv, tl drawg the most objectns were those that alt wh race or policg — or both.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Twenty-five percent of challeng agast picture books targeted tl that have characters of lor or grapple wh racism. In addn to the 25 percent of challeng llg picture books “anti-police,” 12 percent of challeng alleged picture books were “racist,” makg that the seventh most-mon reason ced. Another 8 percent of challeng asserted picture books promoted “cril race theory” — a nservative tchall term for teachg about race emed polilly motivated — makg that the nth-most-mon reason.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><div class="mb-md"><iame tle="" aria-label="" id="datawrapper-chart-Px5W4" src=" scrollg="no" ameBorr="0" width="100%" height="500" style="borr:none"></iame></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In Nebraska’s Wa-Palisa Schools,<b> </b>Vansa Fanng filed to remove “<a href=" target=_blank>The Unfeated</a>” — a <a href=" target=_blank>Caltt Medal-wng</a> poem by Kwame Alexanr about Black Ameri — due to her ncerns that the book sends an<b> </b>“anti-police msage” and bee “suat whe liv do not matter.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The book “divis children to two groups,” wrote Fanng,<b> </b>who cled to ment. “Those who look like the pictur and those who were ‘rponsible’ for those racial jtic. It keeps racism alive.” She add that the book “probably would make a child of a police officer unfortable.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">In New Jersey’s Wtfield Public Schools, a challenger — whose name school officials redacted — wrote a filg that “<a href=" target=_blank>Our Sk: A First Conversatn About Race</a>,” by Megan Madison and Jsi Ralli, li to children. The challenger quoted a le om the book statg that “Racism is … the thgs people do and the unfair l they make about race so that whe people get more power.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“Racism is not somethg that only whe people do or are pable of,” the challenger wrote. “As a Jewish Amerin, I have personally experienced racism based on my Jewish ethnicy, spe my sk lor beg what most would scribe as ‘whe.’ ”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb dn db-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-sktop"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-none pt-lg pb-lg" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"><div>Advertisement</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div class="cb db dn-ns" data-qa="article-body-ad" data-ttid="article-body-ad-mobile"><div aria-hidn="te" class="hi-for-prt relative flex jtify-center ntent-box ems-center b bh mb-md mt-sm pt-sm pb-sm" style="m-height:250px;borr-top-lor:;borr-bottom-lor:"><div class="center absolute w-100 borr-box" style="top:"><div class="dib gray-dark pl-xs pr-xs font-sans-serif light font-xxxxs lh-md" style="--primary-borr-lor:"></div></div><div data-ttid="placeholr-box" class="w-100 h-100 absolute flex flex-lumn jtify-center borr-box bg-offwhe" style="width:300px;height:250px"><div class="flex flex-lumn jtify-center font-sans-serif center font-xxs light gray-dark lh-md"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">And Texas’s Prosper Inpennt School District, another anonymized challenger sought to elimate “<a href=" target=_blank>When Wilma Rudolph Played Basketball</a>,” a bgraphy of a Black sprter who overme childhood pol to w Olympic medals and bee the fastt woman the world the 1960s. The book “op prejudice based on race,” the challenger wrote, potg to page 15, which picts Rudolph as sayg of segregatnist Ameri, “There’s somethg not right about all this … Whe folks got all the luxury, and we black folks got the dirty work.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The book’s thor, Mark Weakland, said an terview that the quot on page 15 e om Rudolph herself: They are words she spoke.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Elltt, the thor of “A Place Insi of Me,” agreed that the subjects evoked that tle and other children’s books she’s wrten — cludg Ameri’s history of lynchg, gun vlence and btaly perpetrated by police agast Black cizens — are thorny. But that’s why her work is necsary, she said: There are lns of Black and Brown children the Uned Stat whose fai and muni do not have a healthy relatnship wh police.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“So what do you do wh this plited relatnship Black people have to the Uned Stat?” she said. “I wanted to wre somethg that would give a child an opportuny to honor all of their emotns.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body grid-tablet-full-bleed" data-qa="article-body"><div data-qa="article-image" class="hi-for-prt"><div style="m-height:358px"></div></div></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Other reasons for challengg picture books varied.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">An adult Texas’s Plano Inpennt School District took issue wh “<a href=" target=_blank>Skippyjon Jon</a>,” by Judy Schachner, which tells the story of an adventuro kten who sgs, “My name is Skippo Frisko. / I fear not a sgle bando. / My manners are mellow, / I’m sweet like the Jell-O, / I get the job done, y ed-o.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">“This book promot negative stereotyp towards Mexins and the Spanish language,” wrote the plaant. “Throughout the book -O is add to the end of the word to sound like Spanish.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">Elsewhere the same state, an adult the Lamar Consolidated Inpennt School District objected to Col Hynson’s book “<a href=" target=_blank>You Wouldn’t Want to Be An In Mummy!</a>,” part of a seri which shows some of the ls wonrful aspects of ancient societi.</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null">The book “talks about child sacrifice … as if to be sacrificed is a ‘great honor,’” the challenger wrote. It “mak the subjects glamorized or they try to make appealg. … It troduc topics that children should not need to thk about durg elementary years.”</p></div><div class="article-body grid-center grid-body" data-qa="article-body"><p data-ttid="drop-p-letter" data-el="text" class="wpds-c-cYdRxM wpds-c-cYdRxM-iPJLV-css overriStyl font-py" dir="null"><i>Story edg by Adam B. Khner. Copy edg by Dore Bethea. 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height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kAEsuD viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU cjjxgx bookmark mobile"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP bwyLBj"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG Uozmo"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><figure data-ttid="IameEmbed" class="IameEmbedWrapper-sc-dRedg cjyRVU iame-embed"><div data-ttid="IameEmbedContaer" class="IameEmbedContaer-hptgUZ fXVBaX"><div class="IameEmbedAspectRatWrapper-hFVJps BKpgQ"><iame class="IameEmbedContent-cMdiev csnuAY IameEmbedContent lazyload" height="90" width="100%" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-orig allow-popups" tle="Embedd Frame" data-src=" allowfullscreen="" allow="toplay *; encrypted-media *; clipboard-wre; toplay; fullscreen; picture--picture"></iame></div></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Recently, my five-year-old son brought home a picture book om our lol library lled “Uncle Bobby’s Weddg,” and, when he asked me to read at bedtime that eveng, I felt a profound rignatn. The book’s ver featur two sg grooms skny-f sus standg beneath an arbor, and a ty flower girl, about my son’s age, wearg a bright yellow drs. The girl is Chloe, and one of the men, Bobby, is her favore uncle: “He took her rowg on the river. He tght her the nam of the stars.” Jt a few pag , Bobby brgs his boyiend to a fay piic, and there, to Chloe’s nsternatn, the uple announce their engagement. The book that I assumed this one to be unfurled my head: Chloe would haltgly accept the notn that a weddg isn’t jt for a man and a woman; she would learn that ’s O.K. to be gay.</p><p class="paywall">But “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Uncle Bobby’s Weddg</a>,” happily, is not that book at all. The story’s central nflict, the ccial set of assumptns that Chloe mt shake off, is rooted not any child-sized homophobia but her worri that her uncle, once he’s married and perhaps startg a fay of his own, will no longer fly k wh her or take her to the ballet. “Uncle Bobby’s Weddg” offers no ht that Bobby’s marriage self is a parture om any norm. Instead, ’s a book where queer fai jt <em>are</em>, a world where no one mt be persuad of . My kids live a versn of that world—hardly a post-genr utopia, but many of their peers have two moms or two dads, and ’s not unual for boys to wear nail polish or tut to prchool. Not long after my son brought “Uncle Bobby’s Weddg” home, his public elementary school picked as the Book of the Month for June, to ci wh Pri.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">In an creasg number of stat, that choice uld ntravene the law. In March, Florida’s ernor, Ron DeSantis, signed the Parental Rights Edutn bill, popularly known as the “<a href=">Don’t Say Gay</a>” law, which clar that “classroom stctn . . . on sexual orientatn or genr inty may not occur krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age-appropriate”; also prohibs “classroom discsn” of such topics. In April, Governor Kay Ivey, of Alabama, signed a bill wh siar language, and multiple stat have <a href=">parable legislatn</a> pendg. In Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott has attempted to crimalize genr-affirmg pediatric re and asked the state’s tn agency to vtigate “the availabily of pornography” public schools, the state reprentative Matt Krse has piled a wily circulated <a href=">master list</a> of some eight hundred and fifty books that potentially vlate <a href=">HB 3979</a>, which bars the teachg of material that uld e a stunt to feel “psychologil distrs on acunt of the dividual’s race or sex.” Other groups, such as the right-wg Moms for Liberty, have dissemated h lists of their own.</p><p class="paywall">Krse’s list nam books that have been equently targeted for bans owg to dmmed-up panics over cril race theory (such as Ibram X. Kendi’s “<a href=">How to Be an Antiracist</a>”) and queer-centered books for olr rears, cludg two memoirs that Abbott has nmned as “clearly pornographic” (Carmen Maria Machado’s “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">In the Dream Hoe</a>” and Maia Kobabe’s “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Genr Queer</a>”). But also clus a number of superb picture books wh L.G.B.T. them, such as “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">And Tango Mak Three</a>,” about two male pengus who have a baby, and “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Julián at the Weddg</a>,” about a boy who lov to drs up. The books, like “Uncle Bobby’s Weddg,” are strikg for their poted lack of “psychologil distrs.” They are part of a genre that barely existed a generatn ago, and they prent a surprisg visn of what a children’s book should be—one that many lawmakers are tryg to legislate out of existence.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">In the neteen-seventi, a ty imprt lled Lollipop Power lnched Chapel Hill, North Carola, scribg self as “a femist llective that wr, illtrat, and publish books to unteract sex-stereotyped behavr and role mols prented by society to young children.” Its expensive books, which were stapled like z, clud “Jse’s Dream Skirt,” a pneerg portrayal of a genr-nonnformg prchooler; “When Megan Went Away,” which scholars believe to be the first Amerin children’s book to portray lbian parents (albe on who have jt spl up); and “Lots of Mommi,” which a ltle girl is raised by her mother and three other women. But Lollipop Power’s output never crossed to the mastream.</p><p class="paywall">Gay-themed picture books did not receive wispread attentn until the turn of the neti, when the L.G.B.T.-focsed Alyson Publitns published “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Heather Has Two Mommi</a>” and “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Daddy’s Roommate</a>.” The Alyson books received enormo, often hysteril media attentn—on a “Larry Kg Live” segment, 1992, a ncerned gut nounced “Daddy’s Roommate” for s “explic pictur of two men huggg each other.” Both books ma repeat appearanc on the Amerin Library Associatn’s annual Top 10 Most Challenged Books list, which talli mands to remove books om public- and school-library shelv natnwi. The were stiff, earnt books, lackg for drama or w; “Heather” was improbably nse wh text for a book tend for very young rears, and clud a tailed explaer of artificial sematn. Still, “ was a book that was always stocked gay bookstor and women’s bookstor,” K. T. Horng, who recently retired as the director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Edutn at the Universy of Wisns-Madison, told me. “A lot of lbians bought as gifts for iends who were havg children, or even jt bought for themselv, bee was the only time they had ever seen themselv reflected a children’s book.”</p><p class="paywall">At the time, Horng was workg at a public library Madison. “We did also have lbian moms and gay dads who were not fans of the Alyson books,” she said. “They felt that they were jt too didactic. So we me up wh a list of books that didn’t really have gay fai, but they did have queer subtexts.” The clud the “<a href=">Frog and Toad</a>” books, wrten and illtrated by Arnold Lobel, and “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Three Days on a River a Red Canoe</a>,” wrten and illtrated by Vera B. Williams. “That was the hands-down favore of lbian fai at our library, bee they felt reflected what their fay life was actually like,” Horng said of “Red Canoe.” “They were not stg down wh their children and givg them long explanatns of artificial sematn. The book had a great story, adventure, engagg illtratns, and kids beg kids.” It also had a eewheelg approach to format: the lored-pencil drawgs and text mgled wh recip, diagrams, and stctns for tyg knots or pchg a tent.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Most of the early queer kid l—or, rather, the queer kid l that announced self as such—was plaly didactic. Then aga, “to a certa extent, all children’s lerature is didactic,” Thomas Crisp, an associate profsor of leracy and children’s lerature at Geia State Universy, said. But “L.G.B.T.Q. books that are overtly didactic are generally ncerned wh tg people <em>about</em> L.G.B.T.Q.-intified people rather than creatg texts <em>for</em> those who have iends, fay members, loved on, or who themselv intify as L.G.B.T.Q.” Meanwhile, queer-d stori such as “Frog and Toad” or “Red Canoe” were nceivably for and about most anyone.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The next major brouhaha about L.G.B.T. children’s books didn’t kick off until 2005, wh the publitn of “And Tango Mak Three,” a sweet tale about a pair of pengu dads that topped the Most Challenged list 2006, 2007, and 2008, dipped to No. 2 2009, rebound to No. 1 2010, and reached the top ten four more tim the to e. (It also ma the “ThreatDown” segment of “The Colbert Report.”) “And Tango Mak Three” ’s thors, the hbands Jt Richardson and Peter Parnell, llaborated wh the illtrator Henry Cole, and got the ia for the book when they read <a href=">a story the <em>Tim</em></a> about Roy and Silo, an separable pair of male chstrap pengus at the Central Park Zoo. The pengus went so far as to attempt to brood a rock before a zookeeper gave them a real egg to re for, which soon hatched Tango. “Out me their very own baby!” Richardson and Parnell wre. “She had fuzzy whe feathers and a funny black beak.” (A few years after their book was published, Richardson and Parnell had a dghter of their own.)</p><p class="paywall">Richardson, who is a psychiatrist and the -thor of “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Everythg You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Aaid They’d Ask)</a>,” told me that “Tango” was rooted partly talks he would give to private-school parents about how to approach discsg sex and sexualy wh their children. “The impet behd the book was to put somethg the hands of parents that they would feel fortable g,” he said. “Pengus are birds who are cute and cuddly, who do not have visible genalia, who kd of snuggle and that’s about all. You n’t tell a male pengu apart om a female pengu. If we had published a book that had two lns on the ver wh big man, 2005, wouldn’t have reached as broad an dience.”</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall"></p><p class="paywall">“And Tango Mak Three” is not the only picture book that androgyny the animal world service of a queer theme. The origal versn of “Uncle Bobby’s Weddg,” wrten and illtrated by Sarah Brannen, was populated by guea pigs, who are also rather epicene. “I wanted the story to be universal, and I thought, If I make wh cute animals, anyone n intify or not,” Brannen told me. The newer edn, published 2020—the versn my son brought home—is rest wh human begs, thanks to ftive illtratns by Lucia Soto. “Nowadays, I hear om people sometim who feel that illtratg the book wh animals ma somehow safer—that backed away a b om the realy of gay human begs,” Brannen said. “That wasn’t my tentn, but thgs change.”</p><p class="paywall">For a progrsive-md rear, an tentnally mure approach to a queer children’s story may sn as squeamishns; a nservative parent, meanwhile, may see as a trick. “There were requts that a sticker should be put on the ver of ‘Tango,’ to announce that was a gay book,” Richardson said. Cocintally, “Tango” appeared the same year as the blockbter documentary “March of the Pengus,” which many nservativ <a href=">embraced</a> as an anthropomorphized showse of tradnal fay valu. Amid right-wg pengu mania, Roy and Silo looked like terlopers, disguised as themselv.</p><p class="paywall">Adults fear children’s books for their abily to perate a velopg subnsc and tell a child who she is; follows that the same books have a knack for gettg adults to tell on themselv. The assumptn that “a gay book” is necsarily a sexualized book, and therefore appropriate for children, is baked to the language of “Don’t Say Gay”: the law prohibs discsn of “sexual orientatn or genr inty,” full stop, but ’s tacly unrstood that only certa orientatns and inti qualify for the ban. The same normative md-set fed the attacks on “And Tango Mak Three.” “It was cricized the nservative prs as beg sexually explic,” Richardson said. “That’s when you know we’re alg wh projectn—adults who are projectg their fantasi onto this book. When you get an adult of a certa generatn and you say ‘homosexualy’ to them, their associatn is men havg sex wh men. That’s simply where their md go. What we’ve tried to expla is: your four-year-old do <em>not</em> have that associatn, and by the way, that associatn isn’t the book; ’s your imagatn.”</p><p class="paywall">Put another way, straight adults do not stantly thk of straight sex when they see straight characters. When my kids watch “<a href=">Bluey</a>,” I don’t keep one fger on the remote jt se Mum and Dad sudnly start gog at atop their kchen unter. Introduce a gay character to your children’s entertament, though, and you bee a “groomer”: the buzzword that’s now omniprent right-wg media, equatg any queer-iendly curricula or event wh sexual predatn. When DeSantis signed Florida’s bill to law, he said that s opponents “support sexualizg kids krgarten.” He also held up an oversized reproductn of a page om the picture book “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Call Me Max</a>,” about a trans kid, much as a prosecutor would hold up a crime-scene photograph a urtroom. Labelled “<em class="small">FOUND IN FLORIDA</em>,” the offendg page picted ltle Max loungg pensively a verdant patch of grass, a small dog by his si.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">One of the strengths of “Uncle Bobby’s Weddg” is how reprents a small child’s actual assumptns, as opposed to those of Governor Ron DeSantis. In the book, which squeaked at No. 99 on the A.L.A.’s list of the most-challenged books of the twenty-tens, there is no ditn that Chloe is pable of sortg relatnships as “gay” or “straight.” In fact, she ets about the weddg precisely bee she assum that Bobby’s new hband will neatly substute for her—that their rpective relatnships wh Bobby n be placed the same tegory. That is to say, she is as cluels, solipsistic, and glorly ee of adult imprtg as any five-year-old you’ll meet at the library.</p><p class="paywall">“I had to thk hard about how to tell this story the way a child would see ,” Brannen told me. “I wrote versns which Chloe was nfed bee Bobby was marryg a man, and jt felt wrong. It didn’t feel te. When I’ve spoken to groups of young children—krgarten, first gra—you n sometim see that some of them might not have ever thought about that before, that a man n marry a man. And they go, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that.’ And then the next qutn is ‘How old are you?’ or ‘Have you ever been a flower girl?’ And the younger children, the prchoolers, they <em>really</em> take for granted.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Jsi Love is the wrer and illtrator of “Julián at the Weddg” and s precsor, the geo and dreamlike “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Julián Is a Mermaid</a>,” which the tle character seiz his chance, when his grandmother is the tub, to craft a stume for himself, g her curtas as a gown and her hoeplant as a headdrs. When Love reads the book aloud to children, she told me, she typilly ps jt as Julián’s grandmother is g out of the bathroom, her hair wrapped a towel. “I’ll ask the kids, ‘Do you thk he’s gog to be trouble?’ The really ltle on will say, ‘Yeah, bee he ma a ms,’ or ‘Yeah, bee he hurt her plant.’ ” (Spoiler: Julián’s not trouble, and his <em>abuela</em> rts him his curtas-and-hoeplant fery to the annual Mermaid Para, Coney Island.)</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="yycj72"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="7ktih9"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">“It’s not even on the kids’ radar that the way he chose to drs up might be a problem,” Love said. “I wanted the story to functn absolutely the absence of that ia.” Love’s illtratns are vibrant and exquisely tailed, but they also leave opengs for the imagative rear to fill, or not: whether Julián liv wh his <em>abuela</em> or is jt visg her; whether the spectacularly stumed para-goers whom Julián enunters on the subway are cis women, drag queens, or actual mermaids.</p><p class="paywall">Of urse, many olr children have already grasped that, much of the untry, queer people and queer fai are seen as a problem. They may know, for example, that, Idaho, where the state reprentative Heather Stt told an dience that the L.G.B.T. muny and s supporters are wagg a “war of perversn agast our children,” thirty-one alleged members of the whe-supremacist group Patrt Front were arrted near a Pri event, on June 11th, and charged wh nspiracy to rt. (They were released on bond and are slated for future urt appearanc.) Olr kids may know that, on the same day, members of the right-wg hate group the Proud Boys stormed a Drag Queen Story Hour event at a library outsi San Francis, flashg whe-power signs; one wore a T-shirt that read “Kill Your Lol Pedophile.” They may know that school-based threats and acts of vlence agast queer people appear to be on the rise.</p><p class="paywall">For those kids, a book like “Julián Is a Mermaid” n shape-shift to a different kd of tool. Erika Long, a school librarian Tennsee, told me about how she ed picture books such as “Julián” and the Pri primer “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">This Day June</a>” to lnch middle-school uns on social jtice. “The were sixth grars lerally stg on the floor crisscross applce, readg to each other,” Long relled, wh great light. The kids were enuraged to e Julián’s style of self-exprsn and his grandmother’s support of him as prompts to discs different mos of activism. “The middle-school years are when kids are beg really knowledgeable about who they are,” Long said. “The library is a place where they feel fortable sharg about thgs that are related to inty or sexualy.”</p><p class="paywall">That sense of fort is what Moms for Liberty and others are out to disturb. Durg the panmic, school closur put nservative parents closer proximy to books and curricula that they might fd offensive; meanwhile, many districts poured rourc to their e-book talogu, makg easier to take screenshots of objectnable material and share them onle. “Prr to this past school year, was not unual for a parent to reach out to to discs a book,” Audrey Wilson-Youngblood, a school librarian Texas, told me. “It was normal and healthy. But then we saw a sudn spike people bypassg the library and gog straight to social media or straight to the school board and supertennt, bee they saw a book on a list. The were anized, natnal groups that would hunt for specific books until they found them.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The non of queer-themed stori for young rears is still relatively small. That means the stak are higher for any given book terms of who and what choos to reprent, and how those choic are terpreted by different dienc. While I was rearchg this piece, I brought home many picture books wrten by thors on Reprentative Krse’s list, and my kids were nfed by the handful that portrayed the bullyg of genr-nonnformg boys. My dghter, who is seven, was pecially baffled by Daniel Haack and Stevie Lewis’s “Prce & Knight: Tale of the Shadow Kg,” which the villa’s emotnal dysregulatn is traced back to his feelgs of shame about his long hair and feme cloth. As soon as he’s offered some sympathy, his taste for havoc disappears. “He thks people don’t like him bee of his <em>hair</em>?” my dghter asked disdafully. I felt queasy: wh the aid of some well-reviewed children’s books, I had seed her bra that queer kids are marked for stigma before the lik of Matt Krse uld do for me.</p><p class="paywall">Kyle Loff is the thor, wh the illtrator Luciano Lozano, of “Call Me Max,” the picture book held up by DeSantis as symbolic of a groomg crisis, as well as “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">When Aidan Beme a Brother</a>,” illtrated by Kaylani Juana, about a young trans boy anxly awag the birth of his new siblg. Before he began wrg full time, 2020, Loff worked as an elementary-school librarian and bookseller. He relled an enunter wh a ctomer at the Barn & Noble ep-blue Park Slope, Brooklyn. “A mom me lookg for a book about a boy who wore drs and wearg drs wasn’t a problem,” Loff said. “Her son didn’t know yet that people were gog to be mean to him, and his mom didn’t want him to fd out until he had to. I was, like, ‘Ooh, I don’t know— the stori where this exists, ’s always a problem to be solved.’ ” Loff went on, “It almost seems as if books, tryg to do the right thg, n reify the ias.”</p><p class="paywall">In part, this is bee thors themselv are performg their own kds of projectn. “Somethg I have noticed about a lot of picture books wh L.G.B.T.Q. them for children,” Horng said, “is that oftentim ’s another child who brgs up genr or sexualy as somethg odd. In my work wh children, that has not been my experience— is ually an adult who brgs up as a potential problem. Yet thors put that on a child, and then, of urse, ’s the role of the wise adults to e to expla to the kids, ‘No, there are different kds of fai.’ ”</p><p class="paywall">This is the domant dynamic of books about genr-nonnformg children, all the way back to “Jse’s Dream Skirt”: other kids are the threat and the adults are the refuge. But there is no bullyg peer a book like “Julián Is a Mermaid,” by nsc sign. “I remember havg a very clear sense as a child about whether a book was beg given to me to teach me a lson and when a book was jt for pleasure,” Love said. “I wanted this story to lead wh pleasure. I wanted the first prciple to be bety and light. It’s important to have stori that are a portal to the world as we wish to be. The unter-argument is: don’t we owe to people who have been trmatized by bullyg, or by the celler shape of the world, to reflect that? But I tend to thk that that’s the world plenty already.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">When I spoke wh Richardson, he ced two books of his youth that exemplified the dichotomy between pure pleasure and a more didactic approach: “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Story of Ferdand</a>,” wrten by Munro Leaf and illtrated by Robert Lawson, and “Oliver Button Is a Sissy,” wrten and illtrated by Tomie Paola. Ferdand is a bull who famoly ref to participate the bullfights, preferrg “to s jt quietly and smell the flowers”; Oliver is a boy who’s averse to sports and partial to tap dancg and drsg up. Other boys tease him, but Oliver rather miraculoly silenc them wh a strong showg at the school talent show. The procs by which he earns rpect feels ntgent upon his gifts.</p><p class="paywall">“I was so unfortable as a kid about ‘Oliver Button Is a Sissy,’ ” Richardson said. “I didn’t <em>want</em> a book where kids were teasg another child. It ma me feel bad. I was embarrassed that had happened to me.” What’s more, he said, there was nothg reassurg about the book’s happy endg. “I remember thkg, Well, but I n’t tap dance. How do this help me?”</p><p class="paywall">A book whose them are more malleable and imprsnistic, Richardson suggts, may at tim provi better reprentatn than leral reprentatn do. “ ‘The Story of Ferdand’ was the sgle most important piece of lerature of my whole childhood. I never read ‘Ferdand’ and thought, ‘Well, but I don’t have horns,’ or ‘I wouldn’t s on a bee,’ or ‘My mom isn’t a w.’ ” The world of animals and metaphor, he said, “giv kids more imagative space.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">If overtly L.G.B.T. books ntue to be banished om library shelv, then may be left to olr works like “Ferdand” and “Frog and Toad” to smuggle queer-iendly them. And, sce book-banng enthiasts tend not to read the books they ban very closely, the “jt-are” brand of queer children’s story may still have a chance to slip past the censors as well. A recent entry this tegory is <a href=">Emma Hunsger</a> and Tillie Waln’s “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">My Parents Won’t Stop Talkg!</a>”, which wi-eyed Molly is exced to be gog to the park, but her moms jt keep yammerg to their across-the-street hippie neighbors, the dread Crenzas. The book draws on Molly’s mountg dignatn wh an exclamatory energy that evok Jul Feiffer’s classic “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">I Lost My Bear</a>.”</p><p class="paywall">Like most bari, though, the l between didactic stori and jt-are stori—and between Oliver Button stori and Ferdand stori—n blur and break down. “There are books that are ‘Once upon a time there was a character who was different, and everyone was mean to them,’ and then at the end of the story you learned why you should be nice to people,” Loff said. “I <em>hate</em> those books, for a lot of reasons. There’s another tegory where characters quote-unquote ‘jt happen to be’ an inty—there are two dads, but ’s not about that. I would pos that there’s a third type of book, one that’s wholly about a character’s inty, but whout that inty beg a source of nflict.”</p><p class="paywall">“When Aidan Beme a Brother” centers Aidan’s transns and the pa he experienced durg his early childhood, when his parents gave him cloth and a bedroom suable for the girl he was not. But the book’s precise tensn riv om Aidan’s anxiety that the fay won’t provi a welg home for the new baby. He’s worried, simply put, about beg a good big brother. When Loff got the ia for “Aidan,” he said, “It was this flash of a kid sayg, ‘This is what my room looked like when I was born—and <em>this</em> is what my room looks like <em>now</em>!’ It’s a kid tellg you how he changed the world around him stead of merely forcg people to accept him to their preëxistg world view.” Aidan, like Julián the mermaid, exerts creative power and agency, buildg his own portal to the world as he wish to be.</p><p class="paywall">My dghter read “When Aidan Beme a Brother” to me the other night. It wasn’t new to her—she’d read at school. When I asked her what she thought of the book, her rponse had everythg and nothg to do wh Aidan’s inty: she focsed entirely, and a b envly, on how he had revamped that gigantic, extremely un-Brooklyn-apartment room. A piic table, a tent over his bed, lots of plants. “He rated his room like ’s outsi,” she said. “He feels better that way.” ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="stzzyp"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div 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She is the thor of the novels “<a href=">Break Case of Emergency</a>” and “<a href=">The Fourth Child</a>.”</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="TagCloudWrapper" class="TagCloudWrapper-gGgndx ctyZyK ContentFooterTagCloud-krQmRG ZLGh"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudSectnHear-cOforY iUEiRd bPyAoD kQQRmu">More:</span><a href="/tag/childrens-lerature" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Children’s Lerature</span></a><a href="/tag/childrens-books" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Children’s Books</span></a><a href="/tag/lgbt" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">L.G.B.T.</span></a><a href="/tag/lgbtq-rights" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">L.G.B.T.Q. 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Max</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm dqlGhv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Upper Wt Si Cult That Hid Pla Sight" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Unr Review</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Upper Wt Si Cult That Hid Pla Sight</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Upper Wt Si Cult That Hid Pla Sight" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">In the sixti and seventi, the Sullivanian Instute had a wng sal pch for young New Yorkers: parti, sex, low rent, and affordable therapy.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Jsi Wter</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm dqlGhv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="On Killg Charl Dickens" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Life and Letters</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">On Killg Charl Dickens</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="On Killg Charl Dickens" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">I did everythg I uld to avoid wrg my historil novel. When I fally started “The Frd,” one prciple was clear: no Dickens.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Zadie Smh</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff ewgXAt summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm dqlGhv" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="A Small-Town Paper Lands a Very Big Story" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl bcywvc summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">U.S. Journal</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">A Small-Town Paper Lands a Very Big Story</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="A Small-Town Paper Lands a Very Big Story" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">In Southeast Oklahoma, a father-son reportg duo’s seri on the unty sheriff led to an explosive revelatn.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div 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