Happy Pride Month friends!
This June has been extra special in getting to share Pride festivities with my kiddo; who’s now 5 and can participate and engage in new, exciting ways. My son, Maddox, and I had a ton of fun attending his first pride parade & learning about what the expression of freedom meant for individual people we encountered.
As the month comes to a close, we’ve kept the pride celebrations and talk going in our household all month thanks to great shows, songs, & books!
It may have just been that as we navigated our NICU stay, one of the ways I would connect with my baby even when I couldn’t hold him was by reading to him! I started collecting books I’d like to be apart of his childhood from infancy and beyond. Hoping these listed will be a great addition to your list, whether you’ve got a small babe and save this resource for later; or utilized now. Happy reading, friends!
Here’s three of our favorites from our start of the month library trip.
To kickstart, I’ll share this gem: “Grandad’s Camper” written and illustrated by Harry Woodgate. “Grandad’s Camper” was inspired by Harry’s university dissertation, which revealed a lack of representation for older LGBTQ+ characters in children’s books.
Immediately upon spreading open the contents of this book, you’re met with beautifully intricate, hand-drawn colorful art. It was especially nice to see representation right on the cover art of this book with it donning a Pride flag and a main character of color.
As you begin to turn the pages of this sweet story, we are met with the young character’s (unnamed) excitement to begin her annual summer stay with her granddad. While she naturally loves the thrilling memory-making adventures like learning to garden, playing hide + seek, and exploring all around her.. she’s taken quite the interest with curling up with granddad and hearing his exciting stories about his life with Gramps, his late husband.
Snuggled up in the nook of her granddad, she began to journey through countless adventures of a life shared together with happiness, pride, and adventure. Granddad shared tales of exploring city to city, glimpses into Gramps’ personality, time spent traveling the country in their camper together. Instantly, even if it weren’t for the beautifully illustrated art— one would be able to have an visual painted of the lives they created and shared together.
Curiosity prompts the young girl as she asks Granddad if he still happens to have the old camper. He smiles and winks, with a quick “Follow me” they go and seek the sight of the camper that housed countless memories for them both.
The endearing granddaughter encourages Granddad to fix the camper up, and they do. Ending with a beautiful trip together in honor and celebration of the memories with Gramps, and their own.
This book did a phenomenal job at capturing the reader and keeping them engaged throughout. The story is unique, fun, and heartwarming. It celebrates the cherished bond of grandparent & child in a beautiful way. While also showcasing subtle highlights into grief. The story didn’t shy away from the fact that though Granddad felt the loss of Gramps tremendously, there was still some joy to be discovered in sharing with their grandchild.
Secondly, a story that I think we should ALL know, and it especially feels fitting as I write this entry on June 28th, the anniversary of a powerful, long-lasting legacy of the Stonewall riots. This book, “Sylvia and Marsha Start A Revolution: The Story of Trans Women Of Color Who Made LGBTQ+ History” gives insight into the harrowing journey’s of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two friends navigating life and sisterhood closely together.
Though they had beautiful, enormous, kind personalities and put love into the world around them, the world was not as kind back unfortunately. By just existing as transgender women, they were ridiculed and harassed by not just the local community, but the police around them constantly. Life was difficult as Black & Puerto Rican transgender women in a time and community that did not understand nor welcome them.
Despite it all, their spirits remained vibrant as they shared what little they had with people forced to live on the street. That year in 1969, in celebration of Marsha’s birthday, they decided to go out and celebrate in their most beautiful dresses. Unfortunately, yet again met with resistance by the community they lived in as police showed up to make arrests for men in dresses. However, the resistance within Marsha and Sylvia had also been ignited as they refused to comply with the hate they were met with. They and their friends pushed past the police and vans and into the streets. What turned into a revolution with a powerfully long lasting legacy.
The book then goes on to share about how though they still had little, they had one another and that was enough. Together they followed their dreams and created a home that housed and made space for young transgender women who were displaced to come and be safe and free to be themselves.The story ends on a kind reflective note of how they spent the rest of their lives. Followed by a really awesome bonus content page in the back.
The bonus feature includes a glossary with words such as transgender and non-binary. It shared more into what life was like for both of the women featured in the story, as well as naming others who played an integral role in the Stonewall Rebellion. Additionally, there is a section for parents/teachers that provides resources on books, websites, questions, activities and more to inform your child in age-appropriate ways.
I loved this book and felt it beautifully captured this story in a way that was digestible to my young child, while still remaining authentic and transparent.
Last but not least, we LOVED reading along with sing-song spirit to “Bathe The Cat” written by Alice B. McGinty and illustrated by David Roberts. This story created so much fun and laughter for my family, we loved hearing about the kind of day Bobby, Daddy, Sarah, the baby & the cat were having prior to Grandma Marge’s arrival. I know as a parent, there’s nothing like that “pre-guest home scramble” that occurs usually up until you’re answering the knock of said arriving company (or is that just me..?)
This gave us a glimpse into their afternoon as they began to prepare for the arrival, but plans kept getting a bit derailed. Things were continually scrambling all morning and they just couldn’t figure out why… we as readers might get a sneak preview, though! 😉
A quick, fun rhyming read that again highlights representation throughout with a multi-racial LGBTQ+ family as the lead characters.
All in all, I think this month has been our favorite library month so far this year. We’ve loved getting to know the characters, engage in conversation & learning together, and just the celebration and affirmation of families in this age. We’re excited to continue reading together as a family, knowing books and learning are so important for those early childhood years.
Let me know which books you’ve been reading this June?!
Until next time!
Miranda
