My kid is currently in Kindergarten. Though she is advanced in her reading, she has not graduated to YA literature yet. I bring this up because the majority of my research into queer representation, and specifically bisexual representation, in literature for young people continues to point me to YA books. Yes, this is awesome for parents of middle grade kids and teens, and even more awesome for the teens themselves. And it will be awesome for us…in a few years. But for now? Where do we turn? I consulted a few books on the matter, and of course a few websites.
The Mombian database (https://mombian.com/database/) is both handy and daunting. Dana Rudolph, a “Mom Lesbian”, has been hosting the site for almost twenty years and has accumulated and catalogued a lot of LGBTQ books, including picture books and children’s books. She even has a handy search toolbar to filter via themes and tags. When I typed in the word “bisexual”, however, only 36 entries popped up, out of 900+ options. Out of those 36 entries, only a handful are young children’s books, while the majority are scholarly books about queer theory and ideas. Out of the children’s books, only one actually has a bisexual character (a dad that dates both men and women), while two showed up under the “bisexual” filter because of Mombian chastising the books for lacking bisexual representation. There are also a couple of books on David Bowie and Frida Kahlo included, as well as a board book with other queer biographies that uses the word “bisexual” in its introductory rhyme. The Stonewall Book Awards, in conjunction with the ALA, have been doling out seals for fifty years. The Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award is the label specifically for children’s books, though this award did not come into being until 2010. It should also be noted that only recently did the award consider two winners a year, one for YA and one for younger children. There is no way to filter books with bisexual characters and themes without reading about each book individually. The American Library Association also has a Rainbow Round Table, which provides resources and book lists for librarians and other educators looking to reach and provide for rainbow families and youth. This is a great resource, especially for small libraries, though it does keep things under the LGBTQIA umbrella as a whole.
Two books that are helpful for specific book title recommendations are Rainbow Family Collections: Selecting and Using Children’s Books with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Content by Jaime Naidoo, and LGBTQAI+ Books for Children and Teens : Providing a Window for All by Christina Dorr. Both books are great for parents and educators, but are specifically targeted toward librarians and people working within libraries. What stood out in Dorr’s book is that race is not addressed at all, other than providing the book covers for readers to reach their own conclusions. In addition, several books are included that do not actually address anything LGBTQIA for the reader. Happy Birthday, Alice Babette by Monica Kulling seems, on the surface, to fit the bill for a recommended read. It is a cute picture book about a birthday surprise gone awry when Gertrude Stein attempts to bake for her friend Alice, and it is written in an ode to Stein’s modernist form. If a book is about a real life same sex couple, does it automatically count as an LGBTQ read? If you ask the queers on Goodreads, the answer is “no”, not if the word “friend” is used over and over with no mention of their actual relationship.
Naidoo’s book offers tags at the end of each book summary, with labels like gay or lesbian, or mixed or Asian American. While race is addressed, Naidoo clearly defaults to white because tags about race are only present when it is something other than white. Interestingly enough, there is not a ton of crossover between the two books. One reason for this could be the publishing dates are six years apart. Another reason could be that Dorr’s list is less extensive, and includes YA titles, while Naidoo’s list focuses on picture books and chapter books for infants up to age eleven.
