Scholastic is encouraging teachers to “disrupt the status quo” by exposing children to LGBT books this Pride Month, telling them they “absolutely know queer children.”
The children’s book publishing company recently released its 2024 guide for Scholastic’s annual “Read With Pride” initiative, which includes LGBT children’s book recommendations.
The guide assures teachers, caregivers, and “advocates” that “whether or not they are out to themselves or you, you absolutely know queer children and interact with them in your classrooms, libraries, and communities.”
“Books and literature are never neutral; by engaging with queer literature for children and young adults, you are disrupting the status quo that implies being cisgender, heterosexual, and allosexual are the default. You are showing children an expanded way of thinking and being that validates all children and all people,” the guide states.
Scholastic recommends LGBT books for children as young as preschool age.
For “the youngest reader,” Scholastic recommends several books, including “My Moms Love Me” about a lesbian couple with a baby, and “You Are Loved,” a book in which “readers will meet families with two moms and two dads,” according to the description.
Scholastic recommends dozens of books for older children ages eight to 12, including three by the same author, Alex Gino. “Melissa” is about a trans-identifying boy, and the other two books are about non-binary characters.
“When people look at Melissa, they think they see a boy named George. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl,” reads the book’s description.
Another recommended book for ages eight to 12 is “Moonflower” by Kacen Callender. It is about a depressed non-binary 12-year-old who is “afraid that their mom hates them” and travels to a “spirit realm.”
The guide includes dozens of books aimed at young teens 14 and up, including “The Feeling of Falling in Love” by Mason Deaver, which introduces children to the idea of a “friend with benefits.”
The guide also lists resources for “supporting” LGBT youth and books, including The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that says it works to prevent LGBT youth suicides. The Trevor Project previously helped devise a model school policy that says schools should hide suicidal students’ sexual orientation and gender identity from their parents unless the student gives permission.
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Scholastic’s 2024 guide also dedicates nearly a full page to promoting the claim that affirming children’s new gender identities helps prevent their suicides, heavily citing The Trevor Project. Several recent studies have suggested that social transition does not necessarily improve children’s and teens’ mental health.
“As a teacher, librarian, educator, or caregiver, how you interact with all children and teens around queerness matters,” Scholastic’s guide states. “What literature you provide them with, and how you talk about both literature and identity, can have an immense, life-changing impact on the young people in your life.”
“Everyone benefits from books with authentic representation of queer identities,” the guide adds.