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If you feed isn’t sufficiently filled with Pride celebration, here’s an extra dose: The GayBCs is a book for young kids, especially those who don’t read for themselves yet. This delightful picture book features a poem for each letter of the alphabet, including (but certainly not limited to): “A is for Ally” and “Q is for Queer.” Other notable representation includes words like Bi, Gay, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-Binary, Queer, and Trans.
For most people, this book might look like a gimmick or a cheap trick, but I cannot tell you how much my queer little heart would have been touched to find a book like this amongst the Little Golden Books as a child. We must all remember that our generation may be normalizing queer issues, but our children still must learn the broad vocabulary which comes with an inclusive and diverse society. The GayBCs is a great way to introduce 26 words to kids while teaching them to read, meaning the learning is baked in, and less effort has to go into learning about queer/LGBTQIA+ people and issues.
The only issue I have with this book is its contention that “A is for Ally.” There’s a huge population of Asexual and Aromantic people in the LGBTQIA+ community, and they are all too often overlooked, ignored, or outright dismissed. While allies are a vital part of the movement to accept LGBTQIA+ people, they are not, strictly speaking, part of the LGBTQIA+ world. But, of course, parents can still use the book to introduce those concepts as well, as part of a greater dialogue with their children about the many diverse and wonderful people who inhabit the world around us.
You can pre-order The GayBCs on Amazon, though the release date is in October of this year.
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