The ABCs of Queer History
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A Through-the-Alphabet Celebration of Queer History in the US, from the Publisher of the New York Times Bestseller The ABCs of Black History
In a beautiful picture book brimming with P for Pride, writer and poet Seema Yasmin and illustrator Lucy Kirk celebrate all the joys and challenges of queer history in the United States through lively, rhyming verse and bright, colorful illustrations.
This is a book of people, of ideas, of accomplishments and events. It’s a book about Allies and Ancestors, about Belonging and Being accepted, about Hope, Knowledge, and Love. About historic moments like Stonewall, and how it changed the world. And all about Trailblazers, like Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, Josephine Baker, Harvey Milk, Barbara Jordan, George Takei, Elliot Page, and Sally Ride.
And ultimately, it’s a book to help kids learn a different kind of ABCs—not just words like apple, ball or cat, but rather the essence of what it means to be diverse, to be equitable, to be inclusive. That no one counts unless we all count, and how we must open our eyes and ears, minds and hearts, to hear everyone’s story and understand and celebrate their experience.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Through rhyming couplets, this informative book explores a whole alphabet of LGBTQ concepts and figures, from A ("abundant," "always," "ancestors") to Z ("zero tolerance," "a zillion queer stories"). Though proper nouns don't always clearly align with the abecedarian format, an intersectional range of figures both historical (Josephine Baker, Osh-Tisch, Sylvia Rivera) and contemporary (Blair Imani, Lil Nas X, Michael Sam) populate Kirk's bright, flat illustrations of lively, joyful crowds. Yasmin's lengthy text, meanwhile, explains broad conceits including "love" and "knowledge," as well as delving more specifically into activism, identity, and more. A hopeful tone ("what battles we've won!") doesn't sugarcoat political realities (on the legalization of gay marriage, it urges, "Don't close your eyes—this fight is not done") in a conceptual work that's a good starting place for discussing queer history. A contextualizing glossary concludes. Ages 5–up.
