And That's 2013! Some Great Posts To Catch Up On While I'm Re-Charging For 2014

I've been trying to get a good shot of a LGBTQ Pride flag flapping in the breeze for a long time now, and 2013 was the year I got this one - and I'm pretty happy with it!

What a year!

Looking back at over 250 posts here on this blog, there's a lot to dive back into. Here are some of my favorites,

A Year To Use Our Power For Good - Josh and Brent from The Amazing Race do something Amazing For a Gay Teen

Obama's inauguration speech - Gay people are included, but what about transgender people?

The Point Foundation offers Scholarships and mentors for LGBTQ students!

16-Year-old Ashley Makes Everyone In Her School feel Beautiful for a Day

How History Gets Re-Written: The USA's Civil War

Noah, a 15-year-old, his two moms, and the spoken word poem that blew me away

"I Hugged a man in his underwear" - a religious man attends Gay Pride to apologize

Not all Trans people feel "trapped" in the wrong body

A High School's "Cutest Couple" is two guys!

Our Intern Aaron's great Manga reviews!

Jack Adraka is a 16 year old openly gay scientist

Laurent Linn gives us the scoop on Patricia Polacco's 25th Anniversary Edition of "The Keeping Quilt"

My highlights from President Obama's speech on the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington

Debunking "Before" and "After" Transformation Photos

Totally Biased - The God Debate

Empowering Diversity is Universal

Sissy Goodwin Stands Out, And Stands Up, in Wyoming

Asexual Awareness Week

Episode 1: The YA Explosion and Episode 2: Creepy, Wacky... and True of the public radio show I've been working on (as producer, writer and on-air contributor), KID LIT With Lisa Loeb!

The Top 7 Lessons I Learned about blogging Kid's and Teen Literature at #KidLitCon13

My Thanksgiving Resolution

Toy Shopping, Gender-Neutral Style

You can watch short films I loved (like The Language of Love) and music videos I wanted to sing along to (like All American Boy) and performances that were awesome (like this drag performance of Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham)

And of course you can check out the over 120 new-to-this-blog books with LGBTQ teen characters and themes (check out the lists in the left hand column!)

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year 2014! 

I'll see you back here with new posts on Monday, January 6, 2014.

Namaste (the light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in every one of you),
Lee

My Brother's Name - A Just-Out-Of-High-School Adventure Into Schizophrenia, Identity and Gender

My Brother's Name by Laura Krughoff

Jane Fields has idolized her older brother, John, since they were children. She follows in his footsteps as a drummer, and when he suffers a psychotic break as a young man, she follows him into the bewildering landscape of mental illness.

Surrendering to John’s schizophrenic and elliptical logic, Jane assumes her older brother’s identity, and begins to make a life for herself as a young man named John. Every day, Jane interacts with the world as John, and then comes home to tell her brother the stories of his own life, under the naïve and perhaps mad hope that these stories will help John remember and return to the self he lost. But in the act of being John, Jane runs the risk of becoming him. Jane soon identifies more strongly with the man she’s become than the overshadowed woman she once was. When John begins to demand that Jane give up certain aspects of the life she’s built under her assumed identity, particularly a romance, Jane’s double life becomes a house of cards that threatens to collapse. Jane and John are forced to confront the limits of their ability to control each other, and the world around them, through the stories they tell—but just how deep into mental illness can Jane slide?

Add your review of "My Brother's Name" in comments!

Free Reads: Two Short Stories About College Guys Falling For Other Guys

Second Shot  by Andrew Gordon

What do you do when you are deep in the closet but you meet the man of your dreams? Do you take the chance and risk the consequences?  Jason (a closeted soccer player) has to figure it out when he meets Peter, an out martial arts champion.

and


Bettor To Lose by Andrew Gordon

Jack's luck with dating hasn't been the best. When a fraternity brother suggests he can't get a date, Jack agrees to a bet: Jack brings a date to the Fraternity Formal or he loses. Now all he needs is a date. 


The stories are posted by the author and available for free at the http://www.gayauthors.org site (just click on the titles above.)  Add your review of "Second Shot" and/or "Bettor To Lose" in comments.

Tyler Buckspan - A Gay Teen in 1960s Florida Tries to Figure out If the Guy He's Crushing On Is Clairvoyant Or A Con Aritst

Tyler Buckspan by Jere Fishback

Fifteen-year-old Tyler Buckspan lives with his mom and grandmother in 1960s Cassadaga, a Florida community where spiritual “mediums” ply their trade. The mediums--Tyler’s grandmother among them--read palms and tarot cards, conduct seances and speak with the dead. Tyler’s a loner, a bookish boy with few interests, until his half-brother Devin, nineteen and a convicted arsonist, comes to live in Tyler’s home.

For years, Tyler has ignored his attraction to other boys. But with Devin in the house, Tyler can't deny his urges any longer. He falls hopelessly in love with his miscreant half-brother, and with the sport of basketball, once Devin teaches Tyler the finer points of the game. In a time when love between men was forbidden, even criminalized, can Tyler find the love he needs from another boy? And is Devin a person to be trusted? Is he truly clairvoyant, or simply a con artist playing Tyler and others for fools? What does Devin really know about a local murder? And can Tyler trust his own psychic twinges?

Add your review of "Tyler Buckspan" in comments!

Tom Daley, British Olympic Diver, Comes Out As Bisexual

Tom's online coming out video is worth watching!



Tom Daley won a bronze medal for the UK in the Olympic games in London in 2012. You can read more about him coming out here.

It's also interesting that he mentions he can count on one hand the number of people he'd told before making this video. In it's first day online (Dec 2, 2013) Tom's coming out video had well over 1.25 million views! (And as of today it's been seen over 10 million times!)

Hurray for Tom, and hurray for a world where one more athlete is authentic, making it that much easier for others to be themselves, too!

Namaste,
Lee

ps - my thanks to blog reader and author Hayden Thorne for the heads-up on Tom's story.

Special Saturday Post: Toy Shopping, Gender-Neutral Style

I like this story!

The Swedish toy company Top-Toy (a licensee of the Toys “R” Us brand) was criticized in the past by the Swedish advertising regulatory agency "for depicting stereotypical scenes of girls with dollhouses and boys with weapons" - so this year the company's holiday catalog featured a different approach:

boys with beauty products, girls with guns...

boys and girls doing housework, and boys with fluffy pets...

I do notice that the boy's vacuum is blue and the girl's is pink above, but I'm happy to see a toy company making an effort to be more equitable in terms of which toys they're modeling is okay for which kids to play with.

It's a good season to toss gender stereotype considerations out the window and consider the personality of the giftee, instead.

Happy Holidays, Indeed!

Lee

My thanks to Karol for the heads-up on this!

India Goes Backwards & Makes It A Crime To Be Gay As Their Supreme Court Restores an 1861 Anti-Gay Law

As reported in the NY Times, this Wednesday India stepped back in time. WAY back, in reinstating the country's anti-gay law.

Anjali Gopalan, founder of a charity that sued to overturn the 1861 law, said she was shocked by the ruling.

“This is taking many, many steps back,” Ms. Gopalan said. “The Supreme Court has not just let down the L.G.B.T. community, but the Constitution of India.”

You can protest this criminalization of the LGBTQ community in India by adding your name to the petition here at All Out. It reads:

"We stand together in strength and hope, people from every nation, with India’s lesbian, gay, bi and trans community. In the end, love always wins."

Fight on to make our world a better place for us all,
Lee

The Center Of Everything - A Middle Grade Story of A Girl Dealing With Loss, Love and the Power of Friendship

The Center Of Everything by Linda Urban

For Ruby Pepperdine, the “center of everything” is on the rooftop of Pepperdine Motors in her donut-obsessed town of Bunning, New Hampshire, stargazing from the circle of her grandmother Gigi’s hug. That’s how everything is supposed to be—until her grandmother dies, Ruby messes up and things spin out of control. But she has one last hope. It all depends on what happens on Bunning Day, when the entire town will hear Ruby read her winning essay. And it depends on her twelfth birthday wish—unless she messes that up too. Can Ruby’s wish set everything straight in her topsy-turvy world?

What's LGBTQ about it? Ruby’s best friend Lucy has two dads. But it's not really a plot point, it just is.

My thanks to Yapha for the heads-up on this book including two dads!  Add your review of "The Center of Everything" in comments!

The Gravity Between Us - A New Adult Lesbian Romance

The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer

At 19, Kendall Bettencourt is Hollywood’s hottest young starlet, with the world at her feet – but behind the glamour and designer dresses is a girl who longs for normal.

Payton Taylor is Kendall’s best friend since childhood, and the one person who reminds her of who she really is – her refuge from the craziness of celebrity life.

With her career taking off, Kendall moves Payton to LA to help keep her sane. But Payton is hiding a secret that could make everything ten times worse. Because to her, Kendall is more than a best friend – she is the only girl that she has ever loved.

Just as they need each other more than ever, they’ll have to answer the question of where friendship stops and love begins? And find out whether the feelings they have can survive the mounting pressure of fame…

Add your review of "The Gravity Between Us" in comments!

The Spirit Of Detroit - A College-Age sequel to "Drama Queers"

The Spirit of Detroit by Frank Anthony Polito

September 1992. Madonna’s SEX is poised to hit bookstore shelves, The Crying Game makes its cinematic debut in limited release, and George H.W. Bush will soon square off against William Jefferson Clinton in the battle to be elected leader of the Free World. After abandoning his dreams of becoming a famous actor, Bradley Dayton returns to his roots and enrolls as a Theatre major at Wayne State University in Detroit — a town known for its rich cultural history, as well as its gritty urban decay. But a new cast of characters begins to interfere with his education as these friends (and lovers) induct Bradley into their dark world of backstage drama. By semester’s end, he will have spent many a wild and sleepless Motor City night…and found his fair share of thrills along the way.

"The Spirit of Detroit" is the follow up to Frank’s Lambda award-winning Drama Queers, and was published by the author. Add your review of the book in comments!

LGBT Science - Exploring the origins of sexual orientation and gender identity

Check out this cool new resource, LGBT Science, to stand up to anti-lgbtq arguments.

"If you hear someone say that homosexuality is unnatural, you can be pretty sure you are not listening to a scientist."
- Dr. Marc Breedlove, Michigan State University, Rosenberg Professor of Neuroscience

Here's a video from Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, explaining the LGBT Science project's mission:

The LGBTQ Q&A is Back At #NY14SCBWI

One of my favorite things about the SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City is hosting the LGBTQ Q&A session.  This time round it will be held on Saturday February 22, 2014 directly after the gala, from 8-9pm.

It's always a great discussion, with special guests from our conference faculty who weigh in with their answers to all your questions about including lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex, asexual and queer characters and themes in books for children and teens.

It's a wonderful opportunity to network with other writers and illustrators, meet professionals who have published LGBTQ-inclusive works, and help make the world of children's and teen literature -- and the world of the books you create -- that much more diverse.

Hope to see you there!

Conference details and registration information are here.

Namaste,
Lee

Blue Is The Warmest Color - A Teen Lesbian Graphic Novel About Growing Up, Falling In Love, and Coming Out

Blue Is The Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

Clementine is a junior in high school who seems average enough: she has friends, family, and the romantic attention of the boys in her school. When her openly gay best friend takes her out on the town, she wanders into a lesbian bar where she encounters Emma: a punkish, confident girl with blue hair. Their attraction is instant and electric, and Clementine find herself in a relationship that will test her friends, parents, and her own ideas about herself and her identity.

Here's one of the interior pages:

Originally published in French as Le bleu est une couleur chaude, the live-action French film version of "Blue is the Warmest Color" took the 2013 Cannes film festival by storm, earning rave reviews and winning the prestigious Palme d'Or. This English version is published by Arsenal Pulp Press.

Add your review of "Blue Is The Warmest Color" in comments!

The Colony: Book 1: Rebellion & Book 2: Revolution - A Dystopian Teen Gay Romance

The Colony: Book 1: Rebellion by J. Tomas

Sixteen year old Aine lives in the Colony, and his whole life was decided before he was born. In two years he will marry the girl next door, Brin, who was assigned as his Other at birth. Then he will be assigned to a position in the Colony's workforce that best suits his talents. Each night he takes four pills, like everyone else in the Colony, and he knows the pills keep them safe and their world in order.

Everything is fine. Perfect, in fact. Until Aine accidentally drops one of his pills.

Terrified, he tries to hide the mistake, but when he dreams for the first time in his life, he discovers all he's been missing. What scares him more than not taking the pill, though, is how alive his dreams make him feel. Because it isn't Brin he dreams of but his best friend Kyer.

Another boy.

Suddenly Aine's world turns upside down, and he doesn't know what to think or who to trust. All he knows for sure is he's falling in love with Kyer, which is forbidden by the Colony's Code, and he will do anything to protect their budding relationship.

Even if it means defying the Overseer and leaving the Colony behind.

The Colony: Book 2: Revolution

The only way sixteen-year-old Aine and his true Other Kyer can be together is to escape the Colony with its Code, its pills, and its constant monitoring. Breaking out of the Colony was hard enough, but living outside of its protective walls proves to be even harder.

The boys have been raised to believe all life outside the Colony was destroyed by the last war. However, Aine soon discovers this is a lie. On their first day of freedom, they meet Sinda, a girl their own age who has grown up in the harsh new world outside the Colony. In return for some food, she agrees to help them out and leads them underground, where people must live to avoid predators, acid rain, and disease.

It doesn’t take long for Aine to tire of living hand to mouth. He misses the comforts of his bed, his friends, and his family. Why should he be the one to run away? He and the boy he loves have done nothing wrong.

Aine is destined to be the next Overseer, so why can’t he return to the Colony and start a revolution to change the way things are run? Why can’t people love who they want to, rather than who they’re told to? Why can’t they think for themselves, and live as they want?

When he receives a message from Brin that she, too, has stopped taking her pills, Aine realizes he isn’t the only one unhappy with the Code. If he and Kyer return, maybe they can enlist their friends’ help to bring about some much-needed changes.

But breaking back in proves even harder than breaking out. They must dodge the Officers, evade the Monitors, and convince a drug-controlled Colony it deserves better. But will anyone listen to them? Or will they be caught and medicated back into compliance?

Add your reviews of The Colony, Book 1 and/or 2 in comments!

Sock It To Me, Santa! - A Gay Teen Short Story For The Holidays!

Sock It To Me, Santa! by Madison Parker

Ryan is assigned to Jamie Peterson for his class's secret gift exchange. If word gets out that he has to make a handcrafted gift for flamboyant and openly gay Jamie, Ryan will be the laughing stock of the school. It's a good thing no self-respecting boy would be caught dead in a craft store, because otherwise he'd be at risk of being spotted when his mom drags him to her weekly craft workshops. He hopes Jamie will appreciate all the trouble he's going to for this assignment. Finding the perfect gift is gonna be tricky. Jamie deserves something good, though, after all the crap he has to put up with at school. At least, Ryan tells himself that's the reason he's putting so much thought into the gift. It couldn't be that he has feelings for Jamie, could it?

This story is published by the author.  Add your review of "Sock It To Me, Santa!" in comments!

Not All Like That - Christians Proclaim Their Belief in Full LGBTQ Equality

Much attention is given to the religious people who decry us and who fight our equality. It's good to witness the movement of religious LGBTQ Allies stand up and make their voices heard as well.

For those within the Christian community and for those outside it, Not All Like That, inspired by the It Gets Better Project, is a welcome platform for Christians to embrace LGBTQ people and our rights.

Check it out.

Namaste,
Lee

Ash Beckham on Coming Out of The Closet... For ALL of us, for ALL our Closets

This is brilliant.

Enjoy,



Thanks, Ash!

My thanks as well to Adam Mordecai at Upworthy for sharing this video.

My Thanksgiving Resolution

I know it's early in the season for resolutions, but this one seems particularly appropriate on this holiday when we celebrate being in the USA -- a land we took from the native people who lived here before us.

Watch this video:



It's inspired me:

I'm going to stop using the term "illegal alien" and start using "undocumented immigrant" instead.

"Undocumented Immigrant" highlights our shared humanity. And really, unless you're a Native American, you (like me) are an immigrant to this country.

And I doubt all our ancestor's "documents" meant that much to the native people who watched Columbus arrive, or to the tribes betrayed by President Andrew Jackson and forced to march in the Trail of Tears West of the Mississippi river. (80,000 marched. 10,000 died.) And then we put that guy on the twenty dollar bill.

The history of how this country came to be is fraught with injustice and undocumented immigration. I think it's responsible to acknowledge that fact, and also to acknowledge how thankful I am to live in this country, and to be an American. Recognizing my privilege, I want to be an ally and stand up for those who aren't lucky enough to have the correct documents.

Namaste,
Lee

p.s. - My thanks to Chris for sharing this video with me, and for the idea of changing the language we use to speak of people like Jose Antonio Vargas.

"Face Your Fears" - A Song By the Lesbian Couple and Duo Bria and Chrissy

I liked this a lot. You can listen here, or below,

"Face Your Fears" Lyrics


Verse- Life can be rough life can be short so fill this life time only with good times
you're no different you're not strange you are beautiful this way
time to clear your mind let go and join our kind
no more fear no more shame no more pain
Pre- Strength sweeps over
Chorus- Time to live, time to fly,
Time to face your fears.
Time to spark, time to shine,
Time to out your fears tonight.

Verse- Here we are times have changed people you know have something to say.
We're no different accept one way, we are brave enough to be okay.
Time to love your self you're sexier that way. No more hate no more shame it's your fate.

Pre- Strength sweeps over
Chorus
Bridge- I'm finally singing proud so proud so proud. Feeling invincible, you feel it all around? you too?

Find out more about Bria and Chrissy here.

Namaste,
Lee

An Ordinary Boy - Tom Has a Plan To Come Out During His First Year Of College

An Ordinary Boy by Brian Centrone

Tom Grove’s family is rich, his grandparents are famous, and he’s beautiful. He can have anything he wants, but all Tom really wants is to be an ordinary boy. Like his best friend, Marissa, Tom wants to fit in, make friends and date sexy boys. It would also help if he could be free of his father’s weighty expectations, his mother’s insane demands, and his older brother’s snide remarks.

When Tom begins his first year of college, he believes he’s going to come out and start a new life. But Tom’s plan to come out of the closet and meet hot college boys isn’t exactly foolproof. His new roommate is a straight jock, the gay club at school is made up of outcasts, and the lines between going out to dinner and a date are blurry at best. If that wasn’t a challenge enough, Tom has to learn how to navigate drunken college parties, the campus social hierarchy, and the attentions of the wrong sort of boys. What begins as a journey to independence turns into a series of mishaps, love, heartache, soul searching, awkward situations and the realization that life is less like an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog and more like the everyday low prices of Wal-Mart.

And to make matters worse, he still has to make it through freshman year.

You can read an excerpt at the publisher's site here.  And add your review of "An Ordinary Boy" in comments!

Straight But Not Narrow - Building, Nurturing, and Strengthening Allies to the LGBTQ community

As the SBNN crew puts it,

There have been a number of great campaigns and charities that have recently emerged to show support to LGBTQ young adults. However, we noticed one significant niche missing in the efforts... the message to STRAIGHT young adults. We are working to build a team of straight allies for the LGBTQ community, and strengthen those allies who already exist.

Check out their website and movement here.

Namaste,
Lee

FreakBoy - A Transgender & Gender-Fluid Novel In Verse (And A Video Interview With The Author, Kristin Elizabeth Clark!)

FreakBoy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark

From the outside, Brendan Chase seems to have it pretty easy. He’s a star wrestler, a video game aficionado, and a loving boyfriend to his seemingly perfect match, Vanessa. But on the inside, Brendan struggles to understand why his body feels so wrong—why he sometimes fantasizes having long hair, soft skin, and gentle curves. Is there even a name for guys like him? Guys who sometimes want to be girls? Or is Brendan just a freak?

I find out more in my video interview with Kristin about writing the book here:





Add your review of "FreakBoy" in comments!

The Top 7 Lessons I Learned About Blogging Children's and Teen Literature From #KidLitCon13

Cute cat reading photo from here.

1. What's up with the cat above? And the numbered list? Turns out animal photos and top this-many-number lists are gold in terms of getting traffic to your blog/website. This was one of the asides from Cynthia Leitich Smith's amazing Keynote. As she put it, "Posts topped with animal photos get the most click-throughs." (We'll see how this post does!)

2. "This is your audience. This is your blog. Your audience probably likes you." - Jen Robinson, on how you can reach out to your blog audience to be supportive, during her and Sarah Stevenson's "Blogger Burnout: Suggestions For Getting Your Groove Back" session.

3. "Every kid is a different target audience." A brilliant comment by Charlotte Taylor that is still resonating with me.

4. It would be a great project to explore Girly covers hiding books boys might like, and Boyish covers hiding books girls might like. (This came out of the "Blogging the Middle Grade Books" panel discussion.)

5. 'You don't always know what the connections you make are doing. If I've met an author (and liked them) I'm more likely to put their book face out on the shelf.' - A librarian attendee.

6. If you want to see more diversity in children's literature, and the book you're reviewing isn't inclusive of diverse characters, you can point that out in your review. Sheila Ruth did just that in a recent review at Wands and Worlds, saying, "Unfortunately, I didn't really see much diversity in this future." And if a book you're covering does include diverse characters, share that!

7. In my session, "Diversity In Kid Lit: Nurture More, Blog More, Get More," I was listing the main categories of things we bloggers of children's and teen literature do:

We aggregate content (like lists, links, and featuring what others have put out there)
We create content (like reviews, articles and interviews) and
We communicate (start discussions, comment threads, guest posts, twitter, facebook, etc...)

and then one attendee raised her hand. I called on her, and she said I'd missed the most important thing of all that we book bloggers do:

We Read.

And she was right.


KidLitCon is the annual gathering of bloggers, librarians, authors and illustrators who share a passion for children's and teen literature. It was held in Austin, Texas Nov 8 and 9, 2013, and it was my honor to present and attend. 

My thanks to the organizing committee members: Pam Coughlan, Tanita Davis, Kimberly Francisco, Kelly Jensen, Jackie Parker, Jen Robinson, Leila Roy and Sarah Stevenson!

You can find out more about the kidlitosphere and all our events at Kidlitosphere Central.

If You Could Be Mine - A Teen Lesbian In Iran Grapples With Gender And Love

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

In Iran, it’s a crime punishable by death to be gay. Sex reassignment surgery is covered by the government health program, though, and regarded by many as a way to fix a “mistake.” Sahar, seventeen, has been in love with her best friend, a girl named Nasrin, since they were six. Sahar even lets herself dream that one day they might marry. But when Nasrin’s parents announce her arranged marriage will take place in a matter of months, Sahar must decide just what lengths she’ll go to for true love.

Here's an interview with Sara about her book:





Add your review of "If You Could Be Mine" in comments!

The Old Arbutus Tree - A Gay Teen Is Wrongly Accused Of An Assault In A Small Town

The Old Arbutus Tree by Leigh Matthews

Stuck in a small town in Alberta, Rose misses her father and watches in horror as a local widower wins over both her mother and sister. She finds solace in a fellow nerd, Jason, but when her sister, Sara, is violently assaulted Rose must decide whether to stick to the town's story or find the strength to help a friend.

When power, privilege and access conspire against justice, Rose and Jason are forced to see how desire is policed by our peers, our town, and the wider judicial and medical establishments. Can they help each other recognise real love, in whatever form it comes, and give themselves permission to accept it?

This book was published by the author. Add your review of "The Old Arbutus Tree" in comments!

#LoveAlwaysWins - A Video Highlighting Russia's Anti-LGBTQ Laws And How That Will Impact Olympic Athletes

Watch this, discuss and share...



It's a good question:

What if living your dream meant living a lie?

Let's speak up and stand up - not just for the Olympic athletes who will be traveling to Russia for the winter games, but for all the LGBTQ people in Russia who are now living under these repressive laws.

Namaste,
Lee

Geography Club - The Movie! (A Special Saturday Post)

I'm pretty excited about this movie, based on the book by Brent Hartinger.

Here's the trailer:




I received a screener copy of the film from breaking glass pictures, and watched it this week. It's the kind of movie that would have rocked my world to see it as a teen, and there are some sweet, bitter, and bitter-sweet moments that are still with me.

The film is out this weekend, and you can find out more info here at the Geography Club website.

Have you seen it yet?  Add your review of the film in comments!

Namaste,
Lee

Publisher Jean Feiwel: Highlights Of The Pre-#NY14SCBWI Interview

The 15th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City will be February 21-23, 2014.

I was able to connect on the phone with publisher and conference faculty member Jean Feiwel to learn about her newest imprint for Macmillan Children's Division, Swoon Reads. Jean also runs three other imprints there; Henry Holt, Feiwel and Friends and Square Fish. What's unique about Swoon Reads is that it's a crowd-sourced teen romance imprint. (And in some ways, it was inspired by Susan Boyle's breakout moment on Britain's Got Talent.)

Writers submit their teen romance novels to the site, and readers visit the site to read the manuscripts. Readers rate them from One Heart (Not for me) to Five Hearts (Swoon-Worthy.)  The top-rated --Swoon-Worthiest -- manuscripts will be considered by Jean and The Swoon Reads publishing team for publication, and they envision the public staying involved and giving input throughout the publishing process -- including editorial, cover art, marketing and book tours.

At the #NY14SCBWI conference, Jean will be on the must-see panel, THE FUTURE OF AUTHORSHIP, with Paul Aiken, Jane Friedman, Abbi Glines, and Tim Travaglini.

Publisher Jean Feiwel

My full interview with Jean is posted at SCBWI: The Blog, but here are a few highlights:

On why she wanted to create a crowd-sourced teen romance imprint:

Jean: I feel that publishers had started to create so many barriers to entry for publishing. And especially for something as straight-forward as some of the category publishing that was going on in terms of romance, and science fiction/ fantasy or mystery and to watch some of the writers who were coming up strong, like Colleen Hoover and Abbi Glines, I thought – I don’t think that they necessarily would have found their way to a traditional publisher. Because, what publishers look for is more trend-based, so it was dystopic fiction or it was supernatural romance, or whatever. I think that if you’re not agented, I just think, this wasn’t going to happen. So, I thought, How do I source new talent? How do I get to people who are writing and working hard out there but aren’t going to find their way to my door?

On Swoon Reads being open to stories of women falling in love with women and men falling in love with men, not just women falling in love with men and vice-versa:

Jean: I feel that it’s a critical part of our site is to be, again, inclusive. Especially for young people at this age – we’re really concentrating on young adult romance. And I think that as kids go through the various kind of sexual explorations or changes that they go through, it’s important to be broad in what you are offering and there’s not just the traditional, again, romantic setup. We had, in our focus groups, which were small and not extensive, consistently people were interested in different pairings, of male or female and transgender. A lot of interest in that, and so that is definitely an aspect of the site.

On offering writers of YA romance a version of American Idol, The Voice, and Britain's Got Talent... and the chance to be Susan Boyle:

Jean: I always say, be careful what you wish for because it can be overwhelming and amazing. But it’s also… it can be somebody’s dream come true. And that’s really our hope: Is to make somebody’s dream come true.

To hear Jean yourself and take part in all the wonderful offerings of the SCBWI Winter Conference, register here.

Namaste,
Lee

Color Fields, C.A. - Gay Middle Eastern College Kids in California Search For Love

Color Fields, C.A. by Navid Sinaki


Two best friends. Two broken hearts. Opposite sides of the Golden State.

Nika and Vivi were always outcasts in Rancho Cucamonga, a suburban epicenter of swimming pools and strip malls where being gay and/or a minority made you a freak. Away at different colleges, Nika and Vivi send e-mails to close the distance with an ounce of whimsy and wit.

Here, four years of heartbreak and broken wishbones; the pressures of first-generation college kids; the bruises of alcoholism and abuse. Four years of slow-dancing alone, compulsive daydreams, and the occasional shared porn link.

From Nika's trip to Paris for a boy he hasn't met, to Vivi's failed relationship with a childhood friend turned druggie, the two find themselves returning to California where the cinematic blurs with the anticlimactic.

This book was published by the author. Add your review of "Color Fields, C.A." in comments!

Double Play - A Middle School Book With Lesbian Parents and Baseball

Double Play by Sara Cassidy

Allie loves baseball. It's the one thing that has been consistent in her lately complicated life. Allie's father left recently, and now Allie has a new family -- her mother's new girlfriend, Phyllis, and son Miles have moved in. It's taking some adjustment, mostly because Miles seems determined to get under her skin. Things start looking up when Allie gets invited to join the boy's baseball team as their new pitcher. But then Miles announces he's quitting the boy's team and tries out for Allie's old team -- a girl's team

Allie is sure he's doing it just to annoy her, but Miles insists that he just likes the girl's style of play better. As Allie struggles to find her place on the boy's team, she starts to see that Miles is just trying to fit in as well, and that it may be even harder for him than it has been for her.

Add your review of "Double Play" in comments!

Over The Rainbow - A Modern (And Even Gayer) Re-Imagining of "The Wizard Of Oz"

Over The Rainbow by Brian Rowe

Zippy Green never meant to fall in love with a girl, but when she does, her ultra-conservative father tries to send her to anti-gay camp. At the Kansas City airport, however, she hides inside a giant suitcase and sneaks onto an airplane headed not to the camp, but to Seattle, where her online love Mira lives. Halfway through the flight, the plane barrels out of control and crashes into the ground, knocking her unconscious.

When Zippy awakens, she finds that most of the passengers have vanished. She doesn't know what's happened, but she's determined to find out. She begins a quest on foot toward Seattle, and along the way, she meets a teenager with a concussion, a homeless man with a heart condition, a child without a shred of bravery, and a terrier named Judy. Together the group discovers that more than two-thirds of the world's population have mysteriously disappeared. But that's only the beginning...

All Zippy wants is to find her Mira, but before she can she has to contend with two outside forces. The first is her homophobic father, who does everything in his power to keep her from the girl she loves. And the second is extinct creatures of all shapes and sizes, including living, breathing dinosaurs, which have replaced the missing population.

This book was published by the author.  Add your review of "Over The Rainbow" in comments!

Nominate Your Icons for LGBTQ History Month 2014 - A GSA Mondays Post

This is a cool opportunity - and a great project for your GSA...

Who do YOU think should be an "Icon" for LGBTQ History Month next year?

Equality Forum (who organizes this lgbtq history month celebration) is taking nominations until December 6, 2013.

The parameters?

The 31 LGBT Icons, living or dead, are selected for their achievements in their field of endeavor; for their status as a national hero; or for their significant contribution to LGBT civil rights.

Check out the list of 248 LGBTQ icons so far (they started this celebratory list in 2006) and figure out who you want to see featured next year!

Namaste,
Lee

House Of Hades - A Character Comes Out As Gay In Rick Riordan's New York Times Best-Selling Middle Grade Fantasy Series!

House of Hades by Rick Riordan

It's the continuing middle grade story of demi-gods (half-gods, half-human) in our world, and in this book,

Annabeth and Percy tumble into a pit leading straight to the Underworld. The other five demigods have to put aside their grief and follow Percy’s instructions to find the mortal side of the Doors of Death. If they can fight their way through the Gaea’s forces, and Percy and Annabeth can survive the House of Hades, then the Seven will be able to seal the Doors both sides and prevent the giants from raising Gaea. But, Leo wonders, if the Doors are sealed, how will Percy and Annabeth be able to escape?

They have no choice. If the demigods don’t succeed, Gaea’s armies will never die. They have no time. In about a month, the Romans will march on Camp Half-Blood. The stakes are higher than ever in this adventure that dives into the depths of Tartarus.

And on page 292 - a character comes out as gay! (And the reaction they get is pretty awesome.)

My thanks to Yapha, That One Geek Girl, Jacob, and all the other faithful blog readers who let me know with so much enthusiasm and excitement about the gay character coming out in this best-selling series!

It's the fourth book in the Heroes of Olympus series, which is after the five books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (so it's kind of the 9th book.) Add your review of "House of Hades" in comments!

Fairyland: A Memoir Of My Father - a young girl grows up in 1970s and 80's San Francisco with an openly gay Father

Fairyland: A Memoir Of My Father by Alysia Abbott

After his wife dies in a car accident, bisexual writer and activist Steve Abbott moves with his two-year-old daughter to San Francisco. There they discover a city in the midst of revolution, bustling with gay men in search of liberation — few of whom are raising a child.

From the Towleroad review by Garth Greenwell, "Four months after her father died of AIDS-related causes in 1992, Alysia Abbott found the diaries he kept over the twenty years he raised her as a single father. She quotes from those diaries extensively in her account of their life together, along with his poems and letters and wonderful comics, and it’s Abbott’s use of her father's writing that gives much of this sometimes searing book its force, making for one of the most powerful accounts of a father-child relationship I've read."


Add your review of "Fairyland: A Memoir Of My Father" in comments!

Tina's Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary - A Graphic Novel About An Indian-American Teen With A Small Subplot That Has A Gay Character

Tina's Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyap, illustrated by Mari Araki

Tina M., sophomore, is a wry observer of the cliques and mores of Yarborough Academy, and of the foibles of her Southern California intellectual Indian family. She's on a first-name basis with Jean-Paul Sartre, the result of an English honors class assignment to keep an "existential diary."

From Tina getting dumped by her smart-girl ally to a kiss on the mouth (Tina's mouth, but not technically her first kiss) from a cute skateboarder, this graphic novel follow's Tina's path towards 11th grade and maybe... enlightenment.

There's so little representation of 1) Americans of Indian descent in teen fiction, 2) LGBTQ teen characters who are also people of color 3) those two things in a teen graphic novel, that I'm including this book here on the blog, though you shouldn't expect it to have major LGBTQ content. Having said that, there is a gay character in this, I'm happy about it, and I'm happy to let you all know about it.

Add your review of "Tina's Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary" in comments!

Surprising Myself - Seventeen-year-old Joel can’t be gay if he’s straight

Surprising Myself by Christopher Bram

After four years of living with relatives in Switzerland, seventeen-year-old Joel Scherzenlieb finds himself in the United States for the summer, working at a Boy Scout camp. There, he meets nineteen-year-old Corey Cobbett, a fellow counselor who's the only person Joel wants to be friends with. Soon, Joel’s sarcastic, distant CIA father shows up and whisks him away to live with his mother, grandmother, and older sister on a farm in Virginia—he’s not going back to Switzerland after all. As his father pleads poverty and his dreams of going to college vanish, Joel faces his longest year yet. But everything changes when Corey returns to his life, bringing with him the discovery and excitement of reciprocal love.

Add your review of "Surprising Myself" in comments!

Q & A (Queer and Asian Pacific-Islander) Space - Coming Out Stories!

This Q&A Space website is very cool. In their own words,

Q&A Space is the first ever coming out resource website specifically for LGBT Asian Pacific Islanders with multimedia stories, coming out advice, translated resources for parents, and more.

Q&A is a play on the common phrase "question and answer" and the term "queer and Asian."

The goal of this website is not to answer every question, but to provide support, advice, and resources for those seeking it.

Take a look, read the stories. Encourage others to add their own stories!

The more people willing to come out, the safer the world will be for others!

The stories, poems and videos on their site are brave and true, and well worth reading (and sharing!)

And I was excited to see their parent resource page has information translated into Simplified Chinese (簡體中文), Traditional Chinese (繁體中文), Farsi, Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, Urdu and Vietnamese!

Namaste,
Lee

Better Nate Than Ever - A Gay (And Show-Stopping!) Middle Grade Adventure About A Small-Town Boy Who Runs Away From Home To Crash A Broadway Audition

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle

Nate Foster has big dreams. His whole life, he’s wanted to star in a Broadway show. (Heck, he’d settle for seeing a Broadway show.) But how is Nate supposed to make his dreams come true when he’s stuck in Jankburg, Pennsylvania, where no one (except his best pal Libby) appreciates a good show tune? With Libby’s help, Nate plans a daring overnight escape to New York. There’s an open casting call for E.T.: The Musical, and Nate knows this could be the difference between small-town blues and big-time stardom. 

It's a middle grade book I found both laugh-out-loud funny and heart-felt.  Add your review of "Better Nate Than Ever" in comments!

A Halloween Wish...

Wouldn't it be great if Halloween* was the only day of the year when we wore masks and hid who we really are?

Here's wishing that for the other 364.25 days it takes our planet to go around the sun, you get to be your authentic self.

And that every day, we each do what we can to help everyone else be their authentic selves, too!

Making that wish come true will make Halloween all the more fun, and it will make our world such a better place.

Have fun and be safe!
Lee


*Feel free to substitute Purim or your own dress-up-as-someone-else holiday that you celebrate in your country! Here in the U.S.A., it's pretty much Halloween.

ps - I found the mask image here.

Episode Two of "KID LIT With Lisa Loeb" Goes Live - And It's "Creepy, Wacky... And True!"

Episode Two, featured on the KID LIT website

I'm very excited that episode two of the public radio program about children's and teen literature that I'm producing, writing, and participating as on-air contributor for is now playing on stations across the country!

You can listen to it right now, by visiting kidlitradio.org

Here's the episode synopsis:

“KID LIT with Lisa Loeb” dives into the world of weird non-fiction for children. We meet a scuba diving cat, an agent from the Creepy Intelligence Agency, an Extraterrestrial named Ethel, and face questions that rate you from normal to one-of-a-kind weird… which turns out is pretty normal, too!

“KID LIT with Lisa Loeb” is a new public radio program directed at grown-ups celebrating books for kids of all ages. Three in-depth interviews with the authors and editors from National Geographic Kids anchor the show:  Robin Terry (ULTIMATE WEIRD BUT TRUE 2), Becky Baines (THAT’S CREEPY!) and author Mark Shulman (ARE YOU “NORMAL”? 2.)

Plus: Technology to tell a story from history, a plane load of teenage Beauty Queens crash into our diversity spotlight, and what would you do if your favorite park was covered with trash? Maybe something Emeraldalicious?

All in all, it’s an episode that plumbs the creepiest, wackiest non-fiction to entertain, inform, and get listeners to believe that it really is CREEPY, WACKY… AND TRUE!

Hosted by Grammy-nominated singer and author Lisa Loeb, and produced by Peabody award-winner Ben Manilla, along with children’s literature expert Lee Wind, M.Ed., “KID LIT” features books across various age groups and genres to highlight the latest in children’s literature.

For this episode, I'm delighted to interview editor Becky Baines (about the very Halloween-appropriate THAT'S CREEPY) and shine our diversity spotlight on Libba Bray's Young Adult novel, BEAUTY QUEENS.

I hope you give it a listen!

Namaste,
Lee

Vuto - A Story about a completely unprepared U.S. Peace Corps worker in Malawi (she has two dads)

Vuto by A.J. Walkley

Vuto is only 17 when her third child dies, mere days after birth.

Malawian tradition prevents men from considering a child their own until it has survived for two weeks. Frustrated at not being able to speak to her husband, Solomon, about all three of the children she’s had to bury alone, Vuto forces him to acknowledge the dead baby. Her rejection of tradition causes Solomon and the village elders to banish Vuto from the only home she’s ever known. She seeks refuge in the hut of U.S. Peace Corps volunteer Samantha Brennan, where Solomon discovers his wife has not left as she was told.

When Solomon arrives in the night to attack Vuto, Samantha disregards her oath to remain uninvolved in village politics and interjects herself into the center of the conflict, defending Vuto and killing Solomon in the process.

The women go on the run from Vuto’s village and the Peace Corps, encountering physical, ethical and cultural struggles along the way.

This novel is told from the perspectives of Vuto, Samantha and two other Peace Corps volunteers.

Mentioned several times throughout the novel, Samantha's parents are gay male life partners who adopted Sam when she was a baby. She credits some of her idealism from being raised in an open-minded, liberal, LGBT-headed family.

This indie published book was funded by the author's successful kickstarter campaign.  A.J. has also written about being bisexual and in the Peace Corps in Malawi at the Huffington Post. Add your review of "Vuto" in comments!

Vows: Mr. Duckett and Dr. Jones - A Love Story From the New York Times

This piece from the "Vows" section of the New York Times by Samantha Stark, about Lewis Duckett and Billy Jones, their 46 year relationship, adopting a baby, becoming grandparents and now, finally, getting married, was so moving.

It was also really interesting how they "wrote coded letters to each other during Dr. Jones’s deployment in Vietnam."

Watch. Share. Discuss.

It's Asexual Awareness Week!

Okay, I admit it. I knew very little about the Asexual community (and Asexuality) prior to this week.

But thanks to Shelby and Tiny Dinosaur and the information over at the Asexual Awareness Week website, I feel better equipped to stand up as an ally for people who identify as Asexual.

Check out this video:

Asexuality Awareness Week's "Asexuality 101" is a great resource

Tiny Dinosaur did a tumblr slideshow about Asexuality. Here's a taste:

And I think what Tiny Dinosaur is pointing out above is true of everyone. If you are aware of who you are and that there is a community of others like you, you're less sad, feel less alone, you know you're not broken and you're not confused.

You're just free to be your authentic self.  And isn't that what we're all working towards? A world where each of us can be our authentic selves?


Check out the Asexual Awareness Week website, and stand up as an ally to the Asexual community!

Namaste,
Lee

Lesbians 101 - A Wonderful Comic Series That Answers Some Basic (And Important) Questions

Lesbians 101 by A. Stiffler & K. Copeland


I think this comic series on lesbians is wonderful - with honest and non-judgmental answers to questions the author and illustrator have been asked.

Lesson 1 is "Why Do All Lesbians Look The Same?"

Lesson 2 is "Which One Is the 'Man' In The Relationship?"

Lesson 3 is "Do Lesbians Have Sex? How?" (Be aware this lesson includes images of erotic items, but the comic is not itself erotic.)

Lesson 4 is "Why Do Lesbians Hate Men?"

Lesson 5 is "What is 'Lesbian Bed Death' and Why Do Lesbians Get It?"

Lesson 6 is "Isn't Lesbianism Just a Phase?"

Lesson 7 is "Who Is A Lesbian, Really?"

Here's what Lesson 1 looks like:

The comics are free and available at the creators' wesbite here.  Add your review of "Lesbians 101" in comments!

A Sneak Peek At The KidLitCon 2013 Schedule - I'll Be Speaking!

I'm really excited about the 7th Annual Kidlitosphere Conference in Austin, Texas!

On Friday November 8 and Saturday November 9, 2013, it will be a conference of in-person networking and idea-sharing with formerly just-online friends.

It promises to be mind-expanding.

Blog- and twitter-exploding.

With vital information and even more-vital connection.
 And, even though they haven't announced the full schedule yet, I did get permission to share with you that I'll be giving a Breakout presentation:

Diversity In Kid Lit: Nurture More, Blog More, Get More

Here's the description:

In this 50 minute keynote full of exercises and interactive activities, blogger Lee Wind, M.Ed., highlights how we're all so diverse - as individuals, as a community of bloggers, and as humans on our Earth. But books for kids and teens have a long way to go to match that diversity.

How can we be allies and UPstanders for those different than ourselves? How can we harness the power of books as both mirrors and windows? Find out how we, as bloggers, can claim our power to nurture more diversity, blog more diversity, and ultimately get more diversity in children's and teen literature.

Here's a photo of me giving another keynote, this one at the SCBWI-Los Angeles' Writers Days 2013. Because I don't have a traveling-forward-through-time photo of me in Austin for this post. Come to think of it, I'll ask Rita Crayon Huang (my friend and shutterbug) to work on that. Thanks, Rita.

Over at Kidlitosphere Central, they just posted some of the bloggers who will be attending, and the list is full of great folks and blogs to explore...

1. Allie Jones of In Bed with Books
2. Camille Powell of BookMoot
3. Charlotte Taylor of Charlotte’s Library
4. Chris Barton of Bartography
5. Holly of Book Harbinger
6. Jen Bigheart of  I Read Banned Books
7. Jen Robinson of Jen Robinson’s Book Page
8. Jennifer Donovan of 5 Minutes for Books
9. Julia Garza of January Day
10. Katy Manck of BooksYALove
11. Kelly Jensen of STACKED
12. Lee Wind of I’m Here. I’m Queer. What The Hell Do I Read?
13. Leila Roy of Bookshelves of Doom
14. Maria Burel of Once Upon A Story
15. Maureen Kearney of Confessions of a Bibliovore and Kid Tested, Librarian Approved
16. Melissa Fox of Book Nut
17. Pam Coughlan of MotherReader
18. Paula Willey of Pink Me
19. Rosemond Cates of Big Hair and Books
20. Sarah Stevenson of Finding Wonderland
21. Sheila Ruth of Wands and Worlds

Time's running out to register yourself and join in the fun!

Fellow bloggers of children's and teen lit, I hope to see you in Austin at #kidlitcon13!

Namaste,
Lee

***UPDATE October 23, 2013 at 8:28pm - The Schedule is UP here!***

And I'll also be part of the

Kidlit Blogging Roundtable: Our Past, Present, and Future

moderated by Sarah Stevenson of Finding Wonderland: On this panel, Jen Bigheart, Lee Wind, and others will discuss how blogging has changed over the years in the Kidlitosphere as a whole—different approaches to blogging, varying participation levels, etc.; what this might mean for the future of the community; and how bloggers and authors/illustrators and others in the kidlit community can best continue to leverage blogging for the benefit of all, and keep it relevant and fun.

Hurray!