Sam Orchard's "Family Portraits" LGBTQ Comic Kickstarter (And US Tour...)

This sounds like a very cool kickstarter project, from a creator in New Zealand!




Good luck with it, Sam!

Namaste,
Lee

ps - thanks to Ozma for the heads-up on Sam and this project!

The 2014 Lambda Literary Award Finalists!!!

Who will win this year's Lammy?

The Lambda Literary Award Finalists in the LGBT CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT category have been announced!

They are...

Better Nate Than Ever, Tim Federle, Simon & Schuster, Inc./ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Boy In Box, Christopher R. Michael, Hubbub Publishing

Girls I've Run Away With, Rhiannon Argo, Moonshine Press

If You Could Be Mine, Sara Farizan, Algonquin Books

Openly Straight, Bill Konigsberg, Arthur A. Levine Books

Rapture Practice, Aaron Hartzler, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Secret City, Julia Watts, Bella Books

The Secret Ingredient, Stewart Lewis- Author, Rebecca Short-Editor, Delacorte Press (Penguin/Random House)

The Summer Prince, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Arthur A. Levine Books

Two Boys Kissing, David Levithan, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

What Makes a Baby, Cory Silverberg and illustrated by Fiona Smyth, Seven Stories Press/Triangle Square

The winner will be announced at the Lammy Awards Ceremony on June 2, 2014 in New York City. Congratulations to the finalists!!!

You can find out more about the Lammy Awards and the Lambda Literary Foundation at their website here.

Penny Dreadful - A Middle Grade Story Where The Main Character Has A Friend With Two Moms

Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder

Penelope is ten and lives a rich, protected, and, frankly, boring life in New York City. She wishes she could have adventures like the ones in the books she loves.

When her dad announces he's quit his job to write a novel, the family's finances bottom out and soon they've relocated to a ramshackle house Penelope's mom inherited in Thrush Junction, Tennessee.

Penelope re-names herself Penny, and suddenly she's having adventures - and friends - and the kind of life she's only read about.  And among Penny's new friends is Twent, who can't say his r's and has two moms.

Add your review of "Penny Dreadful" in comments!

Riding Freedom - Middle Grade Historical Fiction About Charlie "One Eyed Charlie" Parkhurst, A Famous Stagecoach Driver In the California Gold Rush Who Lived As A Man And Had A Female Body

Riding Freedom by Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Brian Selznick

Charlotte Parkhurst was raised in an orphanage for boys, which suited her just fine. She didn't like playing with dolls, she could hold her own in a fight, and she loved to work in the stable. Charlotte had a special way with horses and wanted to spend her life training and riding them on a ranch of her own.

The problem was, as a girl in the mid-1800s, Charlotte was expected to live a much different life -- one without the freedoms she dreamed of. But Charlotte was smart and determined, and she figured out a way to live her life the way she wanted.

Charlotte became an expert horse rider, a legendary stagecoach driver, and the first woman ever to vote. And she did these things at a time when they were outlawed for women. How? With a plan so clever and so secret - almost no one figured it out.

My note: This is a well-written fictionalized story about real-life One-Eyed Charlie, though by keeping the feminine pronoun throughout, the author never lets you forget that Charlie is "really" "Charlotte." But were they? Isn't it possible that Charlie was the more "true" identity for this historical figure?

While clearly a story of gender non-conformity, the question of Was Charlie transgender? is challenging, as these identities are self-defined. We don't know how Charlie/Charlotte felt about living their life as a man - was it solely to have a better life than they could have had as a woman? Or was it also because they authentically felt they were a man? From my perspective, if someone presents as a man, it's polite to refer to them as such. Thus, every time the author kept referring to the main character as "Charlotte," I chaffed.

But clearly, no disrespect was meant by the author, and this book makes you really like the main character. I enjoyed it.

Add your review of "Riding Freedom" in comments!

The Death-Defying Pepper Roux - A Middle Grade Adventure At Sea With A Cross-Dressing Ship’s First Mate

The Death-Defying Pepper Roux by Geraldine McCaughrean

Pepper's fourteenth birthday is a momentous one.

It's the day he's supposed to die.

Everyone seems resigned to it—even Pepper, although he would much prefer to live. But can you sidestep Fate? Jump sideways into a different life? NaÏve and trusting, Pepper sets a course through dangerous waters, inviting disaster and mayhem at every turn, one eye on the sky for fear of angels, one on the magnificent possibilities of being alive.

Add your review of "The Death-Defying Pepper Roux" in comments!

My top ten inspirations from #LA14writersdays

What an amazing weekend!

The two-day Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators - Los Angeles writers conference I just ran (along with my co-regional advisor, Sarah Laurenson, our assistant regional advisor, Sally Jones Rogan, and a whole team of fellow volunteers) was a great success, if I do say so myself. (But it's not just me. Lots of other people are saying it, too!)

Saturday was a day of keynotes and a first pages panel, and Sunday were the intensives.

Here are some of the moments that are still resonating for me:

1. "Writers hear 'no' more than toddlers do." ...And how that's part of the creative and career process of being a writer - Katherine Applegate (Newbery-winner for her MG novel, "The One And Only Ivan.")

2. 'If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.'- Toni Morrison, as quoted by Katherine Applegate.

3. "If you're writing YA, read one YA a week... Know what's out there." - Catherine Linka (bookseller and children's book buyer for the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse and YA author of the upcoming "A Girl Called Fearless")

4. "What are the first five to ten details you learn about the character? Do they follow through?" - Heidi Fiedler (Editor at Teacher Created Materials and Argosy Press.)

5. "Fiction is frogs misbehaving." - Advice from the first pages panel, a comment on a first page where a child character rode a frog who jumped from country to country in a tour-around-the-world format.

6. The idea of building a story backwards from a profound last line, as Danielle Smith (agent at Red Fox Literary) described in her keynote.

7. Antagonists need their own plot-line: what do they want that conflicts with what your protagonist wants? - Martha Alderson (The Plot Whisperer)

8. Your main character's goals may change throughout the story: chart out their goal at the beginning, the middle and the end. (They have to have a goal in every single scene.) - Martha Alderson (The Plot Whisperer)

9. Related to #7: "The only way we can begin to emotionally identify with a character is if we know what they want." - Martha Alderson (The Plot Whisperer)

10. The final notes: Having more than 160 people sing along with me the words that describe what SCBWI offers: Inspiration, Business, Craft, Opportunity... (To the notes - moving up the scale - C, E, G, high C... And then, as a chord: Community!

and a bonus inspiration:

11. We had to stack all the venue chairs to the side of the gymnasium at the end of Sunday's program. This is a job that usually takes our small group of event volunteers nearly a half-hour. Just before we broke for the day (and sang those words in #10), I asked those for whom it was physically easy to please carry the chair they were sitting in over to the side and help us stack the chairs.  Every chair was stacked in under 10 minutes. Wow - what an illustration of the power of community!!!

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

ps- If you were there and blogged about your top take-aways, add a link in comments! Thanks!

Los Angeles' Writers Days! #LA14writersdays

I'm excited about our SCBWI Los Angeles' Writer's Days conference this weekend!

It's my local SCBWI chapter's biggest event of the year, and for the third year in a row I'm organizing it along with my co-Regional Advisor, Sarah Laurenson, our Assistant Regional Advisor, Sally Jones Rogan, and our team of fellow volunteers!

We've got Newbery-Winner Katherine Applegate (How much am I loving "The One and Only Ivan!")

Bookseller and YA Author Catherine Linka (Who'll share insights from wearing both hats!)

Editor Heidi Fiedler (An editor hungry for new-to-her writers, both for trade books and work-for-hire projects!)

Literary Agent Danielle Smith (Newly at Red Fox Literary, actively looking to build her list!)

Additional faculty includes Social Media Guru Greg Pincus (who's doing social media consults!) and Literary Agent Jen Rofé (whose Sunday intensives are sold out!)

and Martha Alderson (The famed "Plot Whisperer!")

There's a first-pages panel, contests, the awarding of the Sue Alexander Service and Encouragement Award (to recognize one of our region's hardest-working volunteers) and it wouldn't be "Writer's Days" without lots of writing exercises and the chance to work on our craft!

It will be two days full of inspiration, opportunity, craft, business and community -- I can't wait!

We'll be taking walk-in registrations for Saturday and for Sunday's all-day PLOT intensive with Martha Alderson.

If you're writing for kids and/or teens, consider joining us. Details are here.

And if you're able to attend or not, you can follow the conference buzz on twitter, with the hashtag #la14writersdays

Newsgirl - A Middle Grade Historical Where 12 Year Old Amelia (Who's Raised By Two Women) Poses As A Boy

Newsgirl by Liza Ketchum

It's the spring of 1851 and San Francisco is booming. Twelve-year-old Amelia Forrester has just arrived with her family (Amelia's being raised by two women: her mom and Estelle) and they are eager to make a new life in Phoenix City. But the mostly male town is not that hospitable to females and Amelia decides she'll earn more money as a boy. Cutting her hair and donning a cap, she joins a gang of newsboys, selling Eastern newspapers for a fortune. And that's just the beginning of her adventures. Participating in the biggest news stories of the day, Amelia is not a girl to let life pass her by - even and especially when it involves danger!

Add your review of "Newsgirl" in comments!

Matthew Shepard Continues To Make A Difference: An ELA/History Resource Guide For High School Educators

GLSEN, the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Lesléa Newman and Candlewick Press have collaborated to develop He Continues to Make a Difference: Commemorating the Life of Matthew Shepard, a resource for high school educators interested in:

• Commemorating and learning from the life of Matthew Shepard

• Teaching themes of empathy and social justice

• Implementing LGBT-Inclusive curriculum while meeting reading and writing standards

• Supporting LGBT students

Using Lesléa Newman’s award-winning book of poetry, OCTOBER MOURNING: A SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD, as a foundation, educators can foster meaningful dialogue with students while meeting English/Language Arts and Social Studies standards.

I like a lot of this guide - the discussion of windows and mirrors, the core curriculum tie-ins, the call to educators to include more LGBTQ curriculum materials, and especially Lesléa's introduction "Why Matthew's Story Still Matters," which included these very moving words:

When someone is reduced to a slur, he or she becomes, in the
eyes of a tormentor, less than human. He or she becomes, in a
tormentor’s eyes, someone of no consequence, someone who
doesn’t matter, someone—or something—easy to destroy.
And this is why we must keep telling Matthew Shepard’s story.
Matt was not a “fag.” Matt was a person. He was a son, a brother,
a boyfriend, a classmate, a friend. In the Jewish tradition, which is
my tradition, it is said, “Whoever saves a life, saves a whole world.”
I believe that the opposite is also true. Whoever destroys a life,
destroys a whole world. We will never know all the great things
Matthew Shepard would have done had he not been murdered
(ironically, he wanted to work for international social justice). We
will never know how he would have looked once his braces were
removed. We will never know what he would have done upon
graduating from the University of Wyoming. We will never know
if, later in life, he would have married and raised children. We will
never know all the joy and love he would have continued to bring
to his family and friends and to those he had yet to meet. When
his life was cut short, a whole world was destroyed.


In my tradition there is a concept known as “tikkun olam” which
means “repairing the world.” Every person is assigned this task at
birth even though it is assumed that our broken world will never
be fully repaired. Still, each one of us must contribute to “tikkun
olam” in some way. It is also assumed that no individual can do
this alone. And that is why I am so excited to be working with the
Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the Matthew
Shepard Foundation, and Candlewick Press. Together we can
do so much. Together we can reach high school educators and
administrators, political activists, LGBT youth, librarians, parents,
and readers of teen literature, all of whom can work together
to carry on Matthew Shepard’s legacy to make the world a safer
place.

The resource guide is available as a free pdf, and is well worth checking out.

Namaste,
Lee

Lazarus, Covenant, and Epiphany - A Trilogy About Gay Black and Latino College Guys

Lazarus, Covenant and Epiphany by Rashid Darden

Lazarus

ADRIAN is handsome, brilliant, and devoted to serving others. Under the cool exterior, however, he is tormented and unfulfilled. Abandoned by his father and emotionally distant from his mother, he feels alone - adrift on campus - until he meets SAVION. With rhymes dripping from his lips like honey, Savion has just what Adrian needs: stability, maturity, and love. Although their friendship is filled with peaks and valleys, their relationship is threatened by Adrian's biggest challenge: BETA CHI PHI.

Finding the appeal of pledging his father's fraternity irresistible, Adrian decides to take the plunge and pledge Beta Chi Phi in an attempt to fill the void in his heart, even after his relationship with Savion blossoms. Almost immediately, Adrian is thrust headlong into a world of mind games, controlled behavior, and strokes from the paddle--tempered with the brotherhood that bonds men in times of adversity. Adrian knows that he must keep his relationship with Savion a secret at all costs, for if his new-found family were to learn the truth, he may have to choose...

The one he loves...or his brothers.

Covenant

Who will be the first to break?

ADRIAN is on a mission to heal himself from his emotional wounds. Though he is fresh off the “burning sands” of Beta Chi Phi, he suddenly finds himself alone. He sets himself to the task of reconciling with his parents while forging his own path as a newly “out” man on campus – no easy feat when some fraternity brothers still harbor animosity toward him.

ISAIAH is struggling to redefine himself. He is a student, basketball player, and boyfriend to a beautiful young lady. But who does he want to be? Isaiah’s friendship with Adrian awakens new feelings within him – feelings that are both exciting and terrifying. Over the course of one summer these two men are united as friends – and more.

What happens between them is kept secret, even from their closest friends. As they cross each other’s paths on the close-knit campus, they both long to finish what they started during that long, humid summer. Still, they made a promise…

Epiphany

ISAIAH is head over heels in love with his boyfriend and isn’t afraid to let the world know it. His devotion threatens his future as a professional basketball player. Though he is being forced to choose between the love of his life and his career, it appears that he could be making a decision which could irrevocably affect his future.

Meanwhile, ADRIAN has unfinished fraternity business. As a Big Brother for the first time, he has an obligation to uphold the chapter’s sacred traditions, yet feels a responsibility to end the cycle of violence.

Friendships will dissolve. Rivals will return. Secrets buried in LAZARUS and maintained in COVENANT will finally explode in EPIPHANY.


These books were published by the author. Add your review of Lazarus, Covenant and/or Epiphany in comments!

This Father of a Gender Non-Conforming Child Says It So Well

I was really impressed with this interview Matt Duron gave at "The Mother Company" site. Matt's the dad of C.J., the gender non-conforming child Lori Duron writes about raising in her blog and book, Raising My Rainbow.

It was great to hear from the dad in that family! Here's an excerpt:

You say you’ve “evolved” in terms of his ability to handle your boy’s inclination? How?
It’s not uncomfortable at all anymore to see my son wearing “girl clothes” or playing with “girl toys.” I got to the place where I realized that clothes are just fabric and toys are just plastic, who cares what fabric a kid wears or plastic they play with?
I mean, I could care. I could be a jerk to my kid and tell him that he can’t like the kind of stuff that he likes, but what kind of man and father would that make me? I’m supposed to teach my kids right from wrong, self-confidence, decency, respect, how to treat others, how to treat themselves, how to be good people and be leaders. Teaching my boys those qualities are what’s important to my wife and me. Their gender expression has nothing to do with any of that. I’m not going to kill his spirit by telling him that the way he was born is wrong or bad.
If you read the statistics for kids like my son they are pretty scary. They have the highest rate of suicide attempts, drug abuse, unsafe sex and depression. Am I going to drive him to those things or try to save him from those things by loving him no matter what? You better believe it’s the latter of those two. I will do everything I can possibly do to ensure my son doesn’t become a statistic and help as many other kids as I can.

Join me in cheering their whole family on! Go check out the interview here.

Namaste,
Lee

And thanks to my friend Greg for sharing this with me, so I could share it with all of you.

The Rainbow List is Here! The Rainbow List is Here!

The Rainbow Project website (I do love how they link to this blog in their "Stay Tuned" sidebar!)

The 2014 Rainbow Project Reading List, a project of the American Library Assocation's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) and Social Responsibilities Round Table (SSRT), is a wonderful resource and powerful tool to:

Let readers know what's really great in terms of kid and teen books with LGBTQ characters and themes that was published last year (2013) and

Give librarians and other professionals who buy books for library collections a list of LGBTQ-inclusive and themed books recommended by the American Library Association as being "high quality."

This year, 30 books were selected out of 150, and here are the Rainbow List's top ten (noted with a star, not in order)

Juvenile Fiction
*Federle, Tim. Better Nate than Ever. 2013. 275p. Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, $16.99 (9781442446892). Grades 4 and up.
Thirteen-year-old Nate runs away from his small town in Pennsylvania to New York City to audition for E.T. the Musical. With the help of his best friend, can he come back home before anyone notices he’s gone?

Teen Non Fiction
*Bornstein, Kate. My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity. 2013. 312p. Routledge, $39.95. (9780415538657). Grades 7 and up.
This updated edition of Bornstein’s original gender workbook shows the reader how to deconstruct not only gender, but other societal values and morals with candidness, compassion and humor.

*Setterington, Ken. Branded by the Pink Triangle. 2013. 158p. Second Story Press, $15.95. (9781926920962). Grades 9 and up.
Jews were not the only ones persecuted and executed by the Nazis in World War II. Instead of a Star of David, homosexual men were marked with a pink triangle, which now stands as an international symbol for gay rights.

Teen Fiction
*Block, Francesca Lia. Love in the Time of Global Warming. 2013. 240p. Henry Holt and Co., $16.99 (0805096272). Grades 9-12.
In post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Penelope (Pen) has lost everything, and everyone, she’s ever cared about. In this Odyssey-esque journey, Pen embarks on a search for her family, finding unexpected adventures and survivors along the way.

*Clark, Kristin Elizabeth. Freakboy. 2013. 448p. Farrar Straus Giroux $18.99 (9780374324728). Grades 7 and up.
Three lives intertwine: Angel, a transwoman who works at an LGBTQ center for teens; Vanessa, a high school girl who’s on the wrestling team; and Brendan, Vanessa’s boyfriend who has just started having dreams that he is actually a she. Brendan feels at home in his female-bodied dreams, but what does that mean for his relationship with Vanessa, and how can Angel help him?

*Dos Santos, Steven. The Culling. 2013. 420p. Flux, $9.99 (9780738735375). Grades 9-12.
In a post-apocalyptic America, the government has absolute control of its people, complete with a barbaric and gruesome tradition known as Recruitment Day. Lucian “Lucky” Sparks thinks his boyfriend, Cassius, will save him from being selected as a Recruit, but when Cassius proves untrustworthy Lucky must fight for his life.

*Egloff, Z. Leap. 2013. 223p. Bywater Books, $14.95. (978-1612940236). Grades 9 and up.
In the summer of 1979, Rowan Marks is just waiting to leave for college. In the meantime, she deals with her disconnected family, her best friend Danny who is in love with her, and stuck up, closed-off Catherine.

*Farizan, Sara. If You Could Be Mine. 2013. 256p. Algonquin Young Readers, $16.99 (9781616202514). Grades 9 and up.
Sahar and Nasrin are two women in love with each other whose lives are complicated by the fact that they live in Iran, where homosexuality is forbidden. When Nasrin’s parents arrange for her to be married to a handsome doctor, Sahar comes up with a risky plan to save their relationship.

*Johnson, Alaya Dawn. The Summer Prince. 2013. 304p. Arthur A. Levine Books, $17.99 (9780545520775). Grades 9 and up.
Set in futuristic Brazil, the people of the city of Palmares Tres have elected a new Summer King, Enki. Everyone is in love with him, including June who knows better then to get tangled up with a man who she knows is destined to die.

*Lam, Laura. Pantomime. 2013. 400p. Strange Chemistry, $9.99 (9781908844378). Grades 9 and up.
Fleeing from her life of nobility, marriage and forced gender, Iphigenia joins the Circus of Magic, facing issues of identity that stretch beyond anyone’s imagination.


Congratulations to everyone who made the Rainbow List!

And for the rest of us, Happy Reading!

The Seventh Pleiade - A Gay Teen Prince of Atlantis, A Mystery, and a Romance

The Seventh Pleiade by Andrew J. Peters

Atlantis is besieged by violent storms, tremors, and a barbarian army. For sixteen-year old Aerander, it’s a calamitous backdrop to his Panegyris, where boys are feted for their passage to manhood.

Amid a secret web of romances among the celebrants, Aerander’s cousin Dam goes missing with two boys. With the kingdom in crisis, no one suspects the High Priest Zazamoukh though Aerander uncovers a conspiracy to barter boys for dark spiritual power. Aerander’s proof — an underground vault that disappears in the morning — brings shame on his family and suspicions of lunacy. The only way to regain his honor is to prove what really happened to the missing boys.

Tracking Dam leads Aerander on a terrifying and fantastical journey. He spots a star that hasn’t been seen for centuries. He uncovers a legend about an ancient race of men who hid below the earth. And traveling to an underground world, he learns about matters even more urgent than the missing boys. The world aboveground is changing, and he will have to clear a path for the kingdom’s survival.

Add your review of "The Seventh Pleiade" in comments!

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out - nonfiction profiles and photographs of six transgender and gender-neutral teens

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.

Add your review of "Beyond Magenta" in comments!

Barriers To Love: Embracing A Bisexual Identity - A Memoir about coming of age and overcoming the struggle with family, society, Latino culture and self to accept one's bisexual identity

Barriers To Love: Embracing A Bisexual Identity by Marina Peralta

Set in Mexico and California, BARRIERS TO LOVE traces how early sexual abuse in Marina's childhood led to her sexual confusion in adolescence. Jilted by her first boyfriend, comforted by a lesbian girlfriend and controlled by her widowed mother, she married an emotionally detached man, only to find love with a woman later in life.

The author Marina Peralta is a San Diego-based psycho-therapist who specializes in the treatment of young adults, adults, and families dealing with sexual identity issues and abuse. In her memoir Marina employs her own compelling life story to address the myths and facts of bisexual identity and to explore the concept of sexual fluidity.

Add your review of "Barriers To Love" in comments!