Pride Week Guest Post from Robin Stevenson: Diversity in Children’s Novels — More Queer Families Please!

When I first came out, more than twenty years ago, there weren’t many queer characters in teen novels. One could probably count the books on two hands—Sandra Scoppetone’s TRYING HARD TO HEAR YOU (1973) and HAPPY ENDINGS ARE ALL ALIKE (1978), Nancy Garden’s ANNIE ON MY MIND (1982), Francesca Lia Block’s wonderful WEETZIE BAT books, and a handful of others.

And now? We’ve come a long way. There are some fabulous YA novels out there with lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning and transgendered characters– and lots of terrific new books come out every year.

Orca Books, March 2013.

There are some very powerful novels about coming out, about identity, about loves and losses, about changes and challenges in relationships with family and friends and peers. And we need more of these novels. Despite what some have suggested, coming out novels have NOT been “done to death” any more than YA novels about heterosexual relationships.

But—and this is perhaps even more exciting– we’re now seeing more and more novels where the character’s (queer) sexuality and identity are incidental to the story. We’re seeing fantasy and sci-fi as well as contemporary fiction. And I suspect we’ll continue to see more and more of these novels—which is awesome. And even for kids in middle school, twelve and thirteen year olds, we’re starting to see a few more books with queer characters.

But what we are not seeing—what barely even exists—is any representation of queerness in fiction for younger readers. There are so many wonderful books for kids who eight to twelve, kids who are reading independently and well in to chapter books and juvenile novels, but not yet ready for YA—but so few of these books include queer characters.

After hunting around online, I’ve found a few:  Lauren Myracle’s LUV YA BUNCHES includes a character who has two moms, which has caused an absurd amount of controversy. DAYS THAT END IN Y is the third in a series about two kids, Clarissa and Benjy, and includes a story line which sees Benjy starting to understand more about himself and finding the courage to come out. And its author, Vicky VanSickle, rounded up a few more in this great blog post. But that’s about it. If anyone knows of others, please let me know in the comments!

I think the problem is that queerness often gets equated with sexuality, and while people generally accept that figuring out sexuality is a part of adolescence, anything even vaguely sexual is seen as inappropriate in books for younger readers. Which is debatable, of course- I have many friends who knew they were gay- or at least, different- at a very young age, long before they even knew there was a word for it. Some of them struggled hugely as young kids and maybe books could have helped reduce their fear and isolation.

But regardless of where you stand on that question, queerness isn’t just about sexuality. It’s also about families—and I don’t think anyone would disagree that families exist and belong in books for readers of all ages.

So many books, so few queer families.

My son is nine and loves books, especially fantasy and sci-fi. He has two moms– and he has yet to read a chapter book which includes a family that looks like his. NOT. ONE. SINGLE. BOOK. His bedroom is lined with over-flowing bookshelves and in every single one of those books, the characters—thousands of them- are all, apparently, straight. Every last character- be it human, mouse, monster, cat or alien. What is up with that?

Children should find themselves and their families reflected in what they are reading—and they shouldn’t have to wait until they are old enough to read teen novels.

And as a children’s author, I am part of the problem. Of the sixteen books I have published, nine are for teens- and three of those (INFERNO, OUT OF ORDER and BIG GUY) have queer main characters. INFERNO was even a 2010 Rainbow List selection, which I was thrilled about.

But seven of my novels are for younger readers- and of those, none have a queer main character. And only one- Liars and Fools- even has minor character who is queer (Fiona’s aunt lives with a gay male friend, Tom, who Fiona considers an uncle).

Obviously I need to do something instead of just complaining. We need more diversity in children’s books, not just in YA. So come on, kid lit writers. It’s time for a change. Let’s make it happen.

And for all lovers of diversity in children’s books and teen fiction, here are some ways you can help.

Robin Stevenson.

Robin Stevenson is the author of sixteen novels for teens and children, including the 2014 Silver Birch Award winner RECORD BREAKER. Her YA novels include A THOUSAND SHADES OF BLUE, HUMMINGBIRD HEART, INFERNO and Escape VELOCITY. Robin was born in England, grew up mostly in Ontario, spent a couple of years in Australia, and now lives on the west coast of Canada, with her partner and their ten year old son. She writes, edits, and teaches creative writing courses for people of all ages. Robin loves hearing from readers and can be reached through her website at www.robinstevenson.com.