The week of
June 8-15 Thunder Bay will be celebrating its 4th annual Thunder Pride. The
week will be full of events and activities for the whole community, including
movie nights, drag shows and a parade on the 14th. The week is for acceptance
of everyone, but especially the LGBTQA2S community. You can find the agenda for Thunder Pride at
its website: http://www.thunderpride.ca/. Thunder Bay Public Library is
committed to reflecting the diversity of society in all of our collections,
including picture books, Young Adult titles, fiction and non-fiction, and are
excited to participate in Pride in the Park as part of the Ally Alley. Find us
there to check out some of the books mentioned below in person!
We have some
excellent children’s picture books, like the well-known, best selling and
award-winning And
Tango Makes Three. This is the true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins at the
Central Park Zoo who add a baby penguin to their family. Other titles include A
Fire Engine For Ruthie, the story of a little girl who loves to play with “boys”
toys and her grandmother who loves dolls and dress-up and The
Great Big Book Of Families, a picture book illustrating all kinds of diversity.
Our largest
collection of LGBTQA2S materials can be found in our Young Adult section. Young
adulthood can be a difficult time for all teens; however, it can be even more
difficult for those who are part of the LGBTQA2S community. The library
catalogue has many books about the coming out process and life afterwards,
including It
Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating A Life Worth Living, GLBTQ:
The Survival Guide for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning
Teens or Beyond
Magenta : Transgender Teens Speak Out.
There are also
many fictional stories featuring LGBTQA2S characters. If you are looking for
stories about coming out as a gay male, we have my personal favourite, Aristotle
and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. Boyfriends
With Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez and Boy
Meets Boy by
David Leviathan are two other great coming of age novels. If you are looking
for novels about lesbian youth some titles include The
Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M Danforth, If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan and Hello
Groin by Beth
Goobie. In the transgender/genderqueer collection we have Almost
Perfect by
Brian Katcher and Beautiful
Music for Ugly Children by Kirsten Cronn-Mills. For those who identify as bisexual
we have Grasshopper
Jungle by
Andrew Smith and Beauty
Queens by
Libba Bray. Finally, if you’re interested in graphic novels, there are stories
told in this format as well, like Raina Telgemeier's celebrated and
best-selling Drama, the Kevin
Keller
stories by Dan Parent about the newly added gay character in the Archie comics
universe and A
+ E 4ever by
Llike Merey.
As you
celebrate Thunder Pride week, come check out TBPL’s collection at our branches
or find more suggestions online by visiting the TBPL Teen Zone --> Read This
Next and Kids Space --> Good Books pages on our website. If you are
interested in reviews of these titles, visit the TBPL Off the Shelf blog.
Happy Thunder Pride!
Eric Stein
No comments:
Post a Comment