LEARN MORE SERIES: What’s So Dangerous About a Picture Book?: Book Bans and Queer Resistance in Children’s & YA Literature

Ten years ago, children’s books with queer or trans themes accounted for less than 20% of banned or challenged books in the US. Today, they make up more than 75%. Those bans include books about kids and families, but also about penguins and worms whose tales of challenging gender norms provide critical mirrors for queer, trans, and questioning kids as young as kindergarten. On World-Read-a-Loud Day, BU Diversity & Inclusion and the Center for LGBTQIA+ Faculty & Staff invite you to a special, two-part celebration of LGBTQIA+ stories in children’s/YA literature. From 12-1:30pm, take a deep dive into the attack on LGBTQIA-affirming books with a star panel of queer and trans book creators. Then, from 5-6:30pm, head to the Howard Thurman Center for our Banned Books Storytime Marathon, where students, staff, and faculty are invited to read banned books spoken-word style. Pizza, popcorn, cookies, and hot chocolate will be on hand, and all read-a-loud readers will get a free copy of either the YA bestseller Flamer or the eye-catching board book The Pronoun Book. Panelists: Mike Curato, author/illustrator of Flamer and Worm Loves Worm Joy Michael Ellison, author of Sylvia and Marsha Start a Revolution Jules Gill-Peterson, Johns Hopkins University Professor of History and author of Histories of the Transgender Child Chris Krones, editor at Clarion Books and author of The Pronoun Book Moderator: Dr. Laura Jiménez, Associate Dean, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Senior Lecturer in Literacy Education, BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development Sponsored by BU Diversity & Inclusion and the LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff