queer
AMPLIFY: Alex Logan reviewing LGBTQ Children’s and Young Adult Literature
This week I am boosting the amazing Alex Logan and their blog Almost, Almost!
Check out Alex’s reviews of LGBTQ children’s and YA literature! If you love my blog, you will love theirs! Check it out!
Johnny Valentine’s The Duke Who Outlawed Jelly Beans (1991)
The Duke Who Outlawed Jelly Beans (1991), written by Johnny Valentine and illustrated by Lynette Schmidt, is an early Alyson Wonderland publication full of whimsy and charm.
The first story, “The Frog Prince,” is about a boy, Nicholas, who discovers a talking frog. The frog informs Nicholas he is really a prince and needs to be kissed to be transformed back into his true form. Nicholas begrudgingly plants a kiss on the frog and it does, in fact, transform into a prince. The prince explains that his parents could be cruel and as punishment for a minor offense had permitted a wizard to experiment on him. Continue reading
AMPLIFY: Alex Logan reviewing Daniel Errico’s The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived
This week I am boosting the amazing Alex Logan and their blog Almost, Almost!
Check out Alex’s review of Daniel Errico‘s The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived. I know I’m adding it to my TBR!
Eric Jon Nones’ Caleb’s Friend (1993)
Eric Jon Nones’ Caleb’s Friend (1993), published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, offers a queerly seductive representation of same-gender desire.
Caleb, a tan-skinned boy of about twelve, is an orphan who works on a boat. One day an icy-blue skinned merboy approaches the ship to return a harmonica Caleb has accidentally dropped into the sea. The human boy and merboy continue to meet, but they exchange objects like shells and flowers instead of kisses. Continue reading
AMPLIFY: Alex Logan @ Almost, Almost
My name is Jennifer Miller and I blog about children’s books at Raise Them Righteous. I recently started a new project on my blog – AMPLIFY – to boost blogs and bloggers that I love and am excited to support. Today I’m featuring Alex Logan’s blog Almost, Almost.
Alex reviews queer literature and their blog is AMAZING. Please, take a look and support Alex’s important work by following their blog! Check it out here: Almost, Almost. You can follow Alex on Twitter, too! Check them out: @AAlexLogan
Please, take a minute to read about Alex and their blog! I’ll continue to AMPLIFY Alex and their blog throughout the week by sharing some of their favorite blog posts at Raise Them Righteous!
Bio: I’m Alex Logan (they/them). I’m an asexual and agender reader, writer, and librarian from New York State. I love books and languages and my other main interest is soccer, which I both watch and play (and, of course, read about!)
When did you start blogging?
I started blogging on Almost, Almost in August 2016, and started blogging primarily about bookish topics starting in June 2017.
Why did you start blogging?
I originally started blogging when I was coming to terms with and becoming more public about my nonbinary gender identity; I wanted a place where I could reflect and work things out with a supportive community at a time when I was still firmly closeted in real life, or just starting to come out to close friends. Then, in June 2017, I decided to combine my interests in LGBTQ issues with my passion for books and do a month of Reading for Pride posts, where I read exclusively LGBTQ books and shared what I was reading on the blog.
What specific content do you blog about? Why?
I currently blog mostly about LGBTQ books. I enjoyed the posts I did for my Reading for Pride month so much that I started doing a weekly Rainbow Reading roundup of the LGBTQ books I was reading. As a librarian, I’m always happy to do reader’s advisory and generally talk about books, and as a librarian I also have access to a lot of books, including under-the-radar books that I love to share with more people. At the time, I also was in the process of writing a book of my own – Royal Rescue, a young adult fantasy novel with an aro-ace protagonist that was published by NineStar Press in April 2019 – so I had books on the brain even more than usual. As a result, the blog shifted from mostly personal posts to mostly bookish ones – although I still do some posts about asexuality, medically transitioning as a nonbinary person, being out at work, and more.
Queer YA: Patrick Ness’s Release
If you haven’t read a book by Patrick Ness, you are really missing out. He is one of my favorite authors, and everything I’ve read from him has been a hit, including Release. I’ve previously reviewed one of his books More Than This review but I cannot recommend his Chaos Walking trilogy enough. Published the same years as The Hunger Games, it was a pioneer in the modern young adult dystopia genre and is FINALLY getting a film adaptation. I plan to reread the series next year. He also wrote A Monster Calls, which is one of the most beautiful books I’ve read in a long time. You might have also seen the very well done movie. So, anytime a Ness book comes out, I clamber to get my copy. Continue reading
One Year Blogiversary!
It’s my one year blogiversary!
I started RaiseThemRighteous a year ago with a review of Jessica Love’s Julian is a Mermaid.
It was about a month after I attended the Children’s Literature Association’s 2018 conference and I wanted to share my research about queer children’s picture books with a larger audience. At the conference I met with an editor from the University Press of Mississippi who was interested in publishing my work. I’ve since signed a contract with Mississippi and my book about queer children’s picture books should be out Spring 2021. As excited as I was, and am, to publish academic work, it’s also very important to me that I have an audience outside academia. I want this audience to include parents, educators, librarians, and of course, queer kids, who need the books I research and review! I’ve since reviewed over 100 queer children’s books all of which can be found on my blog under “Snapshots of LGBTQ Kid Lit.” Continue reading
Coming Soon: Dani Gabriel’s Sam!
Sam!, Penny Candy Books’ upcoming release about a transgender boy’s decision to share his gender identity with his family, is thoughtfully written by Dani Gabriel and warmly illustrated by Robert Liu-Trujillo. The story centers on a racially ambiguous family, all with thick dark hair and tan skin warmed by yellow undertones. This makes it one of only a handful of queer children’s books to engage both racial and gender diversity through major characters. Continue reading
Coming Soon: Elana K. Arnold’s What Riley Wore (2019)
What Riley Wore (2019), written by Elana K. Arnold, explores the creativity and sensitivity of a nonbinary/gender creative child as they navigate everyday life from the dentist’s office to the playground. This accessible children’s picture book is colorfully and cartoonishly illustrated by Linda Davick with a touch of whimsy that doesn’t detract from the text’s realism. Continue reading
