Yael van der Wouden
Adult
Rural Netherlands, 1961. Isabel keeps her late mother’s house in strict order until her brother leaves his new girlfriend, Eva, there for the season. Desire, suspicion, and missing silverware open a door onto what the family kept after the war.
Prices are indicative. Final price is set by the retailer at checkout.
Two women in a Dutch house, heat, and a theft that is not a subplot. The love story and the historical reckoning are the same plot.
Adult. Queer desire with explicit sex; the Holocaust is not atmosphere. Readers who can let a house be an argument.
What was the house keeping safe, and for whom?
Notice what Isabel inventories. The list is the confession.
Two titles that deepen the same conversation.
Adult
Detransition, BabyTorrey Peters
Reese, a trans woman who wants a child; Ames, who detransitioned and is not done with Reese; and Katrina, Ames’s boss, who is pregnant. Three adults try to invent a family that the available scripts do not cover.
Adult
Martyr!Kaveh Akbar
Cyrus Shams, an Iranian American poet in recovery, hunts for meaning in death, family, and a painting that may be his mother. Orphaned, addicted, and allergic to easy transcendence, he turns martyrdom into a question instead of a costume.
Adult
The Berry PickersAmanda Peters
In 1962 a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia comes to Maine to pick blueberries. Four-year-old Ruthie vanishes from the fields. Her brother Joe is the last to see her. Decades later, a girl named Norma in an affluent white family begins to suspect her memories are not imagination.
Ages 3–8
And Tango Makes ThreeJustin Richardson & Peter Parnell
In the zoo there are all kinds of animal families. But Tango's family is not like any of the others. This illustrated children's book fictionalizes the true story of two male penguins who became partners and raised a penguin chick in the Central Park Zoo.
Ages 3–8
Asha's mumsRosamund Elwin
For ages 4-8. When Asha's lesbian mums become an issue for the teacher and the curiosity of classmates, Asha responds that having two mums is not a big deal. They are a family.
Ages 3–8
CalvinJ. R. Ford
In this joyful and impactful picture book, a transgender boy prepares for the first day of school and introduces himself to his family and friends for the first time. Calvin has always been a boy, even if the world sees him as a girl.
Ages 3–8
From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the SeaKai Cheng Thom
In the magical time between night and day, when both the sun and the moon are in the sky, a child is born in a little blue house on a hill. And Miu Lan is not just any child, but one who can change into any shape they can imagine. The only problem is they can't decide what to be: A boy or a girl? A bird or a fish? A flower or a shooting star? At school, though, they must endure inquisitive looks and difficult questions from the other children, and they have trouble finding friends who will accept them for who they are. But they find comfort in the loving arms of their mother, who always offers them the same loving refrain: "whatever you dream of / i believe you can be / from the stars in the sky to the fish in the sea." In this captivating, beautifully imagined picture book about gender, identity, and the acceptance of the differences between us, Miu Lan faces many questions about who they are and who they may be. But one thing's for sure: no matter what this child becomes, their mother will love them just the same.
Ages 3–8
Heather has two mommiesLesléa Newman
When Heather goes to playgroup, at first she feels bad because she has two mothers and no father, but then she learns that there are lots of different kinds of families and the most important thing is that all the people love each other.
