Teachers & Librarians

Second Trans on the Moon

By Gwin|2020-03-28T13:40:19-05:00November 21st, 2016|Categories: Guest Blogs, Teachers & Librarians|Tags: Trans|

Trans Awareness Week Series: Day #5 Previous Posts: How the Fox Became by Fox Benwell Interview: Alex Gino, The Room Where it Happens by Parrish Turner, Trans Stories Are Human Stories by April Daniels, Center Trans Voices: Introduction to Trans Awareness Week Series by Vee S.) by Kyle Lukoff ARE YOU: An elementary school librarian A resident of the United States of America A transsexual (you can also prefer the words trans or transgender or whatever, but I really enjoy the word transsexual) (also I suppose I should limit this to men/masculine-spectrum people but it’s not necessary I guess) Possessed of some muscles If [...]

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How to Build a Safe Space for LGBTQIA+ Teens via Books

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:30-05:00November 10th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Teachers & Librarians|

I wasn't planning on posting this resource this week. And then, well, this election happened. As a queer teen, I am more scared than I have ever been in this country. And I'm white. My friends who are LGBTQIA+ and people of color... they're terrified. We need safe spaces now more than ever. I know this election has been a wake up call for many people that we need to do better, so I hope this post can help give some direction to that energy. Teachers, librarians, booksellers, I know a lot of you are scared. LGBTQIA+ content is still [...]

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Bi YA Reads Bookmarks

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:34-05:00September 28th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Fun Things, Teachers & Librarians|Tags: Bisexual|

Introducing.....Bi YA Reads bookmarks! What: rad double-sided bookmarks with 15 of our fave Bi YA books. Who: anyone is free to use/print these out! Why: Our main goal for these was to develop a resource that librarians and booksellers can put in their teen section. Bookmarks and other hand outs are a great way to spread knowledge of inclusive books, sometimes even more so than displays. While displays are incredibly important, teens who aren't out may not feel comfortable browsing them. Bookmarks ensure that these teens can be informed & request these books privately, or find an ebook version. In [...]

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LGBTQIA+ Books and Libraries: Helping Queer Kids Find the Stories They Need

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 24th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Teachers & Librarians|Tags: Representation|

by Amanda MacGregor I’ve worked in the book field for 16 years. I’ve worked as the children’s lead bookseller at Barnes & Noble; at The Children’s Book Shop, an independent bookstore in Brookline, Massachusetts; as a children’s librarian; in a high school library; and as a librarian in a public library. I’ve been reviewing YA books professionally for almost as long (and my list of places I’ve worked for is nearly as long—The Horn Book, SLJ, VOYA, the long-defunct KLIATT, & Children’s Literature). I recently left my library gig, as we’re moving, but while there also spent 4 [...]

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If You Haven’t Seen

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 22nd, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Teachers & Librarians|Tags: Asian, Black, Intersectionality, Latin@|

by Edith Campbell Back in October 2015 my daughter shared news with me about the book Large Fears by Myles Johnson and Kendrick Daye and I was so excited that I posted about it on FaceBook. I was easily engaged by the artwork and intrigued by the story of a young black boy who daydreamed about escaping to Mars where he could be free to love the color pink. Just above the image of the book, I wrote, “I'm really glad to know about this book! I would say there are so few books for queer black boys, but [...]

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What’s Your Queery? Advocacy & Inclusivity in Teen Library Services

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:38-05:00June 17th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Teachers & Librarians|Tags: Activism, Advocacy, Allies|

by Candice Happy LGBTQIA Heritage Month and happy 5th anniversary, Gay YA!! I am so honored to have been invited to contribute to Gay YA’s awesome Pride Month and anniversary blogathon! As the President of the Young Adult Library Services Association and the Senior Librarian of systemwide Teen Services at the Los Angeles Public Library, I wanted to highlight how some library staff have advocated for greater inclusivity and awareness of LGBTQIA communities and provide tips for those who want to organize and advocate locally. I interviewed Xochitl Oliva and David Hagopian, the Chair and Co-Chair, respectively, of [...]

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On Creating the “Perfect” Booklist for a GLBTIQ Course

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:49-05:00June 11th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Teachers & Librarians|

by Robin Kurz This summer, after two institutions and four years, I finally have the opportunity to design and teach a GLBTIQ course for library science students. Since it’s a “resources and services” course, I’m able to incorporate books rather heavily into the syllabus. I have taught a variety of these sorts of courses (from YA to multicultural) and use class-wide reads as a way to introduce students to relevant themes, genres, communities, etc. Basically, the entire class reads the same title and we then discuss it based on the questions and prompts I provide and inclusive of [...]

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