When we first started this blog, Sarah sat down with her former roommate (a childrenâs librarian) and set out looking for bisexual picture books. We figured there must be some somewhere. After all it had been like 20some years since Heather Has Two Mommies and there are tons of gay, lesbian, and transgender picture books now. There must be somewhere, from some small press or dedicated but obscure author, bisexual childrenâs picture books.
We have been at this blog for almost 20 months and we have not found a single bisexual picture book. No picture books about bisexuality, no picture books explaining bisexuality, no picture books with bisexual characters. No quirky thing from the 70âs or the 90âs with terribly dated pictures. No cutting edge kickstarted thing the just came up now.
Weâve talked about this more with former roommate and with other childrenâs literature professionals, and weâve narrowed it down to two possible reasons:
1) The word bisexual has the words âsexâ and âsexualâ in it This is terrifying to parents, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and publishers.
2) Picture books are very much focused on helping children understand a situation in the here and now. When queer childrenâs picture books do exist, they are often about helping children understand a friend or relative who is in a same-sex relationship, transitioning, or doing the things queer people do that straight people also do - like get married and have babies. A few are fantasy stories about princes and princesses that fly in the face of conventional gender expectations.
This means that itâs not immediately easy to use a picture book to explain bisexuality. If Mommy has a girlfriend now that will be the focus of the book, not her identity label or her former boyfriend.
But while those two reasons may explain a lot, itâs still not good enough.
This is Picture Book Month and Carolyn Dee Flores recently had this to say about the power of picture books:
Picture books ignite our souls.
I didnât own every one of the books I read when I was little, but I FELT like I did. When I was really young, and read a book, and saw the pictures, and felt the pages, I remember thinking, âWow, someone thought enough of me to do this, to make THIS for ME.â It made me feel important. Worthy. Like I had a future.
Think about all the kids out there that will one day grow up to be bisexual. Or all the kids out there who have bisexual parents and relatives. Plus all the bisexual adults out there who would LOVE to give a bisexual picture book to a child in their lifeâŠ.
Picture book authors, publishers, and illustrators are dynamic, creative, and passionate people. To them, weâre issuing the following challenge:
Find a way to make bisexual picture books.
Soon. Now, if you could. Because it is long past due.