Each year, more and more visually graphic books geared towards the LGBTQ community can be found on physical and virtual bookshelves, and this year is no exception. Gay writer and illustrator Maurice Vellekoop got 2024 off to a fabulous start with his wonderful and visually stunning graphic memoir, “I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together,” setting the bar high for the other illustrated books that would follow.
Leela Corman demonstrates that she was more than up to the task with “Victory Parade” (Schocken, 2024). Set during World War II where Rose, as well as queer Pearl who has a girlfriend named Marlene, work as welders in a Brooklyn Navy Yard. “Victory Parade” also features German Jewish refugee Ruth, who becomes an unexpected star in the realm of female wrestlers. Along with Holocaust dramas such as “We Were the Lucky Ones” and “The Zone of Interest,” Corman’s “Victory Parade” functions to fill a void in the public’s concerning lack of awareness on the subject.
As of this writing in the spring of 2024, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, with positive test results as well as hospitalizations continuing to be a common occurrence. With that in mind, we have “Rescue Party: A Graphic Anthology of COVID Lockdown” (Pantheon, 2024), edited by Gabe Fowler. Of the nearly 50 contributing artists, several are LGBTQ including Jesse Simpson, Tyler Gunther, Amanda Hackett, Cameron Schroeder, Gosha Elaev, Jane Demarest, Lance Rossi, and Miranda Louise Nichols, to name a few.
Caroline Palmer, a nonbinary comic creator, is the author and illustrator of “Camp Prodigy” (Atheneum for Young Readers, 2024), a middle grade graphic novel set at a music summer camp. The two nonbinary main characters, Tate and Eli, are young viola prodigies. In addition to the characters’ dealing with the pressures of achieving perfection with their respective musical abilities, they also have transformative experiences when it comes to their individual coming out processes.
Just imagine how different many of our lives would have been if we’d had illustrated books such as Lesléa Newman’s “Heather Has Two Mommies” (originally published in 1989) or “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson (from 2005) when we were young and just beginning to be aware of the queer world around us.
Fortunately, young readers (and their parents) now have a large selection of titles available to them, particularly during Pride season. “The ABCs of Queer History” (Workman, 2024) by Dr. Seema Yasmin, with illustrations by Lucy Kirk, commemorates the US queer history in an alphabetical arrangement. From “ally” to “zero tolerance” for hatred, the book is colorful and informative, for readers of all ages.
Nonbinary writer Lindz Amer and illustrator Kip Alizadeh are the creators of the book “Hooray for She, He, Ze, and They!” (Simon and Schuster, 2024). Subtitled “What Are Your Pronouns Today?,” the book begins by defining pronouns and then provides examples of the ways that gender can be expressed, including clothes and hairstyles, and then how to choose your own best pronoun.
