Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello, guys, gals and non binary pals, or however you identify. Welcome to the Pride Week Book Review.
My name is Orion and I'll be one of your hosts today. And if you really knew me, you would know that I can read a little bit of Mandarin.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: And I'm Eli. I will be your other host. I'm in seventh grade, and if you really knew me, you would know that I love fencing. But something that I'm not on the fence about is my love for Pride literature.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: Last but certainly not least, we have Rachel, the sixth grade humanities teacher and our GSA leader. Also known as the only one of us who is not completely insane.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: True fact.
[00:00:37] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Rachel Stone, and if you really knew me, you would know that my parents also gave me some extra middle names, including a Yiddish name, Chayabela, and a hippie name, Wind Cloud.
And I do in fact really enjoy the enthusiasm and occasional chaos of the gsa.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Wow, that's pretty interesting. I never knew that.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Those names are pretty swagalicious.
You might think that there aren't many good books that feature strong LGBTQ representations, or maybe you're overwhelmed by all the amazing options out there. But fear not friends, we're here to help you out. We've selected four out of many books that have excellent representation and we're excited to share them with you.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: Today we'll be covering two books perfect for middle school. Heartstopper by Alice Osmond and Carry on by Rainbow Rowell. We'll also be covering two books for all ages. The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag and Snapdragon by Kat Leigh.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Now let's get started.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Alright, first up we have the Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag.
This is a great book for all ages. The main plot focuses on a 15 year old girl named Morgan struggling with high school drama and figuring out her sexuality.
But when a mysterious selkie girl washes up on shore, everything changes. This book features all sorts of great LGBTQ representation and I would highly recommend reading this book if you are interested in the ocean selkies or just magic in general.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: And by the way, if you didn't know, a selkie is a part human, part part seal mythical creature.
Next up we have Snapdragon by Cat Lay.
This is an amazing book that I would highly recommend to anyone.
Snapdragon's town has a witch. At least that's how the rumor goes. But in reality, Jax is a Crocs wearing, Internet savvy old lady who sells roadkill skeletons online. It's creepy, sure, but Snap thinks it's kind of cool. Snap needs a favor from this old woman though, so she begins helping Jax with her strange work. Snap gets to know her and realizes that Jax may have real magic and an unlikely connection to Snap's family past. If you like magic and adventure, you're going to love this graphic novel.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Of course we have to include Heartstopper by Alice Osmond. It's a four book series that features two high school boys meeting, becoming friends, and eventually falling in love. This is an excellent book, but I would most Recommend it to 5th grade and above, mostly because of the strong language.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: Last but not least, we have the Carry on series by Rainbow Robb. This is an amazing trilogy. Simon Snow is at his last year of Watford's School of Magics when disaster strikes. The insidious Humdrum is at large, consuming magic like never before. To defeat the Humdrum, Simon is forced to team up with roommate immortal enemy Baz Pitch throughout the story. These two grow increasingly close and soon form more than just a friendship. This book is great for sixth graders and above, and if you liked Harry Potter and other fantasy books, you'll love this.
And just a heads up that the third book in the Carry on series is recommended for high school audiences and older due to some of the mature themes.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: There are many more amazing prior related books that we just couldn't fit into this episode. And if you want to know more, there will be a list on this episode's padlet. Or if you have your own great queer book recommendations, you can add them to the Padlet as well.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Alright, before we go, let's let Rachel back onto the mic and hear her perspective as a middle school humanities teacher. She definitely knows a thing or two about this topic. Hello again Rachel.
[00:04:35] Speaker C: Hi.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: To go along with all these awesome book recommendations, let's pause and talk about the significance of this literary genre. I have a couple of questions, Eli and Rachel. Why do you think this type of literature is important? And more specifically, why at this moment in time?
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Rachel, since you're the guest, I'll let you go first.
[00:04:57] Speaker C: So I think in all of our media, including our books, we need to see ourselves reflected in characters. We need windows and mirrors. We need to be able to see parts of our own identities reflected and recognized and witnessed in in characters. And we also need to be able to see through eyes of people whose identities we don't experience and whose lives we don't necessarily have access to the inside experience.
And I think for queer books, stories of, you know Especially like young people on a journey figuring out their gender identity, Happy gay love stories, crushes.
And then I think probably my personal favorite is like the young people trying to figure out as they're like coming out to themselves. That's probably like my favorite sub genre.
We need those stories in our lives because I think something about identities for like sexuality and gender is you don't choose them, but you have to figure them out. And so being able to see characters, figuring that out through, hopefully the wisdom of a probably adult author has figured some stuff out themselves can be really important.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Adding on to what Rachel says, But I definitely 100% agree with her, is that sometimes people, especially like in the queer community, they think that like a lot of people aren't like them, that they're weird or strange and that other people make them feel that way. And I know that when I was younger, reading was my escape. Like when I was being bullied or something like that, I would just pick up a book and pretend those characters were real and that they were my friends. And like I dreamed that I went into the book.
And that is true for so many different people.
And with books like these, like queer books that represent people like them, it can make them feel really great to know that they're not the only ones.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: That was really interesting. I would like to know more about why the here and now is so important.
[00:07:00] Speaker C: I've been thinking about that and I think we actually have needed these stories like already. We needed them yesterday, last year, decades ago, and we need them now.
So I don't know if we need them now more than we needed them before, but a shout out to the middle grades publishing industry that is getting so much better with what authors are being represented and whose stories are being told. But I think we need them now because, you know, young people need access to like seeing multiple kinds of stories immediately for their health and safety.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that it's important, especially right now, because currently there's a lot of discrimination towards the queer community.
And while people are coming out, it's really sad.
And I feel like when these stories are more represented, then people see that it's just a normal part of life and there are many people in their community and it's not just a few people.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: I couldn't agree with you more. You said exactly what I was thinking, far better than I could have. Okay, Rachel, I have one more question to ask you. What's your process like for choosing LGBTQ books for your class assignments and library?
[00:08:15] Speaker C: As you know, I'm constantly asking the GSA for recommendations, and I really do get all of my best recommendations from students.
So thanks guys.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Honestly, Rachel, I think that's incredible and I love that you get most of your book recommendations from your students. That's really cool. And I do remember in the GSA when we marked all the queer books with Rainbow Washi tape And actually, Rachel, you were the one who introduced me to Carry on and made me love it so much and start to discover more queer books because I haven't really had access to those.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Actually, Rachel, by sharing Carry on with Eli, who shared it with me, you also helped me open my library to a whole new world of LGBTQ books that I don't think I would have discovered otherwise.
[00:08:56] Speaker C: That makes me really happy to hear.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Well, there you have it. Several great books with lots of LGBTQ representation for you to enjoy. Plus a reminder of why this genre is so important for you to support.
Once again, we would like to encourage you to check out these Swagalicious stories and all the honorable mentions on this episode's Padlet. Have fun reading and Happy Pride Month, everyone.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Sam.
