Queer Girls In Kids Books (Spoiler Free!)

Okay, so kids' books aren't really known for having a lot of LGBTQ+ stories. Many people, let's just call them what they are, homphobic people, claim that kids' media with queer characters is inappropriate and will "turn their kids gay". This enforces the stigma of LGBT topics. And, as Rowan Ellis said, "Every gay person was once a child." I could count the amount of kids' shows/books/movies I know with a good quality and quantity of LGBT+ characters on one hand. However, I did find some the P. S. I Miss You, which my aunt gave me, and it's left me wanting more. So, I've done some Late-Night Googling™, and found some which I'm excited to see or watch. So let's go!
NOTE: Queer has been used as a slur against people who aren't straight or cis, but many people in those communities have decided to reclaim it as an umbrella term for the community. In this context, it isn't being used as a slur or insult.

1. P. S. I Miss You

Okay, this is one of my favorite books last year. It had a lesbian main character who has a girlfriend, but the entire book isn't just about that. I really like the other story of Evie's sister, Cilla. Not to say that I didn't like the rest of the story. The love story, although I'm not a big fan of romance, is well built up and the characters are complex and have more personality traits than being queer. However, this is a sad queer story, and we don't have enough queer stories with happy endings, but I still really enjoy it. NOTE: This is the only book I've read out of these.

2. Star-Crossed

This is a kids book with a bisexual main character!! Let's get into how rare that is. LGBT representation: pretty low quantity/quality. Bisexual representation: Even worse quality and quantity. Children's LGBT representation: Extremely low quality and quantity! Kid's bisexual representation: Nonexistent or terrible! But I found a book with a main character who's bisexual! Apparently the word bisexual is never used in the book, which I don't really like, but I do like that Mattie knows that liking someone of the same gender doesn't make you gay. There are many lables that describe how people feel about liking multiple genders, but based on reviews, she seems to be bisexual. I'm not very into love stories, straight or otherwise, but it seems like something I would enjoy when I'm older.

3. Hurricane Child

First of all, this cover is beautiful! More importantly, it seems like a really good story. A lot of times, only white LGBT+ people are portrayed. My guess is because they don't want the characters to be "too diverse" because white, male, able-bodied, ect cetra, are the default that everyone can relate too, while books by characters who don't fit enough those are "too niche" or something. But guess what? I found a kids book about a queer woman of color.  Caroline is a girl from Water Island who faces issues of greif, family, racism, and homophobia. She and her crush go searching for her mother, who left the family. It seems dark, but still like a good story.

4. Drum Roll, Please

Why do all of these books have such beautiful covers! I love them so much! Anyway, this book is about a girl, Melly, who got into playing drums when her friend asked her to do it in the school band. She and her friend, Olivia, go to music camp together. Eventually she has family drama, Olivia leaves her, and she starts liking a girl, Adeline, at camp. This seems like a really interesting story about music and relationships with others.

5. Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World

I swear, whoever makes covers for books about queer girls around middle school age is gosh darn killing it. A 12 year old girl, Ivy, has her home destroyed and her family relocates. She feels ignored by her family and uncomfortable after the storm. And her book of drawings of girls holding hands gets lost. Someone starts putting the drawings back in her lockers with notes telling her to open up about her identity. She suspects that they're from the girl who she likes. Although it's a *sigh* love story, it does seem like a sweet story about a girl realizing that she likes girls.

6. Hot Dog Girl

I found out about this book because I saw a girl at school reading it. I saw it on a list of queer kids books. The main character is a girl named Lou who likes a guy who has a girlfriend. (She's bisexual.) This seems like another boring love story, but I think the rest of the book is really interesting. I don't really want to get too much into the plot. However, it does have the female bisexual stereotype of two women dating only for a guy's attention, which made me like the book a little less. It still seems like a valuable book.

All in all, I found six books about queer girls around my age, which are an absolute rarity. Unfortunately, most of them are white, but queer women of color are very uncommon in any books, especially childrens' books. (There should be more!) I made the summaries based off of Goodreads (a fantastic website), except P. S. I Miss You, which I've read twice. Anyway, I've been looking for books about lesbian, bisexual, or otherwise WLW (Woman who Loves Women) girls around my age, and I found them. Although I would like some that are about realizing it by hindsight instead of by falling in love, which I don't really care about. Happy 20-bi-teen!

Comment your favorites below!

Anne with an E Season Two: A few quick thoughts (Not a full review)

Let me start by saying, I love the Anne of Green Gables book series and the Anne with an E television show. The first season came out while I was on vacation, so I binged watched half it in my mom's friend's basement on the way home, and the rest on the plane and when we arrived. By the way, this is a series that's best watched one at a time, so you have time to digest it. But I still enjoy it.

First of all, I would like if they gave us a warning that it was going to be more of a story based on the characters with elements of the book, but I still love it. I think the writing style and events are consistent with the book, and the characters are still in character. This is an example of a story which stays true to the spirit of the original book while being a story in its own right.

This is a bit of a tangent, but I love the music. The sound really enhances the story. And the art on the opening credits screen is beautiful! Back to the main story.

And then there's the gay representation. I would really recommend checking out Rowan Ellis' video, she pretty much said everything I was thinking when I watched the parts of the show involving Aunt Josephine, Cole, and Mr. Phillips. It's embedded below. And if you like that video, I would really recommend checking out the rest of Rowan's channel. She makes really good queer feminist geek content.

You may be wondering where I am. I'll explain that in post soon.

Until then,
Anne

If the video doesn't work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMCSjZXQ2wg

A Couple Announcements...

Hey, Anne here. I'm sorry that I forgot to say that I would be out on Thanksgiving break with my family and couldn't make an A.O.U.  They usually take a long time to make. Even aspiring bloggers have lives, guys.

Next, I noticed that I have not been getting nearly as many views recently. I have also had never had any comments. Maybe I'm not being as interesting as I once was. I hope that's not it. If you've not been enjoying my blog as much, please tell me why. Tell me in the comments what kind of content you want to see. Not to self-promote too heavily, but if you like my blog, why not share it with a friend?

Finally, just started working on a new project. I have finally finished my ALERT (gifted and talented) project on Music and Math. We were allowed to pick a topic we were passionate about and then we had to research it and make a multi-media display on it. Mine is a Google Slides presentation, which I will add after my new project is done. My new project is making a short book based on the presentation. It is simply titled Music and Math. I will make a post on this and include the book. I hope you like it.

Thanks for reading. The next A.U.O. is coming later this week. I will see you then.
-Anne

It's not Christmas!

As happens every mid-November, there are still people getting in the Christmas spirit. I know a lot of this is stores trying to make money, but so many people are buying into the mentality of Christmas starting early. Don't get the wrong idea, Christmas is amazing, and for so much more than just getting presents. But only the last week of November is okay. If you can't get to your family in time for Christmas, you can celebrate with them. My mom's parents live three states away, and we have "Christmas" with them and my cousin's family when we come for Thanksgiving. But if you can easily reach the people you're celebrating with, then wait. I say if real Advent starts in November, then you can celebrate then, but otherwise, wait until the right month. For me, it's a matter of slowing down to enjoy what's happening right now, which is Thanksgiving. One strategy I use is remembering that Christmas lasts until the sixth. My dad's family usually comes for celebration a few days after Christmas day. But anyway, enjoy what's really happening instead of trying to focus on the far future. And you can buy Christmas items on the twenty-sixth for much lower prices, if you're trying to get all the pre-Christmas discounts.

Sofia Lynch Fan Theroy

I was listening to Sofia Lynch's music, and many of the songs share similar themes. Maybe it's all one story.

 It begins in Okay With Me. The main character, Abigail, start to worry that her relationship is falling apart. She reassures herself that everything is fine and that she loves her girl/boyfriend. She has to move away from her romantic partner in Home Again, but hopes to see them again. They finally reconnect. They talk about all the great times they had in The First Time. However, Abigail soon reflects that she was in a toxic relationship all along in Stranger to Love. They soon break up. Abigail feels terrible about the breakup. She stays hidden because she doesn't want to get questioned and bring up the relationship with anyone in Abigail. She thinks attracting attention will get her back in trouble. Abigail assumes that this sort of thing happens a lot in All The Time. She spends more time alone. She uses imagination to escape and gain confidence about herself in In My Mind. Eventually, she grows from the drama and faces the world bold and unafraid in Curiosity. One example of how she uses her dauntlessness was when she got over her fear of spiders and calmly watched one climb in and out of a water spout in Itsy Bitsy Spider. Her story is to be updated as Sofia releases new music. If it adds more depth to the existing story, I'll update this post. If something happens after Itsy Bitsy Spider, I will make another post.

Thank you for reading this. Tell me what you think in the comments below. All the song names have links to the videos in them.

It's the Ocean, Not the Sea!

You know what makes me upset? When people say "seashore" or "seaside" when referring to the ocean! In case I need to take you back to fourth grade science, a sea is much smaller than an ocean. It often acts as a passageway from the land to the ocean. Oceans are massive bodies of salt water that make up most of the earth. There are more specific definitions, but I don't want to get into the specifics of citations for those. Anyway, please stop using these terms interchangeably. They aren't the same. So stop using them like they are.

 I know that this isn't the best I could do, but I'm sick, so cut me a break. Sorry. It's better than nothing. Happy last day of pizzamas!

Anne's Useless Opinions: My New Seires!

I'm starting a new series! I am just sharing my opinions on stuff. I'm not trying to be self-deprecating, just saying that you probably won't use these in your day-to-day life. These will be opinions on almost everything you can think of. I'm going to make this series on here until February. It will probably end up getting consistently posted at first, but end up getting posted when I feel like it, and I apologize in advance. I don't know if I will be able to make other posts. I'll try, but I don't know. I'll start next week.

Happy Pizzamas,
Anne

Rumors about Feminism

Hello dear! So you may think I, a school age child, am not qualified to write this post. But before you sigh and roll your eyes at the thought of such a "naive child" talking about something something a large amount of adults don't even understand, please hear me out. I'll let you judge me on my opinions  and intellect rather than my age, a lesson I think many people need to learn. Here we go.

So, recently in the media, (which I admit I've been consuming a lot of, due to less-than-comfortable temperatures and lack of anything to do, other than scrub the bathroom (Fun times!)) I've seen MANY people misinterpret feminism as women thinking they are better than men and don't appreciate help, for example, from them simply because they are men, as well as many other hyperbolic ideas that basically say it's reverse sexism. If you search feminism, after the official definition and maybe some articles, you'll get someone complaining about how we are men-hating hypocrites. This makes me think some people need a bit of a lesson on what feminism is. So you know what, I'll put a link to the dictionary definition of feminism. Please look, then come back to finish. THE DEFINITION OF FEMINISM! (click here) (please refer to the first and second definitions).

Notice how neither of those definitions were about female superiority. Feminism, despite what many people think, is not male discrimination. One of my favorite feminist Youtubers, marinashutup, aka Marina Watanabe, used the analogy of saying "The civil rights movement was/is oppressing white people." Pretty ridiculous, right?

A lot of people say "I'm not a feminist because I love men", but then continue to say something along the lines of "I support women's right's in the workplace, in making decisions about who they're going to marry and how many kids they'll have, et cetra". The things they list are often core values of feminism. I think if they did their research they'd understand what feminism is about and be feminists, since they basically said that they support what it's about.

So, while I don't give a full description of everything about feminism, I encourage you to do your research and stop hating feminism and spreading mean stereotypes. I hate (and hate is a strong word) seeing feminism misrepresented in the media. I'm hesitant to allow comments because of all the hate and anti-feminist backlash there's a good chance I'll receive, but I'll allow you to comment below your opinion. I'm not a hypocrite who only respects free speech when it's in their favor. It's okay to disagree, but please don't insult people or use slurs. I want this to be a safe place to teach people, not a negative dumping ground. And, let's just say, it took a lot a of self-control to not write this in all caps, punctuated solely by exclamation marks.

Here are some of Marina's video's I got information from (Warning: there is very strong cursing in these videos. Also she says feminism is sexist, but I don't agree with that part. Just watch and see what you learn from them (unless you're under 10))

"BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MEN?!" - Is Feminism Sexist?

Feminism 101: A Crash Course

An Open Letter to Shailene Woodley About Feminism