Upon doing this project, I wasn’t sure what to expect with the group GLBT and how it was defined and which books would be included in it. After doing quite a bit of research into the group, I realized that the books included are not necessarily all about gay people. As the group title suggests, GLBT stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and therefore some of the books had to deal with kids who felt that they were placed in the wrong gender’s body. I chose this topic because it has been a very active debate in the United States in this past election and years as to whether gay marriage should be legal or not. Unfortunately, I still don’t believe our society is as accepting of the culture as they need to be in order to allow these types of books to be in their child’s classroom. I had a very difficult time finding biographies of the authors who wrote books in this genre to determine whether or not they were an insider because they are so underrepresented and not appreciated for their work. Because I feel that young adult chapter books are just as important to kids as picture books are, I had decided to choose all chapter books to do my readings and research on. I chose the books, Freak Show by James St. James, Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez, and Absolutely, Positively Not by David Larochelle. I had not heard of any of these books before, and I was pleasantly surprised when the library had these books available to me. Each of the books I chose represented a different type of individual within the GLBT. Freak Show was about a cross dresser, Rainbow Boys included openly gay characters and closeted gay characters, and Absolutely, Positively Not included unsure characters and gay and lesbian characters. In each book we were able to see the relationship the GLBT student had at their school and the difficulties that arise when a student is seen as being “gay”. Because this is a very important topic, especially today, I find it very important that we as teachers include this genre of books into our classrooms.
1 comments:
Thank you, Rachel, for addressing the topic of GLBT literature into the classroom. I'm especially delighted that you chose to include my book, ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NOT. I know that if there had been any books with positive portrayals of GLBT people available to me when I was growing up, I would have felt a lot less alone and afraid. Sadly, the rate of teen suicide among GLBT youth is still very high; having access to books where they can see themselves can only give these struggling youth hope.
I also agree that reading about people who are different than you is a great way to learn empathy and compassion. All young people, whether gay or straight, struggle with fitting in and learning to be who they authentically are. It is a universal theme.
Again, thank you for encouraging educators to have GLBT books available for their students.
With absolutely, positively best wishes,
David LaRochelle
www.davidlarochelle.net
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