Skip to main content

Queer Heroes and Heroines

As a bookseller, Ilse is always curious when books are published that don't serve the mainstream.
Living in a world where—sadly—many children’s books still show their protagonists in stereotypical roles, we love that an increasing number of books prove that nowadays, people are thinking more outside the box.

Above all, we love the trend to publish books about strong and independent girls or princesses who don't just wait for a prince to rescue them. The girls in these books are tough and ambitious and don't rely on the help of male friends (princes) to help them achieve their goals. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Francesca Cavallo and Elena Favilli, for example, illustrates the stories of important and strong women in history who became famous for achieving their goals and being opinionated. But we don't want to say that there should be books like that only for girls. There is an equally great book for younger boys called Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different by Ben Brooks and Quinton Wintor.

Yet, living in a very heteronormative world, there don't seem to be many books that focus on LGBTQ+ topics. And we think it's important to show kids and teens that there is more in the world than the typical male-female relationship or being a boy or being a girl.

So we are more than happy to see that there is this great book, Queer Heroes: Meet 53 LGBTQ Heroes from Past and Present! by Arabelle Sicardi and Sarah Tanat-Jones, that focuses on the lives of 53 LGBTQ+ heroes and heroines who helped to raise awareness for the queer community all over the world: so many people of whom we didn't know they had such an influence on the LGBTQ+ community. It also shows how different life can be depending on the place where a person grows up and what impact cultural differences can have.

A very thought-provoking book for young and old(er) readers with lots of beautiful and creative illustrations!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Our New Passion for Outdoor Activities

We love traveling, we love exploring, we love outdoor activities. But we barely have (or: had) the time for them! So, here's an upside to the COVID-19 restrictions of not seeing anyone, of not going to bars, restaurants, and clubs, of not traveling: we have more time for each other and more time for outdoor activities! (We  do not  want to downplay the pain, loss, and death this pandemic is causing — we just got lucky enough to enjoy some extra time.) These last few weeks, we have been hiking and exploring the nearby woods. It's incredible how beautiful they are in spring! Lush, green, the sun shining through the green treetops, rustling from last fall's brown leaves with every step. And most of the time, the woods are surprisingly quiet, with only a few people taking walks or hiking. The only thing missing these days, particularly for Ilse: ending the trip with a cool beer (or two) and maybe a snack at a beer garden. She wants her reward! Also, after years without ev...

Happy Pride Month?

We were and are so excited for Pride Month! Although most Pride festivities are canceled this year (Cologne Pride is, for now, postponed, so we still have some hope ...), we couldn't wait for this month of visibility, of pride (not just Pride), of rainbow flags, of support, of loving each other. Then, George Floyd was brutally killed. And although we cannot imagine how it must feel to be Black or a person of color, we can't stand this injustice. We will do everything we can to stand with you. To fight with you. Pride started as a riot. And although we do not support violence, it doesn't seem likely that this injustice will end without another riot. We stand with you. We won't have queer equality if we don't have racial equality. Black lives matter. The lives of people of color matter. Remember those who died from police violence. Say their names and never forget.

Traveling in Times of COVID-19

We are addicted to traveling. So when COVID-19 put so many travel restrictions on us, we certainly agreed with the measures, but we also knew that we would miss traveling a lot.  When the numbers of new infections started to drop and travel restrictions were slackened, we carefully went on a three-day hike not too far from Cologne . A month later, we joined Else’s family on a family vacation in central Germany . And when Ilse’s birthday approached and travel in Europe seemed okayish again, Else planned a birthday present that would bring us to Paris. Yet, during summer time when everyone goes on vacations (and apparently many don’t care to wear their face masks), infections were bound to rise again.  Not surprisingly, a couple of days before our journey to Paris, Else had to reveal the destination of our surprise vacation so that we could discuss together whether we should go or stay at home: infections in France, particularly in Paris, reached critical numbers. We finally dec...