Pride Month Faves, 2024

 

Happy Pride Month! Despite the ongoing attempts to silence LGBTQ+ voices, children's and young adult publishing has been creating better and better books with joyful representation of queer characters, and Jewish books are no exception. Here are a few of my recent favorites; for more, please see the "Queer Jews" tag in my Diverse Jewish Kidlit catalog on LibraryThing.

Joyful Song: A Naming Story by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Susan Gal, Levine Querido, 2024    |    BUY    |    BORROW

Zachary and his two multicultural mommies walk their new baby girl to synagogue to reveal her name to the community, picking up diverse friends along the way. Suffused with rainbow light, peopled with kind and supportive neighbors of many backgrounds, and bursting with family love, the lyrical text and stunning illustrations combine to create an instant classic. A breath of fresh air, and a beautiful antidote to antisemitism.

Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf by Deke Moulton, Tundra Books, 2024    |    BUY     |    BORROW

Benji is preparing for his bar mitzvah, dealing with a crush on a school bully, and protecting his werewolf family from discovery all at the same time. He also has undiagnosed anxiety, on top of everything else. Like the author's debut, Don’t Want to Be Your Monster, it explores the roots of prejudice and othering, while offering positive diverse queer representation, along with exciting adventure. Benji's community is proudly Jewish, and his growing understanding of his Torah portion becomes a key to resolving the main conflict in this extremely satisfying sophomore novel.

Night Owls by A.R. Vishny, HarperCollins, 2024    |    BUY    |    BORROW

Sisters Clara and Molly are estries - owl-shifting vampires from Jewish folklore - who run an art house cinema in an old Yiddish theater in the Village. Romance (both straight and queer), possession, ghost hunting, and visits to a demon landlord to pay the rent are just a few of the elements that make the exciting debut so hard to put down. The Jewish-American characters hail from Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, and Israeli backgrounds. Unbelievably fun - and ripe for a movie version!