Queer children`s books have a long history that`s only now being told
(The Guardian Books Blog)

For youngsters realising they don´t fit expected gender roles, books from Winnie-the-Pooh to His Dark Materials have long provided overt and covert help Children´s books should be soft and fluffy things, perhaps with moments of discomfort or fear - lessons must be learned, after all - but always resolved with a happy ending. And entirely asexual. Right? Well, no, not really. Children´s books shouldn´t always be happy and simply aren´t asexual, just as children aren´t asexual - which is not to say that children are sexual in the way that adults are, but that sexual orientation and gender identity becomes apparent to many people early in life. Just as a straight child may pretend to marry her dolls to one another, or may have a crush on his big sister´s friends, a queer child may experience crushes, pair up their dolls differently or express their gender in a way that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth. Related: The best LGBT picture books - in pictures Continue reading...