FAMILY FOUND

A child learns the kaleidoscopic history behind an annual queer Friendsgiving celebration.

As preparations unfold, each family member offers a different version of how the gathering began. Great-Uncle Billy believes he started it; he recalls the secret codes queer people used (for instance, “Are you a friend of Dorothy?”) to find safety and connection. Miss Mona insists it started when her car broke down in 1992, and she’s been bringing sweet potatoes ever since. Grandma Jane and Nana Rose remember late nights of activism, while Elliot and Ash trace the tradition to a warm year spent feeding queer youth who had nowhere else to go for the holiday. All the while, the young, Black-presenting narrator moves through the bustling home snapping photographs, listening to stories, and delighting in the mystery of how this racially diverse, gender expansive, and queerly devoted found family first came together. McClintick deftly tugs at the interwoven yarns of queer history, intergenerational storytelling, and collective heritage without unraveling into lesson-book boredom. References to coded queer language, the Lavender Menace protests, ballroom culture, and more emerge naturally through conversation, while an author’s note provides more detailed context for curious readers. Morris’ textured illustrations and scrapbooklike spreads not only help ground this Friendsgiving tradition in living communal memory but, like the text, they also show readers that origins (especially queer ones) can be shared touchstones while still being fluid and self-determined.

A poignant tale of belonging—joyful and out loud.