THE GAYBCS

Twenty-six gay and gay-adjacent topics arranged alphabetically.

In sometimes-rhyming stanzas, Webb introduces a variety of LGBTQ terminology for young people. Some are only theoretically queer, such as “M is for MOUNTAIN / The peaks that you’ll move / with courage and strength / found deep inside you.” Others are more specific: “L is for LESBIAN / It’s love and affection / between two special girls / who share a connection.” It’s immediately clear that scansion and rhythm are not particularly important to the author of this text. Accuracy also takes a hit in some cases, especially with “I is for INTERSEX / Some are born with the parts / of both a boy and a girl; / bodies are works of art!” The simplistic, narrow focus on “girl and boy parts” both misleads readers about intersex conditions and fails to honor trans identities. Other complex ideas with lengthy histories in particularly racialized or gendered LGBTQ communities, such as “kiki” and “vogue,” are similarly flattened. The juvenile, artless illustrations show four unidentified children, two with darker skin and two with lighter skin, playing, dancing, cooking, and brushing their teeth. Letters of the alphabet are boldly featured in the background illustrations.

With LGBTQ topics becoming more common in books for the youngest audiences, this attempt can be safely passed over.