Julian is a Mermaid / Jessica Love / 2018
One of Utah’s banned books, I expected a spicier narrative from Julian is a Mermaid. Spoiler Alert, here is the entire plot: a young Black takes down a shower curtain and pretends to be a mermaid. His mother catches him and thinks it’s kinda weird, but later takes him to where there are other mermaids who vaguely resemble drag queens. That’s it. Most of it is expressed visually. There is no explicit gender play besides some mild gender non-conforming but completely normal behavior for a young boy. I loved the rich and tender visuals sure to bring out your inner femme. Nathan was surprised by how shortness of the book but enjoyed the visuals. He wants to be a mermaid, too. 5/5
Carl and the Meaning of Life / Deborah Freedman / 2019
I am always surprised what books Nathan and Chino grab. Carl is a worm going through an existential crisis after a bug asks him why he eats and poops dirt. Carl goes about asking all the creatures about his purpose and being dissatisfied by their answers until he realizes he is an important part of the ecosystem and everything would collapse without him. The art was rich and humble as dirt. 5/5
Call Me Max / Kyle Lukoff / 2019
This is the banned book at the center of the Murray school district scandal in 2019. The book includes the definition of transgender and dares to depict the stress that trans children undergo when they can’t find a bathroom that fits or otherwise have gender imposed on them. I read the book with an eight-year-old and they could reiterate what it meant to be trans to me afterward. This book is at times clearly didactic and includes scenes that are perhaps not crucial to the storyline but provide an illuminating moment on gender. The particle scene that irked me a bit in this regard is when the white protagonist meets a gender non-conforming lack boy in a dress who tells him clothes isn’t what makes gender. The Black character isn’t given anymore airtime which feels weird because Max clearly already undergoes bullying for his behavior and he’s less of a target than a Black boy in a dress for sure. 4/5
I recommend each of these titles for folks interested in children’s literature with substance or with LGBTQ+ themes.