Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

Miller (Univ. of Texas, Arlington) examines the relatively recent genesis of children's picture books exploring LGBTQ+ issues, and examines a variety of such books written to address these issues. The text is organized in seven chapters that address the intersection of LGBTQ+ issues and children's literature, a genealogy of the early years of children's LGBTQ+ books, the treatment of LGBTQ+ adults in such books, coverage of "sissy boys" and tomboys, queer and gender-fluid youth, sexuality, and interpretations of LGBTQ+ individuals and events throughout history. There are three appendixes, the first containing the author's correspondence with pioneer LGBTQ+ author Jane Severance, the second containing correspondence with author Daniel Haak, and the third containing an archive of most LGBTQ+ children's books published between 1991 and 2018. This is an outstanding resource that could be useful as a reference work but which could also easily serve as a class text. An interesting complement to works such as Rebecca Strickson's Queerstory: An Infographic History of the Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights (2020) or Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown's We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation (2019).Summing Up: Essential. General readers through faculty; professionals.

This fourth edition of Cart's seminal work on the history of and trends in young adult literature is even more impressive than the three previous editions and includes 35 percent more content. The text acknowledges the rise of LGBTQIA+ literature and notes the importance of graphic novels, comics, humor, short stories, and nonfiction in the field. Part 1 provides an excellent discussion of the history of young adult literature, while part 2 discusses contemporary elements in the field. The most important new chapter, chapter 7 ("A Critical Apparatus"), discusses the rise in critical evaluation tools necessary for this genre to be recognized universally. Chapter 10 ("So, How Old Is Young Adult?") offers a quick explanation of why so many adults love young adult literature. Cart, who is the former director of the Beverly Hills (CA) Public Library, includes a close reading of M.T. Anderson's two-volume novel The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation to illustrate effective literary analysis. Additions to the book and the exhaustive references section provide a near-perfect text for either an introductory undergraduate or graduate course in the genre.[Disclosure: Choice is part of the American Library Association, which published this book.]Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students; professionals.