GayBCs,The

Product Information

I is for Intersex. “Some are born with the parts of both a boy and a girl; bodies are works of art!”

GayBCs: A Queer Alphabet by Rae Congdon | Goodreads

The illustrations are bright and cheery, if unexceptional, featuring a group of four friends with various skin tones and hair color playing together. Many of the pictures do little to elucidate or even relate to the definitions they are paired with, however. This book makes it fun to learn and understand. It's very sweet but I can see some people not enjoying it (but those people aren't made for this book anyways). A is for ally, as the book says. I think some of the terminology might go over kids heads, but this book is just an introduction so it won't make much of a difference. I have seen comments from other reviewers that some letters had multiple options, but we need to remember this was only going over the alphabet once. There was always a chance that some terms were going to be left out. My daughter loved & identifies with, "L is for Lesbian. It's love and affection between two special girls who share a connection."Hence, they can learn their alphabet letters and also be discussing their sexual attraction through various terms and jingles: Young people begin to develop identity-based markers and categories at 2 years old, so it’s never too early to introduce identity or diversity to young people, particularly in the structure of picture books,” she said. “The one thing that I like about this book — picture and alphabet books — is their common structure for young people. Fitting information within that common familiar structure can help introduce a new topic in a familiar way.” Hearthside Books in Juneau is promoting books for the holiday season, and its catalog features a book for the grand-babies: “Gay BCs”. The definitions are pretty good -- like "Bisexual" is "Someone who is attracted to more than one gender" rather than a more binary definition. Also problematic is the verse for “Intersex,” which tells us, “Some are born with the parts of both a boy and a girl; bodies are works of art.” That’s a misleading view of the range of what it means to be intersex. As the Intersex Society of North America tells us, “Intersex is a socially constructed category that reflects real biological variation,” and notes that people who are intersex exhibit a range of physical characteristics. Sometimes, an intersex condition may be chromosomal or hormonal with no visible physical manifestation. Webb’s definition unfortunately perpetuates the myth that all intersex people are hermaphrodites.

The GayBCs - Kindle edition by Webb, M. L.. Children Kindle

I know it is called an adult picture book but this is a book that you can read with a young child right up to a teenager. The terms and explanation are easy to understand and the illustrations are perfect and quite cleverly done (I loved how they used the original illustration and altered it for the new term - my favourite were the ladybugs). And while some of them are really smart (like illustrating a glam person coming out from a Door for Drag), there's also stuff like Flower turns into Femme for no particular reason (the "annotations" are just adding a stem and leaf to the flower and a sun in the sky). I don't understand how this is illustrating "femme" in any way. Is it because flowers are feminine or something? (The definition is, "An identity for an LGBTQIA+ person who acts or presents in a feminine manner.") The perfect way to teach your kiddos LGBTQ+ vocab while celebrating the beauty of embracing yourself and others."-- KIWI Magazine

I also question the verse for “trans,” although I say this as a cisgender person and hope some trans folks will weigh in. “T is for Trans,” Webb writes. “It’s a brave step to take/to live as the gender you know is innate.” The definition of a trans person, however, isn’t “someone who lives as the gender they know is innate”—cisgender people do that, too. The verse therefore doesn’t really convey what it means to be trans. With a little adult explanation, the verse can be read as a positive comment on many trans people’s lives, but it doesn’t quite get there on its own. Additionally, as I’ve heard from some trans people (and in a related way, from people with disabilities), they’re tired of being told they’re “brave” simply for existing. I’ve also heard from some that they do think they’ve been brave—but as this is a point of contention, it would have been better avoided here. This fantastic spin on your typical ABC book is an important starting point for adults, teens and children. For myself, I didn't grow up with these terms and I feel like finally people are understanding that there is nothing different about LGBTQ and the only thing wrong is the way they were and may still be treated by others. Overall, I think this is a great tool and is very fun. It's full of colours and fun pictures as well! You think about school and how you’re taught the same lessons year after year, and you think it really doesn’t matter, but at the same time, it’s reinforcing. The book is normalizing how people identify and normalizing how allies see themselves and their friends.”

Gaybcs - By M L Webb (board Book) : Target The Gaybcs - By M L Webb (board Book) : Target

This book came in the mail yesterday (Oct. 7th, 2019) and my daughter and I enjoyed it together. We especially loved "V is for VOGUE" and "S is for Sashay". We loved the colorful illustrations and the smiling, happy children depicted in the pictures. Author and illustrator, M. L. Webb assumes hope,The introductory "annotation" says, "Just like the original words, these new ones should be part of our basic vocabulary so they can be properly understood and embraced." But J turns Juice into "Judgment-free" (by writing "Good Apple" on the juice box), with definition "No time for negative! Live and let live!" Huh? It’s the kind of book that I wish I had as a child,” he said. “When I was 5 years old, I knew that I felt differently than the people around me, but I didn’t have the words. I do appreciate that it introduces readers to the terms "Mx" (a non-binary honorific) and "ze" (a non-binary pronoun). And while A is for Ally isn't my favorite, I appreciate that the Apple is holding a sign saying "Trans Rights are Human Rights" -- that we come out strong, centering trans issues, rather than some sort of "Love is Love" platitudes.