Cover Reveal
My next picture book, Luck Charms the Prince, is coming out (pun very much intended) on May 25, 2027, and the amazing author, librarian, and book blogger for School Library Journal Betsy Bird just hosted the cover reveal on her A Fuse 8 Production blog.
Check out the cover and learn a little bit more about this brand-new very Queer fairy tale, gorgeously illustrated by James Fenner here.

“Vote for the Freedom to Read” Telethon on 9/24 from 11am-1pm Pacific
Book Banning as a tool to erase entire categories of people from the public sphere (and destroy empathy for people who may seem different on the outside but with whom we actually have much in common) has been getting steadily worse over the past five years. There are four national book banning bills being discussed in Washington D.C. and lots of terrible legislation happening on the state level.

For a good summary of the bad news, check out this piece by Kelly Jensen at Book Riot, “We Need To Tell The Story”: Literary Advocates Nationwide Reflect On Five Years of Relentless Attacks on the Freedom to Read.

On the good side there are some powerful state-level freedom to read laws that have been passed, and an enormous groundswell of grass-roots activism (including my own WE ARE STRONGER THAN CENSORSHIP program).

What’s undeniable is that this erasure of identities has become a political issue, and the way people vote will impact the future of the freedom to read. We need to acknowledge this and let the people in power know that, from the most local to the most federal, we will vote for the freedom to read.

To help with that, I’ve been working for the past few months as part of the planning group for Show Up, Speak Up: Vote for the Freedom to Read, A Virtual Community Action Telethon. It’s free, and will be a lot of empowering fun. sign up and details at: https://nobookbans.org/

Book Recommendations
I’m having a graphic novel and graphic memoir moment, and I really enjoyed—and recommend—these three titles:

First Kiss with Fangs by Marker Snyder (middle grade graphic novel)
Ivan is 13, from a family of vampires, and a late bloomer to get his fangs… Then he starts 8th grade, and meets a new human classmate, Damien. Now Ivan has a serious crush, AND his fangs have come in so things are getting dangerous… It’s spooky without being scary, and the gay crush is handled so well (both within the story and in the universe of the story.)

Homebody by Theo Parish (young adult graphic memoir)
Almost an essay with memories sprinkled in, Homebody is colorful, expressive, and all about the author figuring out themself out. We learn about their journey to coming out as nonbinary, using they/them pronouns, and taking the name Theo.

Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura Gao (young adult graphic memoir)
In this well-told and messy journey of self-acceptance, Laura tells us about immigrating as a child to the USA and ultimately finding a sense of home being from two countries—and coming out as Queer too!

For nonfiction Queer History audiobook fans, the audiobook of THE GENDER BINARY IS A BIG LIE is 60% off through Oct 12 here at audiobooks.com. It’s my award-winning book, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, maybe this is your opportunity… (It’s also in lots of wonderful library collections, in all formats.)

That’s the September update. Thanks!
Lee