Savannah Hulsey Pointer, FISM News 

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The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is encouraging children to take in a number of LGBTQ-friendly books this year with its 2022 Notable Children’s Books and Summer Reading Lists.

The group recommends books that picture gay romantic relationships as well as some that focus on transgenderism, all of which appear to be looking to promote the LGBTQ lifestyle as normal in the minds of impressionable children. 

According to a report by The Federalist, the ALSC recommended the books as works of “especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry, and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children’s interests in exemplary ways.” 

One of the books recommended is one called “The Pronoun Book” by Chris Ayala-Kronos, which informs kids that a boy may wish to be called “she” instead of he, and a girl might wish to use the plural “they/them” or a “neopronoun” such as co, ey, per, or xe. This book is encouraged for ages birth to preschool. 

Another book was titled “Milo Imagines the World,” written by Matt de la Peña. This work was called a “notable” book according to the library association list, and while the book is LGBT-centered, it also includes a same-sex wedding. 

The book “Over the Shop” by JonArno Lawson is a picture book also recommended by the association and is a wordless book with symbols and images that highlight LGBTQ values. 

The book is “a dedication to trans activists, and some characters who are nonbinary in dress and clothing make a simple message of love and acceptance resonate subtly,” a school library journal commented. The images include rainbows appearing in random places such as a belt, hat, or on the flag outside the shop. 

Fifth graders are encouraged by the ALSC to read “How to Become a Planet” by Nicole Melleby. This book was labeled one of The Nerd Daily’s “Anticipated Queer Book Releases You Can’t Miss in 2021” and made Lambda Literary’s list of “May’s Most Anticipated LGBTQ Literature.” 

“As always, Melleby naturally integrates her queer protagonist’s discovery of her sexuality into a larger story,” The Horn Book Magazine commented on Amazon. 

Pluto, a young woman in the novel, experiences despair. Pluto “learns” that she has a crush on a fellow girl who “learns” that she identifies as a boy as the narrative progresses.

“The definition changed, but Pluto was exactly the same as it was, and still is, as when I learned about it back in middle school. All of its properties are still exactly the same,” Nicole Melleby said in an interview with Eliot Schrefer on LGBTQ Reads. “Getting a depression diagnosis for Pluto-the-person is just like Pluto-the-planet getting a new definition. It doesn’t change who she is; if anything, it gives her a clearer understanding of who she is.” 

Books like the ones recommended serve to increase concern on the part of Conservatives who have been standing against the normalization of transgender theory and other tactics used by progressives as part of the “grooming” of the young and defenseless. 

Dr. Debra Soh, a sex neuroscientist and author of “The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths About Sex and Identity in Our Society” said in a recent article for The Washington Examiner that there is “ zero science supporting the concept of gender fluidity.” However, she did say that there was a very real concern of “rapid-onset gender dysphoria, an epidemic of adolescent girls and young women who suddenly announce their desire to live as male or ‘nonbinary’ despite having no previous history of gender dysphoria.”