Joyful Reads to Celebrate Pride Month

June is Pride Month as well as Rainbow Book Month! While we encourage you to read books with authentic and joyful LGBTQ+ representation all year, we especially encourage you to thoughtfully incorporate these books into your reading right now. 

This collection of books includes board books and picture books with LGBTQ+ representation. Now, more than ever, it’s important for kids of all ages to see their identities positively represented in stories, as well as learn about other lived experiences. Today, books like these are most often under attack when it comes to censorship and book banning. We know that these books matter, and deserve places on our bookshelves all year long. 

Pride and Less Prejudice

We’re honored to share that Pride and Less Prejudice has entrusted Madison Reading Project to carry forward their incredible mission. As they close their nonprofit chapter, their important work will live on as a dedicated book-giving program within our organization.

Founded to provide LGBTQ+-inclusive books to Pre-K through 3rd grade classrooms, Pride and Less Prejudice has helped countless students and teachers read out loud and read out proud. Their mission aligns beautifully with Madison Reading Project’s commitment to providing free books and literacy resources that both ignite a love of reading and reflect the diversity of young readers. 

So much more to come on this new MRP program. In the coming months, you will be able to request books for your classroom. In the meantime, the teacher guides are a great place to start.

We also want to share that GLAAD has created a free toolkit - Book Bans - A Guide for Community Response and Action for educators and activists of all kinds. They created this guide for communities to defeat book ban attempts, and send a powerful signal of welcome and acceptance. View it here.

For more recommendations, visit our Bookshop page.

Marley's Pride

Author: Joelle Retener | Illustrator: DeAnn Wiley | Publisher: Barefoot Books

Marley is a little nonbinary kid with BIG anxieties. Crowds? Pass. Loud noises? No, thanks! But when their Zaza is up for an award at the Pride parade, they want to go to support their beloved grandparent. Can Marley overcome their fears and even find a new sense of belonging?

Click here for the P&LP teaching guide.

Papa's Coming Home

Author: Chasten Buttigieg | Illustrator: Dan Taylor| Publisher: Philomel Books

Jojo and Rosie's papa has been away on a trip, and they can't wait to welcome him home! They make signs, they pick flowers, and with Daddy's help, they bake a cake and pack the car with absolutely everything Papa might have missed while he was away.

When Papa's plane arrives, they give him a huge hug—but when they bring him to the car, they realize there's one small problem: Where will Papa sit?

Delightfully illustrated by Dan Taylor, this charming story filled with love celebrates dads and familial bonds. Chasten Buttigieg shines a beautiful light on the humorous musings of toddlers and a parent’s unconditional love for their child.

Joyful Song: A Naming Story

Author: Leslea Newman | Illustrator: Susan Gal | Publisher: Levine Querido

What a happy day!

Zachary’s baby sister will have her naming ceremony. In the temple! With his moms, the congregation, and all their friends!

He’s so excited he can barely contain it. On the walk from their home, they meet neighbor after neighbor who want to know the baby’s name.

But – not yet! – his mothers tell him. The tradition is to have a great reveal at the ceremony. So they invite each neighbor to come along. A colorful, diverse parade blooms along the route, until… At last it’s time, and Zachary gets to reveal his sister’s name…

What is it?

A truly JOYFUL moment for everyone!

Click here for the P&LP teaching guide.

Circle of Love

Author: Monique Gray Smith | Illustrator: Nicole Neidhardt | Publisher: Heartdrum

In this warmhearted book, we join Molly at the Intertribal Community Center, where she introduces us to people she knows and loves: her grandmother and her grandmother’s wife, her uncles and their baby, her cousins, and her treasured friends.

They dance, sing, garden, learn, pray, and eat together. And tonight, they come together for a feast! Molly shares with the reader how each person makes her feel—and reminds us that love is love.

Through tender prose and radiant artwork, author Monique Gray Smith (Cree/Lakota) and illustrator Nicole Neidhardt (Diné) show how there is always room for others in our lives. Circle of Love is a story celebrating family, friends, community, and, most of all, love.

Teaching Guide available here.

Kapaemahu

Author: Hinalcimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, and Joe Wilson | Illustrator: Daniel Sousa | Publisher: Kokila

An Indigenous legend about how four extraordinary individuals of dual male and female spirit, or Mahu, brought healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii, based on the Academy Award–contending short film.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Century

Click here for the P&LP teaching guide.

Grandad's Camper

Author/Illustrator: Harry Woodgate | Publisher: little bee books

Gramps and Grandad were adventurers. They would surf, climb mountains, and tour the country in their amazing camper. Gramps just made everything extra special. But after Gramps died, granddad hasn't felt like traveling anymore. So, their amazing granddaughter comes up with a clever plan to fix up the old camper and get Grandad excited to explore again.

This beautiful picture book honors love and reminds us not only to remember those we have lost, but to celebrate them.

Click here for the P&LP teaching guide.

Miss Rita: Mystery Reader

Author: Sam Donovan and Kristen Wixted | Illustrator: Violet Tobacco | Publisher: Kokila

Daddy is the Mystery Reader at Tori’s school today, and he’s coming dressed as Miss Rita! Tori helps Daddy gloss, glitter, glamour, and glimmer to get ready. It takes time―because sparkle is serious business!

Tori loves helping Daddy become Miss Rita. But will the other kids at school love Miss Rita like Tori does? Luckily, a last-minute idea helps Daddy and Tori find a way to make story time sparkle for everyone.

This heartwarming and relatable family story celebrates drag queens, reading, and self-acceptance, teaching every kid to let their sparkle shine! And it includes back matter providing an overview of drag performance.

Bathe the Cat

Author: Alice B. McGinty | Illustrator: David Roberts | Publisher: Kokila

Cats + water: What could go wrong? This riotous romp of a picture book follows a frantic family as they try to get some chores done—with no help from the family cat, who keeps scrambling the list of chores to hilarious effect. Get ready for a rollicking read-aloud with a truly purrfect ending.