Children's stories LGBTQ

[JacNaylor]

Hello, can anybody recommend me some children's stories (books or videos) that step outside the accepted "norms" of boy meets girl, girl is wide eyed with gratitude when boy agrees to marry her.
I'd love strong female characters, females running rings around the males. Males and females working equally to save the world.... that sort of thing. I like "zog" as an example of the second one.
I'd also love sane sex couples where that's not the main theme. IE I'm not a fan of "Kim has two mummies" type explanation books. I'd just like an actual story where by the by one or more characters happens to be gay.
Ds is six and has an alarmingly fixed view of love and marriage based on traditional fairy tales, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Personally I’d concentrate on the LGB as they’re sexualities.

Have you pointed out that Frozen has a gay couple in ?

I haven't pointed that out specifically no, maybe I should. Any books you'd recommend?

Why do the females have to run rings around the males to be 'strong'?

if you follow A Mighty Girl on facebook they promote lots of stories with strong female leads although I'm not sure how many are LBG.
How old is your DD? I know you didn't ask for TV but Hey Duggee has a suggested gay couple - Mr and Mr Crab. The show also deals with adoption in a lovely way. and it's hilarious.

And Tango Makes Three May be an idea?
Not sure what age group you want books for but this is a book about a same sex couple getting a child. It’s based on penguins

A Mighty Girl is fab.

Will look at a mighty girl, thanks.

I love "hey duggee"

Not a dd, a ds aged six.

Why do the females have to run rings around the males to be 'strong'?

They don't, just a suggestion of one type of book that I'd like to see (also suggested a book where they work together as equals) just trying to counterbalance the worrying idea that ds has that women hang around wide eyed waiting for their "prince"
(He's heavily into traditional fairy tales currently)
We discuss it, obviously but I'd also like to introduce varied reading material.

sorry it says on your OP that DS is six I need a bit more sleep I think!!!

no problem, it was a bit of a ramble I think!!

Does Frozen have a gay couple? I’ve seen snatches of it often enough to have seen pretty much the whole film, but don’t remember that.

The guy in the shop on the mountain, waves to his family in the sauna and says "hello family" it's clearly another guy and a couple of kids. It's not exactly in your face though.

www.amazon.co.uk/Paper-Bag-Princess-Munsch-Kids/dp/0920236162?tag=mumsnetforum-21

Fairy tale where the Princess saves the Prince. It's brilliant.

There's a short film called in a heartbeat that you can find online, it's adorable.

I really hope lgbtq+ characters become more mainstream for children...

Also removing the T.. Ffs people it may not be a sexuality but it IS valid and a valid part of the lgbt community.

@emsmum79
@BalthazarImpresario

Thank you!! Googling as we speak

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/22/john-oliver-gay-rabbit-book-parody-outsells-mike-pence-original-amazon

Can't recommend it enough.

My dd suggests reading some of the originals not for the strong women so much as to debunk the 'happy ever after'. She is a bit of a dark teenager though, as a little girl she loved pink and prettiness. How about an Ordinary Princess? Anne Fine's books for younger children have some satisfactory ordinary families with boys and girls as characters rather than as gender caricatures.

I read somewhere that the prince at the end of "Snow White" is actually the angel of death. Gave me shivers, some of the originals are really dark aren't they?

Oh and movie wise I recommend checking out Studio Ghibli, lots of their movies have girls as the main character and while there are romantic themes in some of them they are not the main storyline. My Neighbour Totoro has been a favourite in our house for many years, and is suitable for young children (my mum is also a fan).

Great suggestions, thanks!
Am definitely getting the gay rabbit book!!

@JacNaylor, ah ok, thanks - I’ll keep an eye out for that next time DS wants it on.

Princess Smarty Pants is a good one for a strong female lead.

King & King is good - based on a fairytale type world, but with a gay prince looking for a spouse.

'Brave' & Princess and the Frog films both have strong female characters.

King and King by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland is a favourite here!

Let toys be toys have been doing a lot around this (there's a closed fb group researching this too linked to it - they'd give lots of suggestions.

Paper bag princess is good.

I agree, leave the T and Q out of it, very different kettle of fish there and counters the LGB in this context.