Children’s literature often tackles sensitive and serious subjects in an informative and playful manner. It is a way for kids to discover and experience the world outside of their own. Before attending Jodie Lancet-Grant’s talk, I thought finding Queer stories and representations in books was not that hard of a task. Indeed, with the recent overwhelming success of the Heartstopper graphic novel series by Alice Oseman, it is hard to believe how very few LGBTQ+ representations are in children’s literature. However, in her talk “Why we need LGBTQ+ Representation in Children’s Culture”, at The Bookseller Children’s Conference, Lancet-Grant discussed how the insufficiency of representation dawned on her when she looked for children’s books with LGBTQ+ families but found very few. This lack made her “feel alienated”. 

Following this shocking realization, Lancet-Grant wanted to fill this gap in children’s literature as an author. Her ambition was, firstly, to show queer kids that they have possibilities. This is what it all boils down to: representation is crucial as it normalises different models and ideas that some children might not have access to. Not only do these stories help queer children and families, but they also introduce diversity and give every child access to different images, allowing them to be educated on something they might not have come across otherwise. 

What is most salient in Lancet-Grant’s speech is how everyone can identify with her stories, for various reasons. Indeed, these books do not centre around an LGBTQ+ couple but rather present it as an unquestioned fact. She mentions one of her books, The Marvellous Doctors for Magical Creatures, which focuses on dealing with anxiety as a child, and explains that the fact the main character has two dads is “totally irrelevant to the plot”. By having these LGBTQ+ representations as an unquestioned part of the story, the author implicitly explains that there is no such thing as the norm. The more we are shown these representations, the more we accept them as normal. It is important because children’s literature shapes the mind of future leaders of the world, as the author explains.

Lancet Grant, J., Corry, L. 2022. The Marvellous Doctors for Magical Creatures. Oxford: OUP Oxford.

It is important to remember that these stories are not only read by the queer community but by a much larger readership. Lancet-Grant stresses the fact that “there is a real business need” for these stories that are enjoyed by the LGBTQ+ community as well as people outside of it. This can indeed be proven by the outpour of love the series Heartstopper has received again since its Netflix adaptation. The series made a comeback on the best-sellers list, thus showing the readers’ interest in queer stories. The first two volumes have placed second and third in the top five children’s books of 2022, with sales rising 602% in volume the month after the series launch and with the two first books combined reaching 266,000 copies sold this year. This goes to show that not only are books with LGBTQ+ representations needed in our society, but they are most certainly wanted by the readers.