‘Shapes of Love’ by L. V. Peñalba

Among books I’ve recently completed: Shapes of Love by L. V. Peñalba has the capacity to expand which orientations and which types of relationships are perceived as “normal.”

‘The Gender Binary is a Big Lie’

In honor of International Non-Binary People’s Day, observed each year on July 14, I recommend The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie by Lee Wind. The title offers an excellent summation that immediately positions it as an alternative to the narrative that everyone must fit into one of only two socially-imposed gender identities. This narrative is vital and compellingly attractive to a reader like me, someone who has always known myself to fit outside the gender binary.

H.R. 2616, another tool for censorship

Among worrying legislation at the federal level, H.R. 2616 recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s troubling enough that, under certain circumstances, schools would be forced to “out” trans students to their parents, but I’m concerned about Section 3’s prohibition against “teaching or advancing gender ideology.”

Gender-inclusive bathrooms at Berkeley Public Library

I just posted a review on Google Maps for the Berkeley Public Library, about a feature at the downtown library that felt particularly welcoming. And that was, in addition to offering gendered bathrooms, this library gives patrons the OPTION of using gender-inclusive bathrooms.

Book-Talk: Opting Out by Kobabe and Srikumar

In my latest book-talk: I love Opting Out, the soon-to-be-published middle-grade graphic novel by Maia Kobabe and Swati “Lucky” Srikumar.

‘Safe Haven City’ for transgender and gender non-conforming people

In Louisville, Kentucky, Councilmember J.P. Lyninger has introduced legislation to designate Louisville as a “Safe Haven City” for transgender and gender non-conforming people. Speaking as a librarian and as someone who is non-binary and gender non-conforming, the legislative and political attacks that this ordinance describes feel very real to me.

H.R. 7661: Truly disturbing and frightening!

As a follow-up to the essay I posted earlier, here is a brief video I uploaded today about H.R. 7661. Introduced in late February by U.S. Rep. Mary E. Miller, H.R. 7661 defines “sexually oriented material” to include any material that involves “gender dysphoria or transgenderism.”

Federal bill equates trans identity with sexually explicit material

One of the core tenets that I embrace as a librarian serving young people is that readers need stories about people who are both like and who are unlike them. A diverse library collection should ideally encompass many facets: including race, sex, gender identity, differing abilities, who a person is attracted to, and more.

Marley’s Pride (Complete read-aloud for National Day of Reading)

To commemorate the National Day of Reading on Feb. 27, 2026, here is a complete reading of Marley’s Pride by Joëlle Retener with illustrations by DeAnn Wiley. I am reading this book with permission by the publisher, Barefoot Books. Marley is going to their first Pride parade with their grandparent, Zaza, who is being honored for their work supporting the transgender community. Marley has sensory sensitivities and is worried about the noise and large crowds, but wants to go in order to support Zaza.
https://youtu.be/WQyhCqdpAJY

Authors and librarians are NOT groomers

Amid ever-increasing incidents of book challenges, I’m worried by inflammatory rhetoric that portrays librarians and authors as “groomers” of young people. Speaking as someone who survived an attempt at grooming, I consider this characterization to be vile and obscene.
https://youtu.be/SPMmEs7KdGM

Book haul : Open Books donation to SRCS libraries

Santa Rosa City Schools recently accepted a donation of books from an organization called Open Books: 12 books apiece to each of 10 elementary-school libraries for a total donation of 120 books. Among highlights this week in SRCSA library, I unboxed my site’s new arrivals.
https://youtu.be/BTaCegGw_Eg

Autistic and asexual (Notes from my presentation for UCM Scholars Symposium)

Asexual and Autistic pride flag. Credit: COUPOSANTO on reddit

The UCM Scholars Symposium, on April 3, 2025, included my slide-show and pre-recorded video recapping my experience as a co-presentor with Professor Amanda Harrison during Library Research Seminar 8 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Our presentation concerned depictions of autistic characters in books on children’s “reader’s choice” award lists and one aspect of these depictions that particularly interested me were characters who were both autistic and asexual. Due to problems with recording quality and considerations of timing, I was not able to elaborate on this as in-depth as I would have liked in my finished video so I have compiled my speaker’s notes here in order to address that topic.

Neuroqueer Heresies: Critiquing ‘tame autistics’

As an autistic and queer student and an acting librarian for young people, I’m interested in how autistic people are portrayed in children’s and Young Adult literature.

I’m especially interested in the idea of an “Autistic Book Club” that would engage with ways that autistic people are portrayed and the implications that they present for autistic people’s lived experiences. So I was intrigued by a statement by Nick Walker, author of Neuroqueer Heresies, regarding the curriculum for a course on autism.

As part of the “guiding principles” for creating such a course, Walker stated that “At least 80% of the assigned readings should be by autistic authors” (p. 546). Walker went on to add, however, that works by “tame autistics” couldn’t count toward this percentage.

Book-Talk : Homebody, by Theo Parish

This is a graphic memoir of how the author, Theo Parish, came to understand and to comfortably inhabit their nonbinary identity. I really enjoyed this memoir, and I felt grateful for the representation and the visibility it provided me.
https://youtu.be/1OfOFrVTpgA

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Book-Talk : Ollie in Between, by Jess Callans

Being nonbinary, I found so many things to appreciate about Ollie in Between, which concerns a nonbinary 13-year-old navigating gender expectations. And as I read, I wondered if the protagonist might also be autistic. Ollie in Between will be published by Feiwel & Friends and April 2025.
https://youtu.be/0YUsvsDspAs

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Homebody by Theo Parish (free-writing prompt)

Over the summer I’ve been helping out in a high-school English classroom. Each morning, the teacher assigns her students to work from a writing prompt and I decided to tackle those prompts myself. We had a free-writing prompt for Friday, July 12, so I wrote about a graphic memoir that I had read recently, Homebody by Theo Parish.

Homebody, by Theo Parish

I adored this graphic memoir about a nonbinary person coming into their identity. Like the author, Theo Parish, I had to navigate arbitrary rules of gender, all while feeling like these expectations were inauthentic to me. 

Books like this offer much-needed representation for nonbinary individuals. At whatever age, we need to be able to find ourselves reflected in stories.

And as an autistic reader, I appreciate a note from the author's biography, that Parish is neurodivergent. While not specifically addressed in this memoir, our shared neurodivergence was one more reason for this book to strongly resonate with me.

Book-Talk : Paige Not Found, by Jen Wilde

During Autism Acceptance Month, April 2024, I am reading Paige Not Found by Jen Wilde. It features a protagonist who is autistic and nonbinary, who learns that a chip was planted in her brain without her consent. As a reader and librarian who is autistic and nonbinary, I feel visible through reading a book that features a main character who is so like me.
https://youtu.be/n0fWnuBqZu4

‘Windows and mirrors’ in children’s literature : Issues and challenges

My studies this semester in Children’s and Young Adult Literature included the importance of books that can offer their readers “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors” (Bishop, 1990/2015) into the lives of people who are like, and also unlike, them. “Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience” (Bishop, 1990/2015, p. 1).

Sexuality and reader’s advisory

A question was posed to me as part of my studies in Children’s and Young Adult Literature: How would I provide reader’s advisory for young people who are looking for books related to sexuality?