It's Pride Month and every day, N. N. Light's Book Heaven will feature a book and an author from the LGBTQ+ community. Every once in awhile there comes a book so profound, so life-changing, it takes my breath away. Queer, There and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World is such a book. I wish it was around when I was growing up but I'm glad it's available for teen (and adults) now. Awe-inspiring!
Title: Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World
Author: Sarah Prager
Genre: LGBTQ, History, Historical People
Book Blurb:
A New York Public Library Best Book of 2017 * A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book for Teens 2017
This first-ever LGBTQ history book of its kind for young adults will appeal to fans of fun, empowering pop-culture books like Rad American Women A-Z and Notorious RBG. Three starred reviews!
World history has been made by countless lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals—and you’ve never heard of many of them.
Queer author and activist Sarah Prager delves deep into the lives of 23 people who fought, created, and loved on their own terms. From high-profile figures like Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt to the trailblazing gender-ambiguous Queen of Sweden and a bisexual blues singer who didn’t make it into your history books, these astonishing true stories uncover a rich queer heritage that encompasses every culture, in every era.
By turns hilarious and inspiring, the beautifully illustrated Queer, There, and Everywhere is for anyone who wants the real story of the queer rights movement.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
My Review:
There are some amazing people that historians have forgotten or refuse to acknowledge. While many academics will say Queer, There and Everywhere just glosses over the surface on these twenty-three historical persons, I say bravo! The more people talk about these inspirational people, the better.
I grew up reading Marlo Thomas’ Free to Be You and Me and while it dealt with other themes, the similarities between Thomas' and Prater’s writing styles are very apparent. Fun, approachable vignettes allowing the reader to learn about these amazing people changing history for the better.
My absolute favorite quote:
“I do not understand the difference between a man and a woman, and believing only in the eternal value of love, I cannot understand these so-called ‘normal’ people who believe that a man should love only a woman, and a woman love only a man. If this were so, then it disregards completely the spirit, the personality, and the mind, and stresses the importance of the physical body.”
The quote above is one of the greatest statements I’ve ever read. It also sums up this book. Love is love and people are people, no matter what form or identity. A brilliant, educational book that everyone from teens to seniors will enjoy. Highly recommend!
My Rating: 5 stars
Buy it now:
Author Biography:
Sarah Prager is the creator of the Quist mobile app, a free resource for iOS and Android devices about LGBTQ history. Prager's writing has been published in The Social Media Monthly, Huffington Post, Hartford Courant, Unanchor, Gay Life, and various blogs. She has been a guest on HuffPost Live, the Michelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius XM Progress Radio, and The List on ABC2. GO Magazine named her one of the 13 Red Hot Entrepreneurs of 2013.
Prager has volunteered for a variety of non-profits with causes from public health to microcredit in locations from Paraguay to Bulgaria, though her main focus is LGBT rights. She lives with her wife in Connecticut.
Social Media Links:
Website http://sarahprager.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/Sarah_Prager
Reviewed by: Mrs. N