Wanted: Short LGBTQ+-related reading for town event. Difficulty: 4 min.

June 3, 2019 9:25 AM

As part of Pride Month, my small town in NC asked a series of local people to read "4-minute-long" excerpts from a book, poem or reading from either an LGBTQ+ author, or about the LGBTQ+ community. (The length includes any intro we provide, as well.) I was asked to read and am looking for ideas. I would like to read something for kids - I'm a mom - or something that might be a little more unusual or out of the box. It should work well as a spoken piece. I have access to a university library as well as my local library and Amazon.
posted by melodykramer to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

Kai Cheng Thom's From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea and Vivek Shraya's The Boy & The Bindi are two lovely recent picture books about kids being able to safely and joyfully explore gender.
posted by ITheCosmos at 9:53 AM on June 3, 2019

"This Day in June" is read in 3 minutes in this video

Julian is a Mermaid could also probably be finished pretty quickly
posted by nuclear_soup at 10:16 AM on June 3, 2019

How about Michael's letter to his mother from the first Tales of the City book by Armistead Maupin?
posted by sevenyearlurk at 10:32 AM on June 3, 2019 [1 favorite]

Something by Maurice Sendak wouldn't go amiss.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:47 PM on June 3, 2019

It's more about gender than sexual identity, but the poem Drum Dream Girl is lovely for kids and quite rhythmic for a reading. (There's also the similar Tula [“Books are door-shaped”] from the same author, who was the last Young People's Poet Laureate, but it is a bit shorter.) Good luck with the reading!
posted by youarenothere at 2:23 PM on June 3, 2019

The Manny Files by Christian Burch is fantastic, as is the follow-up, Hit the Road, Manny. The books are laugh-out-loud funny, and I've read them several years running to my 5th grade class. I guarantee you can find an appropriate, 4 minute excerpt.
posted by Temeraria at 5:11 PM on June 3, 2019

Response by poster: After reading this piece on a series of children's authors who were gay, I think I may go with Harriet the Spy, which was one of my favorites growing up. Thanks everyone!
posted by melodykramer at 12:35 PM on June 4, 2019