Looking Forward: Increased Attention to LGBTQ Students and Families in Middle Grade Classrooms

Looking backwards, discussions around sexual orientation and sexual identity have been noticeably absent at the middle grades. As a result, middle grade teachers may find it difficult to know how to effectively select age-appropriate materials that include LGBTQ issues and content. To move the field forward, the authors specifically highlight four such novels: The Skull of Truth (Coville, 2007), From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun (Woodson, 1995), So Hard to Say (Sanchez, 2004), and Totally Joe (Howe, 2005). They then connect these books to broader topics that could be used in a variety of instructional settings.