The GayBCs [M. L. Webb]

I’ve actually seen a decent number of these books cropping up recently and just like the others, I’m thoroughly pleased to see that books like this are being published. Though, as with others, not without its problems, this is a trend I would like to see continue. The GayBCs written and illustrated by M. L. Webb is a LGBTQ+ positive alphabet novel for, well, everyone. But also for children. And it’s really great to see.

With beautiful illustrations and brilliantly bright colors, this is definitely a book that will be engaging to kids. I think, to an extent, it might be a bit above their comprehension level depending on what age group you are reading it to, however, that doesn’t mean the exposure isn’t a great thing.

Now, the biggest problem with this particular book is that the letter A was used for ally. While I won’t say that this is the worst decision, it definitely wasn’t a great one. I would assume that the thought behind it would be to pull in straight and cis-gendered people, to make them feel seen in this book in order to have them be more involved in being an ally. And while this is kind of an okay idea in the sense that we do want more people to be welcoming and act like an ally, it really doesn’t have a place in this book. It especially doesn’t have a place when ally is used in favor of asexual.

So, with that in mind, my hope is that the next time a LGBTQ+ supportive ABC book is written, that unfortunate decision with the letter A will not be made again.

I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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