Coloring into Existence: Queer of Color Worldmaking in Children’s Literature

Isabel Millán

Queer and trans of color kids exist, even if they are not regularly featured in children’s literature. When they are, there is a greater risk that these books will be banned or challenged. Contrary to popular belief, book bans rarely lead to profits and tend especially to hurt smaller independent publishers. For example, Reflection Press experienced a drop of over 50% in sales from schools and libraries impacted by the “climate of fear” generated from anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and book bans in the US during 2022. Since then, sales continue to plummet. Now, more than ever, small independent publishers need our support.

Emerging out of the history of radical feminist and BIPOC publishers, here are three independent publishers of LGBTQ+ children’s literature that you likely have never heard of, but which are extremely worthy of our attention. They include Flamingo Rampant Press (Canada, 2012), Reflection Press (US, 2009), and Ediciones Patlatonalli (Mexico, 2004). I discuss each of them at greater length in my book Coloring into Existence: Queer of Color Worldmaking in Children’s Literature (2023), published by New York University Press. Here, I will share insights into their histories, publications, and ways that you can support queer and trans of color independent publishers across North America.

Ediciones Patlatonalli logo on back cover of *Tengo una tía que no es monjita* (2004).

In Mexico, Ediciones Patlatonalli emerged in 2004 out of the lesbian organization Patlatonalli, which was originally founded in 1986 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. This editorial effort was led by Marta Nualart and Guadalupe López. Under the slogan of “Todas Las Familias Son Sagradas” [All Families are Sacred], and with an emphasis on lesbian families in Mexico, they published a series of children’s picture books including: Tengo una tía que no es monjita [I have an aunt who is not a little nun] in 2004, Las tres Sofías [The three Sofías] in 2008, Xía y las mil sirenas [Xía and the thousand mermaids] in 2009, and Mi mami ya no tiene frío [My mommy is no longer cold] in 2011. Each picture book not only centers a lesbian adult relationship, but also challenges the racial logics of Mexico by incorporating Indigenous or racialized subjects.

Flamingo Rampant Press, based in Canada, specializes in trans and trans of color children’s literature. Co-founded in 2012 by S. Bear Bergman and j. wallace skelton, life partners who are both white trans activists, this independent publisher’s books include a secret message within each copyright page that reads “you have the right to be safe, strong, free, and utterly fabulous in whatever gender(s) you choose.” They have published over 25 titles ranging from trans protagonists to trans parents, and many of them were written by trans of color authors or privilege trans of color characters. Some of their books include Love is in the Hair (2015), The Zero Dads Club (2015), M is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book (2015), 47,000 Beads (2017), Colors of Aloha (2019), Casey’s Ball (2019), and Bridge of Flowers (2019).

Reflection Press logo.

Within the U.S., Reflection Press was co-founded in 2009 by Maya Gonzalez and Matthew Smith-Gonzalez. Self-described as a radical POC, queer, trans owned independent publisher, their books center a nature-based analysis of gender and queer/trans/intersex of color children. They are primarily known for their Gender Wheel series, which began with the publication of Maya Gonzalez’s Gender Now Coloring Book: A Learning Adventure for Children and Adults (2010). This multi-genre text is a coloring book, reference guide, and activity book featuring the Gender Team, a group of kids actively challenging the gender binary. Other titles in the series include The Gender Wheel: A Story about Bodies and Gender for Every Body (2017), They, She, He, Me: Free to Be! (2017), They, She, He: Easy as ABC (2019), and The Gender and Infinity Book for Kids (2023). Reflection Press also published When a Bully is President: Truth and Creativity for Oppressive Times (2017) following the 2016 US presidential election (I analyze this picture book further in my article “When a Bully is President: Children’s Literature for Oppressive Times” published in Feminist Formations). And, given their commitment to mentoring aspiring children’s book authors, Gonzalez and Smith-Gonzalez published the Queer-2-Queer Bilingual Collection made up of When We Love Someone We Sing to Them/Cuando Amamos Cantamos (2018), Carlos, the Fairy Boy/Carlos, El Niño Hada (2020), and Chabelita’s Heart/El corazón de Chabelita (2022), the last of which I had the privilege of writing and illustrating.

As I mentioned in Coloring into Existence,

To publish a queer or trans of color picture book is to engage in radical politics. It is an attempt to circumvent or counter white heteronormative patriarchy while facing individual and intergenerational traumas in order to heal oneself and one’s communities. Picture books also allow publishers to reimagine a different world for the present, fueled by the past, while looking toward the future. Ediciones Patlatonalli, Reflection Press, and Flamingo Rampant Press have succeeded, partly because of their thematic focus, each intentionality motivated by what they consider political urgencies—aided by a dose of serendipity. Situating these three publishers in relation to one another allows us to consider their unique positions within the larger field of children’s literature so that we may excavate the ways in which they are influenced by and, in turn, influence queer and trans of color theory and embodied praxis within autofantastic publishing. (68)

Although I focused on these three publishers, their efforts stem from a rich history of feminist, women of color, and LGBTQ+ independent publishers who dared to publish queer of color children’s picture books well before it was popular to do so. Such titles include Rosamund Elwin and Michele Paulse’ Asha’s Mums (1990) published by Women’s Press, Sarita Johnson-Calvo’s A Beach Party with Alexis (1991/1993) published by Alyson Wonderland, and Rigoberto Gonzalez’s Antonio’s Card/La tarjeta de Antonio (2005) published by Children’s Book Press.

Despite US Supreme Court cases such as Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025), that allows parents to opt their kids out of LGBTQ+-themed curriculum, we must continue to think creatively about how we can continue to publish, distribute, and celebrate queer and trans of color children’s literature.

Isabel Millán is an Associate Professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Oregon. She is the author of Coloring into Existence: Queer of Color Worldmaking in Children’s Literature (New York University Press, 2023) and author/illustrator of the queer bilingual children’s picture book, Chabelita’s Heart/El corazón de Chabelita (Reflection Press, 2022). Millán holds a PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan. Her research areas include critical ethnic studies, transnational feminist and queer theories, children’s literature and literary criticism, comics, science fiction, and ephemera studies.