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Celebrate Lesbian Visibility Day with Two Women Finding Their Happily Ever After in Maiden & Princess
Who better to celebrate Lesbian Visibility Day with than a maiden and princess who are in love? Written by Daniel Haack and Isabel Galupo, Maiden & Princess tells the story of a maiden sent to a royal ball to fall in love with a prince, but it is instead the princess who catches her eye. A diverse love story between two strong and skilled women, Maiden & Princess promotes acceptance to its young audience.
Published as a part of GLAAD’s partnership with little bee books (previously known as Bonnier Publishing), Maiden & Princess continues GLAAD’s initiative to further LGBTQ images in Kids & Family Entertainment. As part of this initiative, the “Outstanding Kids & Family” Category was added to the GLAAD Media Awards last year, and last month, Steven Universe became the second ever winner in that category. The release of Maiden & Princess is another step forward in this initiative. As GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said, “Children’s books are essential tools in encouraging awareness, kindness, and acceptance at an early age. GLAAD is committed to advancing positive representation of LGBTQ lives, experiences, and stories, and the release of Maiden & Princess is a shining example of how we can help to accelerate acceptance among young audiences.”
Maiden & Princess is a modern fairy tale meant to help accelerate acceptance for LGBTQ people. Co-author @igalupo will be reading the book at the LA Times Festival of Books tomorrow: t.co/GJcU2SvI75
cc: @littlebeebooks pic.twitter.com/yrRSF3IUGu
— GLAAD (@glaad) April 12, 2019
Released in 2018, the first book of the GLAAD and little bee books partnership is Prince & Knight, which was also written by Haack. Prince & Knight follows the heartwarming story of a prince and a knight fall in love after slaying a dragon. Haack insists that both of these books exist in the same universe, and you may just spot the happy prince and his knight in Maiden & Princess. Though Haack was able to draw from his own life experiences as a gay man for Prince & Knight, he turned to co-writer Isabel Galupo, a queer woman, for her perspective for Maiden & Princess. In an interview with HuffPost, Galupo remarked that “love is the very thing that unites every single one of us. I hope most parents would emphasize the beauty of love, no matter what form it takes.”
Speaking on the impact he hopes the book will have, Haack added, “kids are remarkably accepting and understanding. For children who don’t have any same-sex couples in their lives, these books can be a great way to start those conversations … or maybe your kid will just think the dragons are cool or will like the pretty dresses.” Nonetheless, the book will no doubt touch many lives and continue GLAAD’s mission to accelerate acceptance.
Written by Erica Silverman and illustrated by Holly Hatam, Jack (Not Jackie) is the second book of the series, released in October 2018. The story follows how big sister Susan learns to understand and accept that her younger sibling identifies as “Jack” rather than “Jackie.”
Maiden & Princess launched on April 2nd and can be purchased on Amazon, Goodreads, and in stores wherever books are sold.
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