This Book is Gay. It’s Also Really Good.

Juno Dawson’s This Book is Gay is a lovely example of malicious compliance that gives the loud conservative right (and any quietly opinionated parents) exactly what they want. It’s got the colors of the rainbow on every version of it, paperback, hardcover, and Kindle title screen (I checked!) and the title is so clear it’s honestly kind of insulting. It gives people the warning they’ve been demanding and tells parents to keep their children away because it’s got the queer content they so desperately need to shield them from.

But, it’s still fallen under fire. It’s deemed too mature for readers—which is ironic considering almost every 13-year-old girl has read the American Girl company’s The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls—and has had countless other claims lobbed against it. But, I’d rather not dwell on the ways This Book is Gay is upsetting. I feel that there are much better things one can focus on.

This Book is Gay is a good read. Like, a really good read. Dawson is both hilarious and thorough, ready to make herself the butt of the joke just as much as she does conservatives (something that isn’t necessary, but still refreshing, as it humanizes her towards readers). The drawing dispersed throughout the novel break up walls of text that can seem threatening to younger (or simply less knowledgable readers), and above all else, Dawson is inclusive. In chapter 6, ‘Haterz Gon’ Hate,’ Dawson goes over some of the most common arguments religious people cite as reasons for homophobia. Dawson acknowledges the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and debunks Leviticus 18:22 (the very well-known “thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind”), but also takes the time to mention opinions on homosexuality in the Quran, the Torah, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

It might sound strange to praise inclusivity on the topic of calling out homophobia—no one usually goes around calling “Hey, the Christians aren’t the only homophobes, we hate the gays too!”—but as a queer person who is religious, but not specifically Christian, it’s incredibly refreshing to see other religions be acknowledged. I grew up during a time when Christian homophobia was being debunked constantly, but no one was there to tell queer Muslim kids that God still loved them, the way people did for Christian ones. Dawson’s work is deemed too strong for young readers, but it likely would have saved me a lot of strife if it’d been in my middle school library.

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