Recently, I found myself in Barnes and Noble, captivated by a "Read with Pride" display in the Young Adult section. Holding several new books for LGBTQ+ youth, I was transported back to my high school years, a time before smartphones and social media, when I would cautiously approach the gay and lesbian section of my local bookstore.

Each visit was an anxious yet defiant act of self-discovery as I sought validation and visibility in the pages of books that I curated for myself. Here, titles like “Giovanni’s Room,” “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name,” and “At Swim, Two Boys” were pivotal in queering my perspective and made me think more about who I was, who I was becoming and who I wanted to be.

In retrospect, retreating to self-selected literature was probably the queerest, most radical thing I could do at the time. In those days, my reading experiences at school stalled my understanding of my emerging queer identity and limited my knowledge of others that might have shared my experiences. I never fully saw this part of who I was becoming reflected back to me.

In “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding-Glass Doors,” Rudine Sims Bishop proposes that educators consider the relationship between reader and texts as possible "mirrors" and "windows," highlighting reader identities and experiences through critical discovery. Specifically, she wrote that:

Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection, we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.

Today, during a time of increased attempts at book censorship and curriculum challenges, Bishop’s words remind me of one of the reasons why I entered the teaching profession: to nurture the type of English class that my high school self needed by building a community with students where they have space to explore and engage with literature that validates and affirms their identities — moving from a place of survival where LGBTQ+ youth are denied their humanity to one of thriving where they are affirmed and celebrated is a critical and necessary shift.

Read the full article about books for LGBTQ+ youth by Ryan Burns at EdSurge.