The sun was coming. There was a quivering, a powerful, terrifying swim of molten light. Then the molten source itself surged forth, revealing itself… Everything was newly washed into being in a flood of new, golden creation.” What follows below is just a collection of quotes, grouped loosely by theme, plus a (very) few comments about the change of tone at the end (not spoilers, as the events I’ve alluded to are made plain in the book’s Introduction). This is a story of three generations of the Brangwen family. We have Tom and Lydia, then Anna and Will, and finish with Ursula and her torturous relationship with Anton Skrebensky. Through these characters, Lawrence explores the larger concepts of what relationships really are and our expectations for them. Certainly sex is a part of it, but what is more interesting for me is the emotional reactions that people have to one another. The misunderstandings, the misplaced passions, and ultimately with Ursula, a rejection of the need to submit to the suffocating baggage of a permanent, committed relationship.

The original Pride Flag graces the cover of this illustrated history of queer design, symbolism, and graphic art from the original “The Future is Female” T-shirt to Gilbert Baker’s iconic Gay Pride flag design. Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas Now, ah now, she was swimming in the same water... The girl moved her limbs voluptuously, and swam by herself, deliciously, yet with a craving of unsatisfaction. She wanted to touch the other, to touch her, to feel her." A wonderfully queer anthology of 14 LGBTQ+ stories from LGBTQ+ writers on keeping faith, whether faith in religion or just faith in yourself. The beautiful rainbow painted cover is designed by my friend Kess Costales, edited by my friend Gabriela Martins, and includes contributions from many excellent writers including fellow Rioter Adiba Jaigirdar (author of The Henna Wars). So I may be biased, but this anthology is wonderfully and wholeheartedly queer. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera Reading this was a total emotional immersion. I opened up to receive Lawrence's words: I burned in the fire, dusted the ashes from my lips, and drowned in the waters. She turned, and saw a great white moon looking at her over the hill. And her breast opened to it, she was cleaved like a transparent jewel to its light. She stood filled with the full moon, offering herself. Her two breasts opened to make way for it, her body opened wide like a quivering anemone, a soft, dilated invitation touched by the moon.I really struggled to get through this book, and if I had to explain why, in a sentence, it is this: Each Twinkl Originals story comes with a collection of teaching resources to support cross-curricular learning.

Truly brilliant, honest, queer stories told without judgment of the idiosyncrasies and paradoxes of the human experience. Rainbow, Rainbow by Lydia Conklin takes us inside queer and trans characters' minds with raw awareness. It took a few chapters for me to adjust to the white-hot honesty, but I settled into a tempo of gratitude for these truths. They were like a map to some of my own memories of adolescence, past relationships, perceived mistakes or contradictions, and the shadowed aspects of all humanity. Lawrence's prose is the result of a bewildering compendium of biblical allusions, pagan and natural imagery and a profound grasp of the synaptic connections that trigger desire, yearning and the irrepressible urge to abandon the safety of one's individuality to leap into the unknown abyss of another being, to lose grip of self-dominance in favor of frenzied carnal and spiritual lust and to withstand the tempestuous battle of wills inherent in any relationship.All the Colors of the Rainbow was written by Allan Fowler. This early reading nonfiction book introduces little ones to the science behind rainbows with easy to read text. This novel is written on a grand scale, spanning a period from the 1840s to 1905, a time of great change in societal norms and industry. We follow the changing patterns of love and marriage in 3 generations of the Brangwens. Lawrence also weaves in religion, sexuality, the natural world, industrialization, homosexuality and women’s rights, to name a few. It has been decades since I’ve read D. H. Lawrence. I was reading The Unexpected Professor by John Carey, and he talked about a lot of books, but in particular, it was his discussion of spending a summer reading all of Lawrence’s works that inspired me to consider returning to Lawrence. Carey wrestled with Lawrence, not of the homoerotic desire type, but with his structure and style. He couldn’t really say he enjoyed him or liked him, but he couldn’t stop reading him! Otherwise these stories fell flat for me and/or just had such a bleak and cynical worldview that I found them excruciating. Like, it's a collection of fiction about things going really badly for people, people being cruel, and some deeply uncomfortable sexual content involving minors, including a pedophile. The narrative voice doesn't condone the pedophilia or anything, but it left me wondering what exactly the point of depicting queer characters in such a way was. If you enjoyed reading 'The Boy in the Rainbow', we have a library of Twinkl Originals eBooks you'll love.