CORRECTION: The best email address to arrange a screening of the film Fish Out of Water is mailto:ekurasz@redhartproductions.com 

 

 

 

Students should be able to take more than the summer off from bullying. Through weekly online camp sessions, the Make It Better Summer Camp(aign) will connect LGBT and allied youth across the country and empower them to make it better when they head back to school. Register for Make It Better Summer Camp(aign) here: http://www.gsanetwork.org/MIBSummerSignUp

 

 

Find the magazine online here: http://www.rainbowrumpus.org/

 

Find fun, free downloadable books about children where the fact their parents are two moms or two dads is incidental to the story line here:  http://www.rainbowrumpus.org/htm/printable.htm

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Laura Matanah, 612.239.5949, lauramatanah@rainbowrumpus.org

Series provides vital tool for educators and parents

 

MINNEAPOLIS, May 19, 2011— Rainbow Rumpus, the online magazine for kids and teens with LGBT parents, is launching a free series of downloadable books designed to fight bullying and promote acceptance. Each book tells a story about a child with lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender parents, and gives parents and teachers tools for talking about family diversity. The newest title, “Same, Same,” focuses on two pre-schoolers whose friendship founders when one learns to do something the other cannot.  The main character’s fathers support her as she figures out what to do. Young children from all types of families will identify with the friendship dilemma the characters face, be enthralled by the rhythm of the language, and enjoy the opportunity to create illustrations on the interior pages of the book.

 

There has been an overwhelmingly warm reception to the series with families and teachers downloading an average of 50 books per month in 2011. “We can’t find any books in the bookstores and libraries where we live,” noted one parent. “We’re so glad these are here.” The picture books are available at http://www.rainbowrumpus.org/htm/printable.htm .

 

The series has been recognized as an important new tool by both educators and curriculum developers. “These types of books are difficult to find at the library,” noted one teacher, “and I think it’s important to have them in the classroom.”  The benefits to students are enhanced by a teachers’ guide included with each title. Welcoming Schools, a HRC sponsored curriculum which combats bullying by teaching about family diversity and gender stereotyping, lists Rainbow Rumpus’ picture books as a useful resource. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) also works to increase awareness of the books among educators.

 

About Rainbow Rumpus

 

Rainbow Rumpus is the primary publisher of LGBT family fiction in the United States, publishing more new fiction each year than all other publishers combined. Noted authors Marion Dane Bauer (Newbery Award), Nancy Garden (Margaret A. Edwards Award), Gregory Maguire (author of Wicked), and Jacqueline Woodson (Newbery honor) sit on the organization’s author advisory board. Rainbow Rumpus executive director, Laura Matanah, a former elementary school teacher, was named a top-ten educator in the United States in 2009 by Curve, the nation’s best-selling lesbian magazine. Visit www.rainbowrumpus.org for more information.

 

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Laura Matanah

Publisher/Executive Director

Rainbow Rumpus, the online magazine for youth with LGBT parents:  www.rainbowrumpus.org

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P.O. Box 6881

Minneapolis, MN 55406

612.721.6442

 

 

Go to: http://www.youthcomm.org/Publications/NYC.htm#September/October_2010

 

You will also find youth-written articles there about love, sex, dating violence and more. And each offers youth the option of writing a letter in response to the article for possible publication in their next issue!

 

 

Go to: http://www.youthcomm.org/Publications/NYC.htm

Well-written and thought-provoking articles featured in this issue include:

 

Find other resources for using contemporary issues to teach reading and writing at Youth Communication's home page: http://www.youthcomm.org/